Brain

Sometimes when we say "you," we really mean "me"

When I Say "You" But Really Mean "Me"

In some cases, the use of the second-person pronoun could help us put distance between ourselves and negative emotions

Scientists used this MRI scanner to compare the brains of blind and sighted people.

Blind People’s Brains Rewire Themselves to Enhance Other Senses

New study finds marked differences between the brains of blind and sighted people

Nearly blind, Typhlomys cinereus thrives in the high forests of southeastern China and Vietnam—with a little help from another sense.

This Echolocating Dormouse Could Reveal the Origins of One of Nature’s Coolest Superpowers

Mice, moths and even humans use clicks and echoes to "see" the world around them

ASMRtists, as they are called, type on keyboards, tap on brushes and whisper gently to induce "the tingles." But is there any whisper of scientific truth to the trend?

How Researchers Are Beginning to Gently Probe the Science Behind ASMR

Once a mysterious Internet phenomenon, "tingleheads" are starting to get real scientific attention

Researchers scanned the brains of memorizers as they practiced tried-and-true memory techniques to see how their brains changed in response to their training.

Neuroscientists Unlock the Secrets of Memory Champions

Boosting your ability to remember lists, from facts to faces, is a matter of retraining your brain

Itchy and scratchy: When they see their peers scratching away, mice get the urge to itch.

Why Is Itching So Contagious?

Scientists figure out how compulsive scratching spreads in mice, and maybe humans

Ancient Brain Training Technique Can Boost Memory

Participants who practiced the Memory Palace method for 40 days showed changes in brain activity and improved memory months later

Smarter than we think.

Bees Can Learn to Play “Soccer.” Score One for Insect Intelligence

Small as they are, bumblebee brains are surprisingly capable of mastering novel, complex tasks

Researchers have found that when our minds wander, our moods tend to suffer.

Why Mind Wandering Can Be So Miserable, According to Happiness Experts

We still don’t know why our minds seem so determined to exit the present moment, but researchers have a few ideas

Patients wear a NIRS apparatus—typically a neoprene helmet with dozens of optical sensors sticking out of it.

Patients With Locked-in Syndrome May Be Able to Communicate After All

A new use for brain-computer interfaces gives insight to life with ALS

This is a pyramidal neuron, so named for the pyramid-shaped body at the center of this drawing, from the cerebral cortex of a human. This outermost layer of the brain integrates information from sensory organs, commands movements and is the hub for higher brain functions, such as consciousness. In his drawing, Cajal gives the branches or dendrites different weights to show how the neuron extends in three-dimensional space. It’s likely that this represents a sort of idealized portrait of a pyramidal neuron, a synthesis of many observations.

Revel in These Wondrous Drawings by the Father of Neuroscience

A new book and exhibition pay homage to Santiago Ramón y Cajal’s impressive powers of observation

Two thylacines at the Smithsonian National Zoo around 1905. A thylacine brain from the Smithsonian Institution was scanned as part of a study to learn more about the extinct marsupial, but it is unclear whether that brain belonged to one of the animals pictured.

How Scientists Reconstructed the Brain of a Long-Extinct Beast

This dog-like marsupial went extinct 80 years ago, but its preserved brains help us glean how its mind worked

Macaques and humans seem to share the strength of knowing the limits of what they know.

A Wise Monkey Knows How Little He Knows

Japanese scientists find that macaque monkeys, like humans, know the limits of their own memory

MIT professor Li-Huei Tsai may have a new treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

Could Flickering Lights Help Treat Alzheimer’s?

A flashy MIT study changes perspective on the disease

The Part of Your Brain That Recognizes Faces Continues Growing Later in Life

That is, at least until you hit 30

Abstract artist Wassily Kandinsky, who may have been a synesthete, once said: "Color is the key. The eye is the hammer. The soul is the piano with its many chords. The artist is the hand that, by touching this or that key, sets the soul vibrating automatically."

Feel the Music—Literally—With Some Help From New Synesthesia Research

How one artist created a show inspired by the neurological experience of synesthesia

This untitled painting by Willem De Kooning was created in the 1950s, decades before the artist was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

Scientists Spot Cognitive Decline in Famous Artists’ Brushstrokes

Could paintings hold clues to Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases?

Dyslexia affects up to 17 percent of American schoolchildren. Researchers now believe it may be caused by difficulty in the brain rewiring itself.

Dyslexia May Be the Brain Struggling to Adapt

The learning disorder may be less a problem with language processing, and more a problem with the brain rewiring itself

Flickering images can induce seizures in people with epilepsy.

Why Do Flashing Images Cause Seizures?

For people with epilepsy, a flashing screen can be more than a passing annoyance

To speak, perchance to think? A long-tailed macaque opens wide in Bali, Indonesia.

What's Really Keeping Monkeys From Speaking Their Minds? Their Minds

When it comes to language, primates have all the right vocal equipment. They just lack the brains

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