Brain

Tech

New light on brain science

A combination of physics, biology and engineering lets scientists use light to trigger actions by specific brain cells. Called optogenetics, this technology is shining new light on how the brain works.

Brain

Explainer: What is anxiety?

Anxiety is the stress linked to worries about an upcoming event — one that may not even happen. But anxiety can affect the body every bit as much as does the stress provoked by staring down a hungry lion.

Brain

Study challenges safety for teens of two depression drugs

Scientists reanalyze data on the safety of common drugs to treat depression and find that they don’t seem to help teens. Worse, the drugs may harm them.

Environment

Stuffy classrooms may lower test scores

New research links fresh air in classrooms to test scores. Elementary-school students in stuffy classrooms, it found, may perform worse on standardized tests.

Brain

Parents’ math anxiety can ‘infect’ kids

A study of first- and second- graders found that kids whose parents fear math learn less math at school ¬— but only when parents help with homework.

Brain

Childhood stress can leave changes in the adult brain

A new study finds that young men who had experienced lots of stress early in life carried a lasting legacy — changes in the size and shape of their brains.

Health & Medicine

Explainer: The nico-teen brain

Both e-cigarettes and tobacco products can release large amounts of nicotine during use. Nicotine is the chemical that makes tobacco addictive — and the teen brain is especially vulnerable to it.

Health & Medicine

Identifying as a different gender

People grappling with gender identity issues (and their families) face difficult choices. As society increasingly accepts transgender youth, more research is needed to understand how better to support them.

Brain

Soccer: Watch out for collisions!

Scientists discover that concussions among high school soccer players stem more from aggressive contact between players than from heading the ball.

Health & Medicine

Gender: When the body and brain disagree

Researchers are working to untangle the highly complex relationship between our biology and our identity. In some individuals, a conflict can emerge, leading to a transgender identity.

Brain

Explainer: Sometimes the body mixes up male and female

Certain medical conditions demonstrate how complicated biology can be. Being genetically male and female will not guarantee that your body won’t sometimes contain one or more features of both.

Health & Medicine

Sugar makes mice sleepy

Sugar may amp up sleep-promoting cells in the brain, a new study in mice finds.