Neuroscientifically Challenged
Neuroscience made simpler.
The brain, explained — reference entries and stories, written and reviewed by people who study it.
In focus
People who feel closer to their dog than to most humans aren’t cold or antisocial. Research suggests that when a dog and its owner look into each other’s eyes, both brains release the same bonding hormone that ties a mother to her baby
Dying of a broken heart isn’t just a saying, because in the first three months after losing a husband or wife, widows and widowers had a 66% higher risk of dying themselves, a Harvard study of more than 12,000 older adults found
Walking into a room and forgetting why you came isn’t a sign your memory is failing, because Notre Dame researchers found that simply passing through a doorway makes people forget more, as the brain closes the file on one scene and opens a new one for the next
A Scottish nurse told scientists she could smell Parkinson's on people, so they gave her 12 worn T-shirts to sniff, and she picked out every patient; the one healthy man she refused to clear was diagnosed months later
Your brain in 12 lessons
Twelve short lessons that start where you do — with what you see, feel, remember and forget — and show you the brain behind it. No background needed.
Know Your Brain
Explore all entries →Explore the structures of the brain, one entry at a time.
Latest Stories
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In March 1985, a virus tore through the memory of a 46-year-old British conductor and left him conscious only in bursts of seconds. He could still play the piano and lead a choir, yet every time his wife walked into the room he wept and embraced her as if they'd been apart for years
An African grey parrot named Alex could identify about 50 objects, seven colors and five shapes, and when asked what was different about two objects he could answer "color," a grasp of same and different once thought to need a primate brain
Everyone assumes the years speed up after 50 because the memories blur together, but when psychologists tested it, the vividness of people’s memories made no difference, and the real culprit was how busy they felt
You probably can't remember anything before age 3, but when Yale researchers scanned 26 babies looking at pictures, their brains were already laying down memories of what they saw by about their first birthday
Babies supposedly don't remember anything, which is why the early years get written off. A Yale fMRI study of 26 awake infants found hippocampal…
10-Minute Neuroscience: Consciousness
In this video, I explore the neuroscience of consciousness. I discuss what neuroscientists mean by consciousness, the challenges of determining when it is present,…
2-Minute Neuroscience: Anxiety
Anxiety is a state of heightened apprehension or worry, often related to potential, distant, or uncertain danger. In this video, I explore what happens…