Human Quirks: Mind & Brain
July 9, 2025
Top Headlines
July 7, 2025 Feeling jittery as the week kicks off isn’t just a mood—it leaves a biochemical footprint. Researchers tracked thousands of older adults and found those who dread Mondays carry elevated cortisol in their hair for months, a stress echo that may ...
July 6, 2025 Ambroxol, long used for coughs in Europe, stabilized symptoms and brain-damage markers in Parkinson’s dementia patients over 12 months, whereas placebo patients worsened. Those with high-risk genes ...
July 6, 2025 Immersing stressed volunteers in a 360° virtual Douglas-fir forest complete with sights, sounds and scents boosted their mood, sharpened short-term memory and deepened their feeling of nature-connectedness—especially when all three senses were ...
July 5, 2025 In the frozen reaches of the planet—glaciers, mountaintops, and icy groundwater—scientists have uncovered strange light-sensitive molecules in tiny microbes. These “cryorhodopsins” can respond to light in ways that might let researchers turn ...
July 2, 2025 A new brain scan tool shows how quickly your body and mind are aging. It can spot early signs of diseases like dementia, long before symptoms begin. The scan looks at hidden clues in your brain to ...
July 2, 2025 Locked-down Hungarians who gained or lost pets saw almost no lasting shift in mood or loneliness, and new dog owners actually felt less calm and satisfied over time—hinting that the storied “pet effect” may be more myth than mental-health ...
July 1, 2025 Over a thousand students revealed a striking link between lactose intolerance and nightmare-filled nights, hinting that midnight stomach turmoil from dairy can invade dreams. Researchers suggest simple diet tweaks especially ditching late-night ...
June 29, 2025 Deleting a gene called PTEN in certain brain cells disrupts the brain’s fear circuitry and triggers anxiety-like behavior in mice — key traits seen in autism. Researchers mapped how this genetic tweak throws off the brain's delicate balance of ...
June 25, 2025 Our brains may work best when teetering on the edge of chaos. A new theory suggests that criticality a sweet spot between order and randomness is the secret to learning, memory, and adaptability. ...
June 25, 2025 A blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss drug might be doing more than controlling blood sugar—it could also be protecting the brain. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University found that people ...
June 24, 2025 A groundbreaking wireless implant promises real-time, personalized pain relief using AI and ultrasound power no batteries, no wires, and no opioids. Designed by USC and UCLA engineers, it reads brain signals, adapts on the fly, and bends naturally ...
June 20, 2025 A common diabetes drug may be the next big thing for migraine relief. In a clinical study, obese patients with chronic migraines who took liraglutide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist, experienced over 50% fewer headache days and significantly improved ...
Latest Headlines
updated 11:27am EDT
July 4, 2025 Mice taught to link smells with tastes, and later fear, revealed how the amygdala teams up with cortical regions to let the brain draw powerful indirect connections. Disabling this circuit erased the ...
July 3, 2025 Anger isn’t just a fleeting emotion—it plays a deeper role in women’s mental and physical health during midlife. A groundbreaking study tracking over 500 women aged 35 to 55 reveals that anger ...
July 1, 2025 A sweeping review of more than a century’s research upends the popular notion that left-handers are naturally more creative. Cornell psychologist Daniel Casasanto’s team sifted nearly a thousand ...
June 23, 2025 Scientists at the University of Amsterdam discovered that our brains automatically understand how we can move through different environments—whether it's swimming in a lake or walking a ...
June 20, 2025 Self-esteem scores jumped a remarkable 131% within just one year of bariatric surgery, according to a large study presented at ASMBS 2025. Tracking nearly 5,800 patients, researchers found a direct ...
June 19, 2025 With $860K in Navy funding, MSU psychologists are developing tools to spot people who can handle complex tasks under pressure. The key? Mastering "placekeeping" staying focused and accurate even when ...
June 18, 2025 Imagine diagnosing Parkinson s disease not with pricey scans or subjective checklists, but with a simple ear swab. Scientists in China have developed a promising early screening method that detects ...
June 18, 2025 When faced with a tricky maze task involving hidden information, humans instinctively toggle between two clever mental strategies: simplifying in ...
June 16, 2025 When we focus, switch tasks, or face tough mental challenges, the brain starts to sync its internal rhythms, especially in the midfrontal region. A new study has found that smarter individuals show ...
June 16, 2025 Psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, might just revolutionize how depression and anxiety are treated in cancer patients. In a ...
Earlier Headlines
June 14, 2025 A team at Kobe University has created a game-changing resource for autism research: 63 mouse embryonic stem cell lines, each carrying a genetic mutation strongly associated with the disorder. By ...
June 12, 2025 A team at UC Davis has made a major leap in neurotechnology, enabling a man with ALS to speak again through a brain-computer interface that converts thoughts into speech in real time. Unlike prior ...
June 12, 2025 A team of scientists has discovered a direct link between the smell of food and feelings of fullness at least in lean mice. This brain circuit, located in the medial septum and triggered by food ...
June 14, 2025 Rutgers scientists have uncovered a tug-of-war inside the brain between hunger and satiety, revealing two newly mapped neural circuits that battle over when to eat and when to stop. These findings ...
June 7, 2025 Humpback whales have been observed blowing bubble rings during friendly interactions with humans a behavior never before documented. This surprising display may be more than play; it could represent ...
June 7, 2025 Cannabis use among older Americans has climbed dramatically, with 7% of adults 65 and older now reporting recent use. This rise isn't just in numbers but also in diversity older users today are ...
June 2, 2025 Listening to sound doesn t just trigger brain activity it reshapes your brain s internal networks in real time. Scientists have unveiled a powerful new imaging method, FREQ-NESS, that traces how ...
May 29, 2025 Researchers gave participants face tattoos that can track when their brain is working too hard. The study introduces a non-permanent wireless forehead e-tattoo that decodes brainwaves to measure ...
May 28, 2025 A review of experimental research reveals how VR is best used and why it's struggled to become a megahit with ...
May 27, 2025 Researchers have a new hypothesis for how brain cells called astrocytes might contribute to memory storage in the brain. Their model, known as dense associative memory, would help explain the ...
May 27, 2025 How come you can't tickle yourself? And why can some people handle tickling perfectly fine while others scream their heads off? Neuroscientists argue that we should take tickle research more ...
May 27, 2025 When it comes to public attitudes toward using self-driving cars, understanding how the vehicles work is important -- but so are less obvious characteristics like feelings of excitement or pleasure ...
May 22, 2025 Is artificial intelligence (AI) capable of suggesting appropriate behavior in emotionally charged situations? A team put six generative AIs -- including ChatGPT -- to the test using emotional ...
May 21, 2025 The smallest grooves on the brain's surface, unique to humans, have largely been ignored by anatomists, but recent studies show that they're related to cognitive performance, including face ...
May 16, 2025 Researchers have found that wild orangutans vocalize with a layered complexity previously thought to be unique to human communication, suggesting a much older evolutionary ...
May 15, 2025 Agents, chatbots and other tools based on artificial intelligence (AI) are increasingly used in everyday life by many. So-called large language model (LLM)-based agents, such as ChatGPT and Llama, ...
May 8, 2025 What makes people think an AI system is creative? New research shows that it depends on how much they see of the creative act. The findings have implications for how we research and design creative ...
May 7, 2025 Parents' genes -- even when not directly inherited by a child -- may play a role in their educational and mental health outcomes, finds a new ...
May 6, 2025 Your brain and body literally “sync” with music, according to new research. Instead of just understanding rhythm, our neural circuits physically resonate with it—shaping how we feel and move to ...
May 5, 2025 Snuff tubes uncovered at Chavin de Huantar in Peru reveal how leaders used mystical experiences to cement their ...
Saturday, June 14, 2025
Thursday, June 12, 2025
- Brain-Computer Interface Restores Real-Time Speech in ALS Patient
- The Hunger Switch in Your Nose: How Smells Tell Your Brain to Stop Eating
Saturday, June 14, 2025
Saturday, June 7, 2025
- Whales Blow Bubble Rings--And They Might Be Talking to Us
- Cannabis Use Among Seniors Surges 46% in Two Years--Study Reveals
Monday, June 2, 2025
Thursday, May 29, 2025
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
- Overlooked Cells Might Explain the Human Brain's Huge Storage Capacity
- Why After 2000 Years We Still Don't Know How Tickling Works
- Emotional Responses Crucial to Attitudes About Self-Driving Cars
Thursday, May 22, 2025
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Friday, May 16, 2025
Thursday, May 15, 2025
Thursday, May 8, 2025
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
Monday, May 5, 2025
- Ancient Andes Society Used Hallucinogens to Strengthen Social Order
- Children as Young as Five Can Navigate a 'tiny Town'
Friday, May 2, 2025
Thursday, May 1, 2025
- Artificial Sense of Touch, Improved
- New Research Reveals How Physiology-Inspired Networks Could Improve Political Decision-Making
- Good Karma for Me, Bad Karma for You
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Monday, April 28, 2025
- Advancing AI for Diverse Applications in Manufacturing, Business and Education
- A Neuro-Quantum Leap in Finding Optimal Solutions
Thursday, April 24, 2025
Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Monday, April 21, 2025
Friday, April 18, 2025
Tuesday, April 15, 2025
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
- AI Models of the Brain Could Serve as 'digital Twins' In Research
- Scientists Complete Largest Wiring Diagram and Functional Map of the Brain to Date
Thursday, April 3, 2025
Tuesday, April 1, 2025
Thursday, March 27, 2025
- First Therapy Chatbot Trial Shows AI Can Provide 'gold-Standard' Care
- Feeling the Future: New Wearable Tech Simulates Realistic Touch
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Friday, March 21, 2025
Thursday, March 20, 2025
- Novel Memristors to Overcome AI's 'catastrophic Forgetting'
- Insomniac Fruit Fly Mutants Show Enhanced Memory Despite Severe Sleep Loss
- Why Don't We Remember Being a Baby? New Study Provides Clues
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
- A Rubber Hand Alleviates Pain
- To the Brain, Esperanto and Klingon Appear the Same as English or Mandarin
Monday, March 17, 2025
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Thursday, March 6, 2025
- Paralyzed Man Moves Robotic Arm With His Thoughts
- Touchless Tech: Control Fabrics With a Wave of Your Finger
Wednesday, March 5, 2025
Monday, March 3, 2025
Thursday, February 27, 2025
Friday, February 21, 2025
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Monday, February 3, 2025
Friday, January 31, 2025
- Sound Is a Primary Issue in the Lives of Skateboarders, Study Shows
- The Big Chill: Is Cold-Water Immersion Good for Our Health?
Thursday, January 30, 2025
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
- Scientists Identify Neurons in Mice That, Once Activated, Can Change Body's Metabolic Rate, Induce Hibernation-Like State
- Building Sentence Structure May Be Language-Specific
- 'Unprecedented' Level of Control Allows Person Without Use of Limbs to Operate Virtual Quadcopter
Thursday, January 16, 2025
Wednesday, January 8, 2025
Tuesday, January 7, 2025
Tuesday, December 17, 2024
- Brain Cells Remain Healthy After a Month on the International Space Station, but Mature Faster Than Brain Cells on Earth
- Heart Rate Activity Influences When Infants Speak
- Travelers Weigh in on Weight-Based Airfares for Eco-Friendly Skies
Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Monday, December 9, 2024
- Researchers 'see' Vulnerability to Gaming Addiction in the Adolescent Brain
- Scientists Create AI That 'watches' Videos by Mimicking the Brain
- Giving a Gift? Better Late Than Never, Study Finds
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
Monday, December 2, 2024
Monday, November 25, 2024
Thursday, November 21, 2024
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
- Northerners, Scots and Irish Excel at Detecting Fake Accents to Guard Against Outsiders, Study Suggests
- Synchronized Movement Between Robots and Humans Builds Trust, Study Finds
Tuesday, November 19, 2024
Monday, November 18, 2024
Friday, November 15, 2024
Thursday, November 14, 2024
- Texting Abbreviations Makes Senders Seem Insincere, Study Finds
- NeuroMechFly V2: Simulating How Fruit Flies See, Smell, and Navigate
Thursday, November 7, 2024
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
Thursday, October 24, 2024
- AI-Generated News Is Harder to Understand, Study Finds
- Study of Chick Peeps Could Improve Understanding of Animal Emotions