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Neuroscience

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.

New Research

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.

New Research

Why Is Itching So Contagious?

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

New Research

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

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

New Research

Scientists Capture a “Sonic Boom” of Light

A new, ultra-fast camera recorded the phenomenon for the first time

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.

Art Meets Science

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.

New Research

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

The doormouse hibernates to conserve resources in harsh conditions. Similarly, scientists envision humans hibernating to endure long-distance space travel.

Ask Smithsonian 2017

Can Humans Ever Harness the Power of Hibernation?

Scientists want to know if astronauts can hibernate during long spaceflights. First, they need to understand what hibernation is

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

New Research

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

New Research

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

That is, at least until you hit 30

Anna's hummingbirds have brains uniquely adapted for hovering precisely while feeding.

New Research

For Hummingbirds, the World Moves as Fast as They Do

New research shows how the hummingbird brain allows them to hover and fly precisely

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."

Art Meets Science

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.

New Research

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.

New Research

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.

Ask Smithsonian 2017

Why Do Flashing Images Cause Seizures?

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

New Research

You May Not Have Rhythm, But Your Eyeballs Sure Do

Tracking eye movement gives researchers a peek into how the brain reacts to music

"I will never forget that you did this to me."

New Research

Dogs May Possess a Type of Memory Once Considered ‘Uniquely Human’

New research suggests that man’s best friend remembers more than we thought

Trending Today

Head Transplant Patient Will Use Virtual Reality to Smooth Transition to New Body

The controversial surgical procedure is currently scheduled for next year

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