Mind & Brain / Learning

The Brain: Stop Paying Attention: Zoning Out Is a Crucial Mental State

Researchers say a wandering mind may be important to setting goals, making discoveries, and living a balanced life. 06.15.2009

Looking at Stress—and God—in the Human Brain

DISCOVER reporter David Ewing Duncan uses fMRI to try to track his thoughts on some big questions. 04.24.2009

Are Smart Drugs the Answer to Bad Moods—and a Bad Economy?

Today’s mind-altering chemicals can improve your memory, alertness, and mood. Just wait until you see what tomorrow’s crop can do. 04.02.2009

Music, Melody, and the Strange Pull They Exert Over Our Minds

Cognitive scientist Matthew Schulkind knows "earworms" inside and out—especially those spawned by the Wiggles. 03.26.2009

Which Brain Games Will Help Your Brain the Most?

Hint: You can play some of the best games right here on DISCOVERmagazine.com. 03.24.2009

How Can You Tell If Your IM Buddy Is Really a Machine?

Hint: Ask it about Sarah Palin. 03.23.2009

The New Theory About Why Animals Sleep: to Maintain the Immune System

New study shows that mammals that sleep more have more immune cells and fewer parasites. 03.22.2009

The Pugnacious Paper That Aims to Turn Neuroscience on Its Head

fMRI has revolutionized our understanding of the brain. But some researchers say it's actually a big misunderstanding. 03.18.2009

The First Pre-School: Animals Learning Before Birth

Advance lessons in avoiding predators and identifying kin 02.15.2009

Think Animals Don't Think Like Us? Think Again

One extraordinary parrot helped shatter our preconceptions about animal intelligence. 01.20.2009

What Makes You Uniquely "You"?

Nobel laureate Gerald Edelman says your brain is one-of-a-kind in the history of the universe. 01.16.2009

How Google Is Making Us Smarter

Humans are "natural-born cyborgs," and the Internet is our giant "extended mind." 01.15.2009

#30: Magpies Recognize Themselves in the Mirror

The birds pass the test for "rudimentary sense of self." 12.17.2008

#36: Creationism Lurks in Public High Schools

One in six teachers say they believe the earth is 6,000 years old. 12.15.2008

#39: Amazonian Tribe Doesn't Have Words for Numbers

The Pirahã people overturned scientists' belief about human cognition. 12.15.2008

#52: Musical Ability Seems to Be 50 Percent Genetic

Beethovens of the world may have innate advantages like better signaling from inner-ear hair cells. 12.12.2008

#56: Memory Training Can Make You Smarter

Your intelligence isn't just what you're born with. 12.11.2008

#58: Smart People Are Better Able to Keep a Beat

Good neural functioning is good neural functioning. 12.11.2008

#71: Slime Molds Show Surprising Degree of Intelligence

A creature with no brain can learn from and even anticipate events. 12.09.2008

He Found the Innate Humanity in the Human Brain

“Noam Chomsky’s position in the history of ideas is comparable to that of Darwin or Descartes.” 12.01.2008

The "Monkey Whisperer" Learns the Secrets of Primate Economics

Laurie Santos penetrates the world of monkeys... and finds they're more like humans than we think. 10.13.2008

20 Things You Didn't Know About... Genius

The Nobel Prizes will soon be announced. How do the winners get so damn smart? 10.01.2008

Forecasting the Future May Be a Matter of Fun and Games

A new online game uses crowdsourcing to find out how to save humans from extinction. 09.05.2008

Complexity in a Grain of Sand; Simplicity in a Book

"Simplexity" explores the intricacy of everyday life. 06.18.2008

Conquering Your Fears, One Synapse at a Time

Proteins in the brain may be the key to un-learning fear—or retaining memory. 04.28.2008

"You Just Readed This Headline Correctly"

When it comes to unique verbs, speakers use 'em or lose 'em. 04.10.2008

63. The First Robot That Walks Like a Human: Lazily

RunBot falls forward and reacts rather than computing every variable. 01.11.2008

Boy, Interrupted

A rare brain disorder robs children of language and leaves doctors perplexed. 11.07.2007

Household Robots

Smart machines can adapt to the world instead of needing the world to adapt to them. 10.29.2007

Brain Gardening

Blocking a brain chemical in some people with mental retardation makes their neurons grow like healthy plants. 10.10.2007

Why Has Steven Pinker Studied Verbs for 20 Years?

The rules of language may reveal how our brains really work. 09.17.2007

Vital Signs: Misdiagnosing ADHD

Just because it's in vogue doesn't mean it's accurate. 08.22.2007

Is It Possible to Erase a Single Memory?

Researchers take one step toward Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. 07.31.2007

This is Your Brain on Video Games

Gaming sharpens thinking, social skills, and perception. 07.09.2007

Lingua Ex Machina

Deaf Bedouin children created a complete language. 07.03.2007

New Pseudoscience Patina, Same Snake Oil

The Secret's self-help message is just common knowledge. 06.20.2007

Blinded by Science: IQ Is Dumb

Get ready for gentler aptitude ratings like Ideaphoria and Foresight. 05.23.2007

Video Games vs. the Aging Brain

How a mental gym can tone your mind and stave off memory loss. 05.21.2007

Reviews: Rewiring the Brain

A change of mind is now everyone’s prerogative. 03.29.2007

Raw Data: Scents and Scents-Ability

Our clumsy noses won't win any sniffing contests, but we can use them to find chocolate. 03.15.2007

Blinded by Science: The New Hypnosis

It's benevolent, it's peaceful, and your iPod can be the hypnotist. 03.12.2007

Speaking Songbird

A human speech gene is found in other sonically skilled animals: songbirds, hummingbirds, bats, and dolphins. 03.07.2007

Attention Training

A video game, of all things, can improve young children's attention spans. 03.02.2007

Brain Damage Can Make You Brilliant

Strap on your iron helmet: Zapping your brain with magnetic flux makes you (temporarily) smarter. 10.13.2006

Can New Neurons Teach an Old Mouse?

We've got much more to learn about learning. 06.26.2006

Relax And Think Like A Rat

People and animals learn best when given breaks between tasks. 05.28.2006

Discover Dialogue: Neuroscientist Giulio Tononi

Sleep is the price we pay for such a fantastic learning instrument as the brain 08.06.2005

Baby Talk

03.25.2005

The Year in Science: Brain 1997

Keeping Track of Things 01.01.1998

S/He-Brains

06.01.1995

Writing Right

Some written languages are a precise reflection of a people's speech, while others, like english, are a complete mess. Is this alphabetical evolution? Or the unequal application of logic to literacy? 06.01.1994

Kids, Creoles, and the Coconuts

Derek Bickerton plans to isolate little kids before they've learned any language to see if they'll invent one. 04.01.1992