On the whole, brain scans shore up what we’ve known all along about our emotions: some are positive and some are negative.
Brain
Be Honest. Does this Study Make My Butt Look Big?
Are you sitting down? A British researcher has proposed a new form of reflexology — one based on the notion that the sensations of the body are mapped onto the buttocks, just as they are in the brain, where they can more …
Study: Acupuncture May Change the Way the Brain Perceives Pain
The idea of pricking your body with needles in order to relieve pain seems nothing if not counterintuitive, but thousands of acupuncture patients swear the treatments are effective in addressing pain of all kinds.
They All Look the Same: How Racism Works Neurologically
You’ve heard the racial epithet: All you people look the same. It’s detestable, but a new study shows that the racist observation happens to be true.
I Know the Truth, So Don’t Bother Me With Facts
Global warming is a hoax! Climate change, like autism, is actually caused by vaccines, typically administered by Apollo astronauts who didn’t really land on the moon. Oh, and President Obama was born in Kenya. These, at least, …
Debunking the Headlines: Falling in Love in 0.2 Sec.? We Don’t Think So
An assistant professor of psychology at Syracuse University wanted to know what love looked like in the brain. So she analyzed a collection of studies that focused on imaging the brain during romantic moments. What she found was …
The ‘Mommy Brain’ Is Bigger: How Love Grows a New Mother’s Brain
Take heart, new moms: you may be feeling overwhelmed, exhausted and distracted, but your brain is actually growing. Especially if you’re the kind of mom who’s been driving your friends and family mad by talking about how perfect, …
Why Hearing Half of a Cell-Phone Conversation Drives You Nuts
I was walking in front of Grand Central Terminal on 42nd St. one evening and overheard a man in a business suit talking — and lying — on his cell phone. “I’m in the supermarket,” he said. “Just got here.”
Brain Science: Does Being Left-Handed Make You Angry?
We used to think that the left brain controlled your thinking and that the right brain controlled your heart. But neuroscientists have learned that it’s a lot more complicated.
Training Your Brain to Learn Better (Even Without Drugs)
I’m excited to be starting my “new school year” as a blogger here on Healthland — and what better way to begin than with news about boosting your ability to learn, using neuroscience! One of the hottest articles flying around the Web today is Benedict Carey’s great New York Times science story headlined “Forget What You Know …
Was the JetBlue slide incident caused by head injury?
Many explanations have been offered for JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater’s meltdown and dramatic emergency slide exit on Monday—from “air rage” to suggestions of a relapse into alcoholism. But none of the media coverage has noted what could be the most obvious and chilling reason for his bizarre behavior: at the beginning of …
Mind and Diet Update: Processed Foods linked to Depression, High Protein to Alzheimer’s
The news on eating a whole food, primarily plant-based diet just keeps getting better. Three new studies add more support to the idea that these kinds of foods are good for the brain. The first found that eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables—compared to one made up mostly of processed, sweetened foods—lowers the risk of …
Deep brain stimulation for severe Tourette syndrome
Deep brain stimulation may be a safe and effective treatment for people with severe Tourette syndrome, according to research appearing this week in the journal Neurology. Roughly 2 million Americans have Tourette syndrome, a neurological disorder characterized by uncontrolled movements and vocalizations or tics, lasting more than a year. …
