Mind & Brain
Bonobo Peeps May Be Necessary Language Precursors
Animal communication studies have shown only fixed vocalizations, such as alarm cries. But Bonobo chimps appear to have a call that has different meanings in different contexts ...
Language976 articles archived since 1845
Mind & Brain
The Imagination Institute Awards Nearly $3M to Advance the Science of Imagination
We spend so much time on standardized testing and measuring learning ability that we don’t track how much we’re developing the key competencies that enable us to imagine what could be...
Mind & Brain
Mentors Matter: In Loving Memory of Nicholas J. Mackintosh (1935-2015)
Today would have been my mentor's 80th birthday. Happy Birthday Nick and thanks for showing me that mentors really do matter.
Mind & Brain
How Is Creativity Differentially Related to Schizophrenia and Autism?
Autism and schizophrenia are related to different forms of creativity
Baby Bats Babble through Childhood Like We Do
Fruit bats stand in for vocal-learning mammals in isolation tests to test language development
The Sciences
Rice and Beans: Shaping the Customer's Choice
As more cultural commodities enter the market, cultural distinctions will become muted to suit the appetites of a wider clientele
Mind & Brain
Learning to Make a Stone Age Axe Gives Clues to How the Brain Evolved
For many decades, scientists have tried to understand the past by doing as our forebears did. One important endeavor in what is called experimental archaeology involves moderns crafting Stone Age tools by chipping away at rocks...
Mind & Brain
Why Babies (and Perhaps All of Us) Care About Magic
As adults, we don't often experience radical violations of our expectations, particularly those that concern core principles of object behavior.
Mind & Brain
How to Help the Growing Female Prison Population
Orange Is the New Black, the popular Netflix show based on the memoir by Piper Kerman, brought female prisons into America's living room, highlighting several issues that are plaguing the correctional system...
Book Review: Scientific Babel
Books and recommendations from Scientific American
Evolution
Neandertals Turned Eagle Talons into Jewelry 130,000 Years Ago
As longtime readers may have noticed, I have an abiding interest in Neandertals. To help me keep up with the latest scientific insights into these mysterious relatives of ours, I have a Google alert set for "Neandertal" (and the alternate spelling, "Neanderthal")...
Health
How Designers Can Improve Health Care For Everyone
The last place anyone expects to find a designer is in a hospital, clinic or operating room, but those are exactly the spaces where I embed myself.
"Big Brain" Gene Allowed for Evolutionary Expansion of Human Neocortex
The newly identified gene is found in modern-day humans, Neandertals and Denisovans, but not in chimps
5 Common Myths about the Brain
Some widely held ideas about the way children learn can lead educators and parents to adopt faulty teaching principles
Mind & Brain
How To Make The Most Of Your Valentine’s Day!
Whether you’re single or partnered up this Valentine’s Day, psychology has all sorts of tips for you on how to find your next great love or improve your existing relationship with the one you’ve got...
Mind & Brain
Teens These Days, Always Changing Their Gray Matter
While we all may vary on just how much time we like spending with other people, humans are overall very social beings. Scientists have already found this to be reflected in our health and well-being - with social isolation being associated with more depression, worse health, and a shorter life...
Climate Influences Language Evolution
The ease with which certain sounds are produced in different climes plays a role in the development of spoken languages. Christopher Intagliata reports
Mind & Brain
Genetic Memory: How We Know Things We Never Learned
I met my first savant 52 years ago and have been intrigued with that remarkable condition ever since. One of the most striking and consistent things in the many savants I have seen is that that they clearly know things they never learned...
Technology
Facebook Puts Its Money Where Your Mouth Is
The social media behemoth buys voice-recognition start-up Wit.ai to prepare for the impending Internet of Things. Larry Greenemeier reports
Mind & Brain
Five Things Being a Zumba Instructor Has Taught Me About Science Communication
So, here is something that the casual reader of this blog may or may not know about me: In my other, non-psychology life, I’ve been working part-time for the past 2 years as a licensed Zumba® Fitness instructor...
