I’m always looking for another justification for going on vacation and leaving work behind. Fortunately, Jonah Lehrer, a fabulous science writer, has just given me another one: while away from the office in body and mind I’m more likely to solve difficult work-related problems. As Lehrer explains: “[P]erceptions of distance (and the distance can be [...]

1. Pick Paint Colors Carefully – It May Affect Your Cognition and Creativity
2. Take a Vacation – You and Your Brain Might Need It!
3. Stress Is Very Bad For Your Health- Whether You’re a Human or a Baboon

I usually think of of physical pain and emotional pain as fairly separate phenomena. Physical pain is caused by certain things (like a wound), and cured by certain things (like a pain medication). Emotional pain is usually caused by a totally different set of things (like a bad breakup) and cured by different things (like [...]

1. When PMS Strikes- Do You Blame Your Hormones or Your Head?
2. Dog Owners Excel in Physical and Cognitive Fitness
3. The Brain and Emotional Control

There’s a lot of debate around the similarities and differences between humans and Neanderthals. Were Neanderthals truly a different species from humans, or a different type of the same species? Were they adaptive, cultural innovators like humans, or were they just the dumb cavemen often depicted? Their brains were big like ours… but did they [...]

1. Stress Is Very Bad For Your Health- Whether You’re a Human or a Baboon
2. From Chihuahuas to Great Danes: Are Dog Brains the Same?
3. Men’s Brains vs. Women’s Brains: Social Implications of Neuroimaging (Part 1 of 2)

Tomorrow many of us will head out and hit the polls, if we haven’t already mailed in our absentee ballots. But what drives those of us who vote to do so, when we know our single vote is unlikely to make a difference and it takes time and effort on our part? This New York [...]

It’s common wisdom that women become emotionally unhinged when it’s their “time of the month,” right? Supposedly, we get weepy, angry, and just generally difficult whenever our periods come along. Is it true? For some women, sure, at least on occasion. Others aren’t as affected. This emotional instability has long been associated with hormonal changes [...]

1. Physical Pain and Emotional Pain
2. Men’s Brains vs. Women’s Brains: Social Implications of Neuroimaging (Part 1 of 2)
3. Stress Is Very Bad For Your Health- Whether You’re a Human or a Baboon

Do you ever read about a study that’s received a million dollar grant and think, “Who would spend a million dollars to study THAT? And what kind of scientists would want to spend their time on it?” That’s what I first thought when I heard about research on sea slug brains. I couldn’t figure out [...]

1. Want a Brain Like Einstein’s?
2. When It Comes To The Brain, Size Doesn’t Matter
3. Sleep-Deprived? Your Neurons May Be Napping–Even When You’re Awake

Perhaps you’ve heard that we humans are special in the animal world because our brains are so very, very big for our size. Not true, as it turns out. Sure, they’re big compared to a bird brain or a dog brain, but in the primate world our brain size is pretty unremarkable–at least according to this [...]

1. InSight Training and Bike Racing
2. Studying Sea Slugs?
3. Men’s Brains vs. Women’s Brains: Social Implications of Neuroimaging (Part 2 of 2)

This weekend, I read a fascinating article in Wired magazine about stress and your health. (The article isn’t online yet, but the author of the article, Jonah Lehrer, has pieces of the article on his blog.) {UPDATE: the article is posted on the Wired website now.} Lehrer talked to primatologist Robert Sapolsky about stress in [...]

1. Learning, Thinking, Feeling: People vs. Animals
2. Unconstrain Your Brain
3. Neanderthal Brains, Human Brains

A recent article by Fran Johns, a great True/Slant contributor who has written about Posit Science, talks all about telomeres. If you don’t know what telomeres are (I didn’t), they are protective caps on our chromosomes that help to regulate cell aging. Long telomeres = “younger” cellular age and better cell health. Short telomeres = “older” [...]

1. UCSF Researchers Show InSight Program Improves Working Memory
2. Men’s Brains vs. Women’s Brains: Social Implications of Neuroimaging (Part 1 of 2)
3. When It Comes To The Brain, Size Doesn’t Matter

Viewing television and playing video games each are associated with increased subsequent attention problems in childhood.

1. More Evidence: Playing the Right Type of Video Game Improves Real-world Brain Performance
2. Brain Plasticity Cuts Both Ways: How Does Technology Affect The Brains of Children?
3. Unlocking Alzheimer’s in the Mountains of Colombia