Brain
- Health & Medicine
Speaking Mandarin may offer kids a musical edge
Scientists have linked a type of musical ability with the knowledge of Mandarin, the primary language of China.
- Brain
Chewing or breathing sounds make you seethe? Blame your brain
People who can’t stand everyday sounds, such as chewing and breathing. The reason traces to how their brains are wired, new research finds.
- Science & Society
Heartbeat can affect racial perception of threat
Links between nerves in the heart and the brain shed light on why some police may be more likely to shoot an unarmed person who’s black than one who is white.
- Health & Medicine
Bullying hurts — but peer support really helps
Bullied kids face more mental illness as adults, new studies find. Other research suggests support from other kids can lessen the impacts.
- Brain
Stuttering: Blood flow in the brain may play a role
A new study shows people who stutter have less blood flow to a language center in the brain known as Broca’s area.
- Brain
Explainer: What is dopamine?
Dopamine is a chemical messenger that carries signals between brain cells. It also gets blamed for addiction. And a shortage of it gets blamed for symptoms of diseases such as Parkinson’s.
- Brain
Explainer: What is neurotransmission?
When brain cells need to pass messages to one another, they use chemicals called neurotransmitters. This sharing of chemical secrets is known as neurotransmission.
- Science & Society
Don’t let math stress you out
New research points to strategies for improving math performance in people who get stressed out by the numbers world.
- Animals
Animals can do ‘almost math’
Humans aren’t the only animals with a number sense. Scientists are trying to figure out where and when it evolved.
- Brain
To reveal how the brain creates joy, start by tickling rats
Rats love a good tickle. Not only do they beg for more, but the action itself activates a part of the brain that detects touch, researchers find.
- Psychology
What makes a pretty face?
Beautiful faces are symmetrical and average. Do we prefer them because this makes them easier for our brains to process?
- Brain
Lying sets up a liar’s brain to lie more
As people lie more, activity in one brain region falls, a new study finds. It’s an area associated with emotion.
