Stories by Nicole Branan

Why Smear Campaigns Work

People are more likely to believe misinformation about someone they see as different from themselves

MIND Reviews Origins: How the Nine Months before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives

The Me Effect

You have a powerful influence on other people's moods

Neandertal Symbolism: Evidence Suggests a Biological Basis for Symbolic Thought

Abstract thinking may date back further than previously thought

Chimps Talk with Their Hands

Right-handed gesturing in apes hints at the origins of human language

Accentuating the Negative

Our brain responds more strongly to negative emotional cues than to positive ones

Jumping Neural DNA Key to Brain Plasticity?

Extra mutations in neurons may help explain the brain's plasticity

Are Our Brains Wired for Categorization?

Our innate brain structure reflects how we classify the world around us

Head Lines: Handwriting Reveals Liars

Also: Stimulating Brain Cells May Be Trickier Than We Thought

Eye Movement May Be Key to Retrieve Unconscious Memories

Where we look reveals memories we cannot consciously access

Doctoring the Mind: Is Our Current Treatment of Mental Illness Really Any Good?

Reviews and recommendations from the January/February 2010 issue of Scientific American MIND

Ability to Guess Others' Thoughts Tied to Language Proficiency

Advanced language skills may be essential to predicting others' thoughts

Does Morning Sickness Mean Smart Kids?

Hormone levels link vomiting and intelligence

Bird Moves: Dancing with the Starlings

Birds' rhythmic abilities offer clues to the origins of dance

MIND Reviews: Neuro-Economic Boom

Recommendations from Scientific American MIND

Neuron Cannibalism: Hungry Male Cells Consume Their Own Proteins

Starvation brings out sex differences in brain cells

Close Call Counts: Neuroscience of Gambling Addictions

To our brain, a near miss is as good as a win

Head Lines: Practice Removes Prejudice--And More

How Does the Brain Form Sentences?

Complex sentence construction may depend on a surprisingly simple system

MIND Reviews: Why We Make Mistakes, by Joseph T. Hallinan

Reviews and recommendations from the April/May/June 2009 issue of Scientific American MIND