Neuroscience2854 articles archived since 1845

Join a Think Tank in NYC!

The Think Tank is a mobile cognitive science lab and education station that will harness intrinsic interest in the human brain and mind to get disadvantaged and STEM-underrepresented kids hooked on science...

Compulsive Behavior Successfully Triggered and Then Treated in the Lab

Pulses of light were used to start and stop obsessive grooming in mice

Enhance Your Resilience

Scientists have compiled evidence-based tactics for building resilience. Among them: rethink adversity, forge close friendships and tackle novel challenges

The Quirk of a High IQ

It seems that those with high IQs have a beneficial quirk in their ability to perceive a moving scene. Christie Nicholson

Illusion of the Week: The Knobby Sphere Illusion

This week's illusion was discovered by Dartmouth College neuroscientist Peter Tse, author of "The Neural Basis of Free Will: Criterial Causation", and presented as a Top 10 finalist at the recent Best Illusion of the Year Contest.The Knobby Sphere Illusion tricks your sense of touch...

Why Is Angry Birds So Addictive?

Angry Birds, one of the most popular mobile games, is pretty simple: you use a slingshot to fling outraged birds at the fortresses of greedy green pigs. So why do we play for hours on end?...

Hallucinogens Could Ease Existential Terror

Psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, is being explored as a therapeutic tool to improve the lives of people with a life-threatening illness

Forgetting Is Harder for Older Brains

Adults hang on to useless information, which impedes learning

A Skeptic Considers the Hype over Brain Cells Linked to Complex Behavior [Excerpt]

Are "mirror neurons," touted to give us the ability to read the intentions of others, all they are cracked up to be?

Why Older Adults Are Too Trusting

Activity in a key brain area drops with age

How Head Injuries Damage the Brain

Searching for the True Sources of Crime

Where neuroscience meets criminology

NeuroSCIence in FIction: Kill Decision

From the Sleights of Mind archives. Every Friday we discuss how neuroscience is portrayed in fiction. This week we’ll be discussing Daniel Suarez’s new book, Kill Decision.

Recommended: High Price

Books and recommendations from Scientific American

Studies Cast Doubt on Cancer Drug as Alzheimer's Treatment

Four labs can't replicate finding that showed large-scale clearance of disease-related plaques. Some hope remains for improving memory

Brain's Glial Cells Spark Seizures

The brain's electrical storms may originate in nonelectrical cells

Is Ketamine the Next Big Depression Drug?

Ketamine, an anesthetic and illicit party drug, is emerging as a fast-acting antidepressant

Why Stress Is Good for You

Stress. It makes us sweat, gives us headaches and is blamed for all sorts of medical maladies. But did you know that stress, in small measure, can actually help us succeed? Scientific American MIND editor Ingrid Wickelgren explains...

Without Glia, the Brain Would Starve

Blood vessels break down if certain glial cells are not present

June 2013 Briefing Memo