Neuroscience
How the Mind Emerges from the Brain's Complex Networks
The new discipline of network neuroscience yields a picture of how mental activity arises from carefully orchestrated interactions among different brain areas
Features
Cognition
How to Make a Consciousness Meter
Zapping the brain with magnetic pulses while measuring its electrical activity is proving to be a reliable way to detect consciousness
Cognition
Can Lab-Grown Brains Become Conscious?
A handful of experiments are raising questions about whether clumps of cells and disembodied brains could be sentient and how scientists would know if they were
Neuroscience
Electrodes That Stimulate the Brain Reveal the Roots of Conscious Experience
Applying electric currents reveals the function of varying brain regions and helps to alleviate neurological disorders
Behavior
The Neuroscience of Reality
Reality is constructed by the brain, and no two brains are exactly alike
Behavior
Why We Have Free Will
Neurons fire in your head before you become aware that you have made a decision. But this discovery does not mean you are a “biochemical puppet”
Cognition
The Brain Learns in Unexpected Ways
White matter, the insulation around our neural wiring, plays a critical role in acquiring knowledge
Neuroscience
In Search of the Brain's Social Road Maps
Neural circuits that track our whereabouts in space and time may also play vital roles in determining how we relate to other people
Neuroscience
How the Brain Reads Faces
Brain regions that process faces reveal deep insights into the neural mechanisms of vision
Behavior
The Search for Social Identity Leads to 'Us' versus 'Them'
Uncertainty in the world threatens our sense of self. To cope, people embrace populism
Neuroscience
Machines That Translate Wants into Actions
A new generation of brain-machine interfaces can deduce what a person wants
Behavior
The COVID-19 Pandemic Is Changing Our Dreams
Anxiety about social distancing and infection is altering how much we dream and the nature of our dreams themselves
Cognition
You Really Can Learn in Your Sleep
Experimental techniques demonstrate how to strengthen memories when our brains are off-line
Neuroscience
People Answer Scientists' Queries in Real Time while Dreaming
Researchers demonstrate that during REM sleep, people can hear—and respond to—simple questions such as “What is eight minus six?”
Neuroscience
Decoding a Disorder at the Interface of Mind and Brain
A mysterious condition once dismissed as hysteria is challenging the divide between neurology and psychiatry
Mental Health
Mania May Be a Mental Illness in Its Own Right
Hundreds of thousands of people experience mania without ever getting depressed. Why does psychiatry insist on calling them bipolar?
Neurology
The Link Between Delirium and Dementia
Delirium is very common on COVID wards. Researchers are testing whether these temporary bouts of confusion could bring on permanent cognitive decline
Mental Health
A Renaissance for Psychedelics Could Fill a Long-Standing Treatment Gap for Psychiatric Disorders
Psilocybin and MDMA represent a first wave of therapies that help patients by changing the way they view reality
Cognition
Does Consciousness Pervade the Universe?
Philosopher Philip Goff answers questions about “panpsychism”
Departments
- From the Editor
Mind from Matter
- Opinion
How Do I Know I'm Not the Only Conscious Being in the Universe?
Can Science Illuminate Our Inner Dark Matter?
