Neuroscience2880 articles archived since 1845

Friendly Bacteria Cheer Up Anxious Mice

Probiotics affect behaviour and brain chemistry

The Pitfalls of Positive Thinking

How rosy thoughts can lead to negative outcomes

Father Time: Children with Older Dads at Greater Risk for Mental Illness

Large parental age differences increase the risk for psychiatric disorders, whereas other environmental factors decrease risk. Is this a function of biology, environment--or both?

Carl Zimmer on Rats, Cats, Viruses and Tattoos

In part 2 of our interview, award-winning author Carl Zimmer talks about his latest books, and a new study that shows how Toxoplasma influences the behavior of rats--and maybe of us...

Stress Less

Splintered by Stress: The Good and Bad of Psychological Pressure

Psychological pressure can make you more attentive, improving your memory and ability to learn. But too much stress can have the opposite effect

Cocaine's Newest Risks: Dying Skin and Compromised Immunity

A new drug contaminant is causing frightening outbreaks of blackened skin and low white blood cell counts

Ability for Mathematics May Be Inborn

Children who have a good sense of numbers also tend to have a talent for arithmetic, even before formal training. Christie Nicholson reports

Reflections on the Mind

Experiments with a simple mirror setup can reveal much about the workings of the brain

Toxoplasma Infected Rats Love Their Enemies

Rats infected with Toxoplasma actually like cat odors. New research finds that the infection makes cat odor aphrodisiacal. Steve Mirsky reports

A Skill Better Than Rudolph's

Reindeer can spot predators and food against a snowy backdrop thanks to an unusual ability to see UV light

Skinlike Electronic Patch Takes Pulse, Promises New Human-Machine Integration

A web of minuscule wires woven into an adhesiveless silicon patch could provide a future where heart monitors are nearly invisible, prosthetics can feel pressure and video games can take verbal commands...

Outsmarting Mortality

Your intelligence affects your life span in several surprising ways

A Dearth of New Meds

Drugs to treat neuropsychiatric disorders have become too risky for Big Pharma

Studying Mental Illness in a Dish

A new technique offers scientists an unprecedented window into complex psychiatric disorders

More Football Players Found to Suffer from Degenerative Disease

The Canadian Sports Concussion Project announced the results from brain autopsies of four CFL football players. Two of the players suffered from the degenerative disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy...

Four Things Most People Get Wrong about Memory

Human memory has been shown again and again to be far from perfect. We overlook big things, forget details, conflate events. One famous experiment even demonstrated that many people asked to watch a video of people playing basketball failed to notice a person wearing a gorilla suit walk right through the middle of the scene.So why does eyewitness testimony continue to hold water in courtrooms?...

Brain Brakes Car Faster Than Foot

Braking via brain waves at the start of our intention to slow could stop a car 12 feet sooner at highway speeds. Karen Hopkin reports

Chew on This: More Mastication Cuts Calorie Intake by 12 Percent

The Power of Negative Thinking

We manipulate our memories to brace for future hardships