Mind & Brain

#76: Environment Gets More Blame for Autism


A new study suggests that environment accounts for more than half of autism risk, while genes are responsible for about 40 percent. 01.05.2012

#69: Cell Phones Alter Brain 
Metabolism


A 50-minute phone call boosts metabolism in the brain regions closest to the antenna, including areas involved in language, decision making, and emotional processing. 01.05.2012

Mind Over Motor: Controlling Robots With Your Thoughts

A clever new system helps paralyzed patients and computers work together to control a robot, helping to connect locked-in people with the world. 01.04.2012

#42: The Too-Sure Thing

Overconfidence can help explain wars, financial disasters, and collapsed 
civilizations. Social scientist James Fowler explores how such a destructive social 
trait manages to thrive. 12.29.2011

Sewing Audio to Video, and Rubber Hands Onto People

When perceptions get mismatched in the mind, we can fall prey to maddening 
illusions, and reality is turned on its head. 12.15.2011

How Pot, Cocaine, and Hunger Intersect in the Brain

Researchers are studying the role that the endocannabinoid system plays in cravings, and using their findings to try to control our excesses. 12.01.2011

Discover Interview: The Radical Linguist Noam Chomsky

Over 50 years ago, he began a revolution that's still playing out today. 11.29.2011

Maybe You Do Need a Hole in Your Head—to Let the Medicine In

To heal the brain, scientists are trying to poke through the shield that isolates it from the rest of the body. 11.15.2011

How to Fix Our Most Vexing Problems, From Mosquitoes to Potholes to Missing Corpses

No dice yet on getting a jetpack in every garage, but the near future will include some other nice improvements to our lives and communities. 11.14.2011

When Good Tweets Go Bad

Some birds seem to have grammatical rules in their songs. And they'll let you hear about it if you mess up. 11.07.2011

Of Mice and Men and Medicines

Drugs that alleviate symptoms of mental illness in mice often wind up producing human treatments. There is just one small problem: Rodent breakdowns look nothing like ours. 11.05.2011

Your Brain Knows a Lot More Than You Realize

Neuroscientist David Eagleman explores the processes and skills of the subconscious mind, which our conscious selves rarely consider. 10.27.2011

Eyes Are the Windows to the Soul; Skin Is a Window to the Brain

A personalized source of stem cells could help find safer, more effective treatments for mental disorders. 10.25.2011

The Language Fossils Buried in Every Cell of Your Body

A British family with a bizarre speech deficit 
has led linguists to FOXP2: a gene that begins to 
explain how our ancestors acquired language. 10.17.2011

How I Became a Master of Memory

A DISCOVER 
writer stretches his mind and earns a place 
at the World Memory 
Championships 
 10.06.2011

What You Don't Know Can Kill You

Humans have a perplexing 
tendency to fear rare threats such as shark attacks while blithely 
ignoring far greater risks like 
unsafe sex and an unhealthy diet. Those illusions are not just 
silly—they make the world a more dangerous place.
 10.03.2011