By Mariella Careaga
Just like any other emotion, love has more to do with the brain than you might think.
Among all emotions, love seems to have a special place…
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By Martina Nonni
Emotions are important aspects of our lives and everyday experiences. While scientists agree that they do exist, they don’t seem to agree on much else. Researchers are…
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by Caitlin Goodpaster
Early this June, a viral story hit the internet—an engineer at Google had claimed an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot named LaMDA was conscious (Tiku, 2022). LaMDA, which…
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By: Talia Oughourlian
Hormonal contraceptives were introduced more than 60 years ago (OBOS Contributors, 2021) with some commending the contraceptive pill as one of the greatest scientific inventions of the…
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What happens when your mind disconnects from all outside sensations? First, you undress, put in earplugs, and step into a floatation tank, the water warmed to the temperature of your…
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In his book “Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain”, the neurologist Oliver Sacks stated that music can “calm us, animate us, comfort us, thrill us, or serve to organize…
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As social beings, humans have the ability to adapt their behavior to fit their social context. Whether we are meeting new classmates, conducting a job interview or helping a friend…
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The inner landscape of the mind can be a dark and gloomy place for people with depression and anxiety. It is often filled with negative self-talk and repetitions of bad…
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Each night when you dream, your mind is active, yet your body is largely unresponsive unless woken up. A similar situation exists for some brain-injured patients who have lost consciousness—although…
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You probably don’t remember anything from when you were an infant. However, chances are that you experienced some pain immediately after you were born. You might have needed an IV…
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Cannabidiol (CBD), a non-intoxicating compound of the Cannabis plant, has exploded in popularity in recent times, touted as a medical “cure-all”. Retailers promise their products will heal cancer, stop dementia…
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At the fictional Hogwarts school for witchcraft and wizardry in the Harry Potter series, students are sorted into different school houses by a magic hat based on their personalities. Similarly,…
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How much of your brain are you using right now?
The science fiction answer would be “10%.” And, if you’ve watched enough bad sci-fi, using 100% of your brain would…
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You might have heard the term ‘phrenology’ thrown around, usually in the context of pseudoscience and racism. Or, if you’ve heard discussions about the Quentin Tarantino movie Django Unchained, it…
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Magritte’s comments on our fascination with the unknown rings true not just in artistic surrealism, but also in many of our scientific research endeavors. The human mind is continually fascinated…
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What are you doing right now? I’m no psychic, but I can say for certain one thing that you’re doing: reading. You’re reading this sentence, word by word, and extracting…
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In Isaac Asimov’s 1950 short story collection I, Robot, intelligent robots with positronic brains exist alongside humans. Unlike conventional computer hardware, the word positronic implies that electrical current is carried…
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The first human magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan was acquired almost 40 years ago. The scanner — hand-built by Dr. Raymond Damadian with the help of his two postdoctoral fellows…
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Would you trust a memory if it felt as real as all your others? And other people confirmed they remember it, too? What if the memory turned out to be…
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A kid stealing candy in a convenience store grows up to be a convicted criminal. A husband who flirts with a coworker ends up as a serial cheater. A politician telling…
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Cute things are usually vulnerable, fragile and weak. But cuteness itself is mighty indeed. Morten L. Kringelbach and his colleagues at the University of Oxford recently described cuteness as ‘one…
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If you grew up with siblings, it is likely that you have heard the phrase, ”Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” However, it wasn’t until a groundbreaking finding in…
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If you’re in a room with ten adults, chances are two of them are going to develop a mental illness –- and only one of them will receive proper treatment.…
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Over the past few decades, the neurochemical dopamine has earned the reputation of being the brain’s reward molecule. This image is built on observations that when animals and humans experience…
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Have you ever wondered why the same brain regions are often implicated again and again in many tasks and behaviors? For instance, the prefrontal cortex is implicated in so many…
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Pictures are powerful tools for illustrating quantitative data and capturing public interest. Each year, NASA releases many beautiful images of Martian dunes and distant nebulae which help win public funding.…
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It is an exciting time for neuroscience. The BRAIN Initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) is in the spotlight as a part of the new Presidential focus and recently…
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Tomorrow, it will be 2013! And while it may seem that the world around us has not changed, calendars and clocks remind us that it’s time to kick old habits,…
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