If you’re upset by all of the horror going on in the world recently then watch this. It offers valuable perspective about how we’re living in the most peaceful time in human history despite it seeming the very opposite. Steven Pinker, psycholinguistics professor at MIT, goes into the cold hard facts and a little informed […]
May 10, 2014
On Sept. 13, 1848, at around 4:30 p.m., the time of day when the mind might start wandering, a railroad foreman named Phineas Gage filled a drill hole with gunpowder and turned his head to check on his men. It was the last normal moment of his life. Other victims in the annals of medicine […]
May 10, 2014
For anyone fighting to save old memories, a fresh crop of brain cells may be the last thing they need. Research published today in Science suggests that newly formed neurons in the hippocampus — an area of the brain involved in memory formation — could dislodge previously learned information1. The work may provide clues as […]
February 18, 2014
Stress can damage the brain. The hormones it releases can change the way nerves fire, and send circuits into a dangerous feedback loop, leaving us vulnerable to anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. But how stress accomplishes its sinister work on a cellular level has remained mysterious. Neuroscientists at a UC Berkeley lab have uncovered […]
December 12, 2013
A strong, healthy relationship can be one of the best supports in your life. Good relationships improve all aspects of your life, strengthening your health, your mind, and your connections with others. However, if the relationship isn\’t working, it can also be a tremendous drain. Relationships are an investment. The more you put in, the […]
December 12, 2013
A 2010 study from Carnegie Mellon found that, when people engaged in direct interaction with others—that is, posting on walls, messaging, or “liking” something—their feelings of bonding and general social capital increased, while their sense of loneliness decreased. But when participants simply consumed a lot of content passively, Facebook had the opposite effect, lowering their feelings of […]
December 10, 2013
To learn new motor skills, the brain must be plastic: able to rapidly change the strengths of connections between neurons, forming new patterns that accomplish a particular task. However, if the brain were too plastic, previously learned skills would be lost too easily.A new computational model developed by MIT neuroscientists explains how the brain maintains […]
December 2, 2013
Ask those who’ve entered the thick of middle age what they think about their mental capacities and you’re likely to hear a slew of complaints — their brains don’t work as quickly as they used to, they’re distractable and unfocused, and they can never remember anyone’s name. While some of these complaints reflect real declines […]
November 28, 2013
The world abounds with conflicts, from international clashes all the way down to domestic disputes. One valuable method for resolving disputes is empathy—getting a better emotional understanding of other people. A new technique for mapping emotional values has potential for increasing empathy by helping people to grasp their own values as well as those of […]
November 25, 2013
July 20, 2014
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