Articles tagged as Neuroscience | Smithsonian Magazine

New Research

Gold Nanoparticles Can Remote Control the Brain

It’s just the latest twist in nanotech that is using gold as medicine

March 27, 2015

Cool Finds

When Even the Simplest Word Looks Weird And Wrong You Have Wordnesia

We don’t really know why it happens, but at least there is a term for it

March 11, 2015

Cool Finds

Our Brains Hate Waiting So We Sped Up Everything Else

Sidewalk rage, road rage and anger at slow-loading web pages are all part of our evolutionary inheritance

March 10, 2015

New Research

This Might Be Why Handshaking Evolved

A new study shows that shaking hands is a covert way for us to unconsciously sniff out each other’s chemical signals

March 4, 2015

Cool Finds

A Paralyzed Woman Operated a Flight Simulator Using Only Her Thoughts

Electrodes implanted in the brain are shown to enable those with quadriplegia to achieve amazing feats

March 4, 2015

New Research

Like People, Bees Can Be Fooled by False Memories

Bumblebees gravitate toward unfamiliar flowers that merge two patterns they know—a classic error of long term memory

February 26, 2015

An Italian neuroscientists says that the surgery could be ready in as few as two years, but the scientific community remains very skeptical

February 26, 2015

Cool Finds

Meet the Man Who Can Taste Words

For some, taste mixes with other sense—a form of synesthesia that isn’t as common as experiencing the colors of words

February 24, 2015

New Research

Is That Pill a Placebo? This Program Can Tell, Even If You Can’t

A new algorithm could make it faster and less expensive to develop new painkillers

February 19, 2015

Midnight Snacking Is Bad for Your Brain

Experiments in mice show that misaligned eating patterns can mess with the brain’s ability to form memories and learn new tasks

February 17, 2015

A former bombe operator shows the back of a drum from the decryption machine at Bletchley Park.

Brains Make Decisions the Way Alan Turing Cracked Codes

A mathematical tool developed during World War II operates in a similar way to brains weighing the reliability of information

February 11, 2015

Being able to control "clock neurons" could help with combatting jet lag and fatigue.

New Research

Scientists Discover “Reset” Button for Circadian Rhythm

Could a simple reboot turn exhaustion into a thing of the past?

February 3, 2015

A skull shows evidence of trepanation, an early form of neurosurgery that called for a hole cut into the skull.

New Research

Scientists Try Out 2,300-Year-Old Brain Surgery Techniques

Experiments conducted by a Siberian research team shed light on the neurosurgical methods evident in three Iron Age skulls

January 30, 2015

New Research

Why “Expensive” Medicines Might Actually Work Better

Perceived cost might influence drugs’ benefits

January 29, 2015

New Research

It’s Easy to Make People Like Healthy Food…Just Rewire Their Brains

A new study imaged brains of women of different weights and found dramatic differences in how their brains responded to food

January 26, 2015

New Research

Neuroscientists Found Eight Genes That Govern Human Brain Size

A consortium of neuroscientists compared medical data from over 30,000 people and found genetic mutations that may cause parts of the brain to be smaller

January 22, 2015

New Research

What Hibernation Teaches Us About Treating Alzheimer’s Disease

Scientists find that a brain-protecting protein produced when the body cools may have major implications for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders

January 21, 2015