Poverty May Be Bad for the Brain
Research finds evidence that brains age faster among people of lower socioeconomic status.
Brain
How Neuroscience Can Help Us Treat Trafficked Youth
Brain research gives insight into why abused youth are more vulnerable to exploitation—and how we can help them heal.
PS Picks: Rachel Aviv's Latest Masterful Mental-Health Narrative in 'The New Yorker'
PS Picks is a selection of the best things that the magazine's staff and contributors are reading, watching, or otherwise paying attention to in the worlds of art, politics, and culture.
Music Teachers Believe a Lot of Myths
New research from Germany suggests many are unclear regarding which claims about music and the brain have actually been confirmed.
Keep Your Brain Sharp: Eat Chocolate
New research provides more evidence linking cocoa consumption to enhanced cognitive functioning.
Our Limited Understanding of the Fetish
The lack of insightful scientific information on what drives fetishes points toward a loosening of restrictions and a widening of what defines "normal."
A Scanner Constantly
Living with a brain tumor can often mean feeling reduced to your clinical records.
Can You Think Yourself Into a Different Person?
We used to believe our brains couldn’t be changed. Now we believe they can—if we want it enough. But is that true?
Creativity, Emotions, and the Brain
New research finds different patterns of brain activity when improvising musicians are expressing happy feelings, as opposed to sad ones.
The Unique Flexibility of the Human Brain
Scientists find that, compared to our closest primate relatives, the landscape of the human brain is exceptionally sensitive to external influences.
What's Behind Post-Brain Injury Depression and Anxiety?
A study suggests damaged white matter, the brain's signal cables, may be to blame.
Are MRIs Leaving Toxic Traces in the Brain?
Researchers raise alarms about unknown health risks of GE’s Omniscan and Bayer’s Magnevist, drugs injected to get better MRI pictures that contain the heavy metal gadolinium.
Wanted: Old Musician’s Brain
Musical training early in life may offset the decline in speech processing that comes decades later.
The Game Slowed Down
Athletes often claim that their breakthroughs come when a game starts unfolding at a slower pace. Can psychology explain the phenomenon they're describing?
The Frustrating Hunt for the Genes That Make Us Human
Researchers are finding many genes unique to our species, but so far they reveal little about our most human traits.
At What Age Does Your Brain Peak?
Intellectual abilities don't all follow the same trends as we age, according to new research.
Stimulating Your Brain, Wirelessly
A novel approach to deep brain stimulation could lead to a better understanding of the technique and perhaps new treatments as well.
Understanding Traumatic Brain Injury in Prisons
Offenders with brain injuries make up a huge percentage of prison populations; they also enter the criminal justice system earlier, and stay in it longer.
How Time Tricks Our Minds
The brain sometimes renders new and traumatic events in slow motion so it can adequately inventory the details.
Harry Potter on the Brain
New research finds fictional descriptions of fantastic events tickle our brains in unique ways.
How Learning Artistic Skills Alters the Brain
New research finds neural changes not only reflecting increased technical capacities, but also enhanced creativity.
For Juvenile Records, It's 'Justice by Geography'
A new study finds an inconsistent patchwork of policies across states for how juvenile records are sealed and expunged.
What If It Were Possible to Learn Any New Skill?
You’ve heard to start studying foreign languages (and music and reading and memorization skills and more) at a young age, when your brain is better prepared to retain that information. New research suggests a drug typically used to combat epilepsy and bipolar disorder could help us retain that skill even as we age.