When Crying Triggers Murder
Crying provoke positive, supportive, caregiving responses, as well as negative, destructive, responses.
Read MoreElectrical Stimulation of Brain Circuit to Control Good Behavior
Human beings are utterly dependent on a complex social structure for their survival. Since all behavior is controlled by the brain, human beings may have evolved specialized neural circuits that are responsible for compliance with society’s rules. A new study has identified such a region in the human brain, and researchers can increase or decrease…
Read MoreWhat Neuroscience (and Cows) Tell us About the Government Shut-Down
The actions of congressmen and women in the government shutdown would not be possible without the neuroscience of human herding behavior and the loss of normal constraints on deviant behavior that this causes.
Read MoreMap the Brain–Not Just Neurons
Our understanding of one half of the brain (the part comprised of astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and microglia) lags a century behind our knowledge of neurons.
Read MoreBrain Scan Can Reveal How Much School Work You’ve Done
Much like the age of a fish can be determined by the number of rings on its scales, a new study shows that the number of years a person has studied in school can be seen on a brain scan decades later by measuring the growth in certain brain regions. …
Read MoreNeuroscience
I was stopped at a red light. Through my rear view mirror I saw the car speeding toward me. The driver was looking down operating a cell phone in his lap. I considered putting my car in park because the rapid acceleration in a crash is what damages, but I did not want to…
Read MoreThe Collapse of Science, Not Housing, Ended the American Dream
(First published on Huffington Post Science) The job of a scientist is to predict the future and get there first. We do this by looking for patterns in subtle clues; organizing the fragments thoughtfully to project their likely trajectory. It is this process that moves me to write this essay; in essence an epitaph from…
Read MoreErasing Memory: No Longer Science Fiction
The fact is, there is no convincing evidence that the memory of specific experience (called declarative memory) can be erased in humans–until now.
Read MoreOn Boylston Street
(First published on BrainFacts.org ) The last time I was on Boylston Street it was to give a lecture in November at a scientific meeting in the Weston Hotel. Today, Sunday, I’m looking out onto an empty street, barricaded. An eerie modern-day ghost town festooned with yellow police tape rippling in the cold Boston wind. …
Read MoreRecognizing the Face of a Murder
The test subjects were able to suss out the murders on appearance alone, even though the photos were tightly cropped to reveal nothing but the parts of the human face that communicates emotion and internal states–eyes, nose, and mouth.
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