Mind & Brain / Senses

What Is This... A Hi-Tech Pin Cushion?

Hint: There are a lot fewer of them now than there were a few years ago. 11.18.2009

What Do Urban Sounds Do to Your Brain?

A sonic tour of New York, from the agonizing screech of the Union Square subway station to one of the quietest rooms in the city: Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center 07.24.2009

Why Ghost Hunters Is the Best Science Show on TV

No matter how silly and misguided, Ghost Hunters captures an element of science that Numb3rs, House, and even Mythbusters miss. 07.22.2009

Can a Single Neuron Tell Halle Berry From Grandma Esther?

A new theory says the brain stores complex pieces of information in "sparse-coding networks." 05.15.2009

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

Is Quantum Mechanics Controlling Your Thoughts?

Science's weirdest realm may be responsible for photosynthesis, our sense of smell, and even consciousness itself. 01.13.2009

#24: Gene Therapy Returns (Some) Sight to (Some) Blind People

Genetic tinkering helps repair one rare form of congenital blindness. 12.17.2008

#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

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

Good neural functioning is good neural functioning. 12.11.2008

#72: Prozac Cures Lazy Eye

The antidepressent might be the answer to wiping out amblyopia for good. 12.09.2008

#75: Chilies' Fire Is Self-Defense Against a Surprising Foe

Capsaicin keeps fungus from chomping on pepper plants but does nothing to dissuade hungry bugs. 12.09.2008

#91: Humans Have 5 Universal Facial Muscles—and 10 Optional Ones

For the first time, psychologists mapped muscle variation in the face. 12.05.2008

A Visual Tour of the World of Science

An upcoming museum exhibit shows Technicolor microexplosions, water lilies as delicate as breast tissue, and more. 10.02.2008

Scientists Use High-Tech Dentures to Spy on Tongues

Now they can understand our surprisingly complicated oral physics. 09.22.2008

Want to Learn Biology? Have Someone Punch You in the Face.

Getting the crap knocked out of you is a great primer on how your body works—and fails. 09.14.2008

Could an Inner Zombie Be Controlling Your Brain?

Scientists have found evidence that the self-aware part of our brains isn't always in charge. 09.08.2008

Smell Your Way to Happiness

An ancient type of incense seems to act like an antidepressant drug when injected. 08.26.2008

What are Smells Made of?

From green tea to farts, a smell expert breaks down the chemicals of odor. 07.14.2008

How Your Brain Can Control Time

The three methods your mind uses to reverse, speed, and even slow the minutes. 07.12.2008

The Blind Climber Who "Sees" With His Tongue

Erik Weihenmayer's BrainPort translates images into electrical signals. 06.23.2008

The Cancer That Itches

A "deep" itch can signal that something's really wrong. 02.15.2008

74. Musical Scales Mimic the Sound of Language

The harmonics of human vocalization may generate the frequencies used in music. 01.14.2008

Birds Navigate Using Magnetic Compass-Vision

Combined with a GPS beak, it leads them on marathon migrations. 10.30.2007

The Most Important Future Military Technologies

Super lasers, binoculars that read minds, manipulating the "human terrain"... 10.04.2007

Shifty Eyes Provide Super Human Vision

Without jittery eye motion, our most powerful sense is blunted. 10.02.2007

Pavlovian Cockroaches Learn Like Dogs (and Humans)

Training bugs may help us understand our own brains. 09.05.2007

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

The Search for Sweet

There are about 500 compounds that taste sweet to the human tongue. No one has yet found one that tastes as good as sugar. 05.31.2007

Jaron’s World: Virtual Horizon

VR in the real world may soon surpass the famous glove from Minority Report. 05.11.2007

The Upside of Color Blindness

So what if you can’t be a pilot? 04.02.2007

Super Smellers

A mouse with an especially sharp nose could help old folks keep their sense of smell. 03.30.2007

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

Are We All Synesthetes?

Hear a painting, taste a symphony, and smell a color—is this what we do subconsciously? 12.15.2006

Wishful Seeing

Visual perception versus reality 08.17.2006

How to Make Anything Look Like a Toy, Round II

More visual candy from artist Olivo Barbieri 08.16.2006

Jaron's World: Heads-Up

Why your next telephone may come mounted on a neck. 07.30.2006

Seeing Machine

A new device uses LED light to give a blind poet sight. 07.28.2006

How To Make Anything Look Like a Toy

It's a small world after all that frame tilting. 07.01.2006

Not Your Father's Bifocals

The future of senior vision 07.01.2006

How To Make Anything Look Like a Toy

It's a small world after all that frame tilting. 07.01.2006

Rain Man's Brain Explained

Autistic children can mimic faces, but they can't read expressions. 05.28.2006

Jaron's World: I Smell, Therefore I Think

Did odors give rise to the first words? 05.27.2006

Born to Run

Humans are not the fastest animal in a sprint, but we're among running for the best-running species on Earth. 04.20.2006

The Future of Time

Can we increase productivity by revving up the neural pacemakers in the brain? 04.02.2006

Vanishing Vertigo

New device restores balance to the impaired. 03.31.2006

Dalai Lama Speaks Language of Science

Dalai Lama Speaks Language of Science 02.20.2006

The Nose Knows

12.01.2005

Focus Pocus

12.01.2005

Men Hear Women's Melodies

Men Hear Women's Melodies 11.22.2005

Canine Report

Canine Report 11.22.2005

Finding the Right Word Odor

Finding the Right Word Odor 09.09.2005

The Psychology of Déjà Vu

What really happens when moments in our lives seem to repeat themselves? 09.09.2005

The Chemistry of . . . Artificial Sweeteners

Pour a little fake sweetener on it, baby. 08.06.2005

Extreme States

Out-of-body experiences? Near-death experiences? Researchers are beginning to understand what's really going on. 07.24.2005

For the Eyes Only

05.01.2005

The Physics of . . . Changing Lanes

Is traffic passing you by? Relax. You may be moving faster than you think 04.28.2005

The Biology of . . . Bitterness

By blocking the right taste receptors, biotech researchers turn bitter into sweet 03.31.2005

Scrambled!

02.05.2004

NeuroQuest

How your brain gobbles up visual clues 01.02.2004

NeuroQuest

How your body mistakes a cold front for a heat wave 12.03.2003

Appeal of the Rare

11.06.2003

Noise Patrol

08.01.2003

Physical Chemistry

Is it your smile? Your laugh? Or your armpits? The frustrating science of finding pheromones. 07.01.2003

Can You See With Your Tongue?

The brain is so adaptable, some researchers now think, that any of the five senses can be rewired 06.01.2003

Mona Lisa Smile

06.01.2003

NeuroQuest

Trick your brain into seeing a spectrum that isn't there 04.01.2003

NeuroQuest

Why the brain gets tricked by optical illusions 01.01.2003

The Next Photography Revolution

Here comes a digital-camera chip that could change everything 12.01.2002

Wired for a Touch

12.01.2002

Cured of the Rings

09.01.2002

Follow Up:

08.01.2002

Sight Unseen

Two years after Mike May regained his sight, he still can't recognize his own wife. 06.01.2002

Noise to the Ears

06.01.2002

The Biology of . . . Humor

In search of the cerebral funny bone 05.01.2002

The Biology of . . . Perfect Pitch

Can your child learn some of Mozart's magic? 12.01.2001

The Genetic Mystery of Music

Does a mother's lullaby give an infant a better chance for survival? 08.01.2001

Artificial Sight

Just because we don't understand how the brain interprets the messages it gets from the eye doesn't mean we can't help the blind see again 08.01.2001

Sleepless in Space

05.01.2001

Tourist in a Taste Lab

The brain is the matermind of flavor but tongues are where it starts - and some are far more sensitive than others. 07.01.2000

The Pain Is in the Brain

The biggest headache for headache researchers has always been: Where does the pain come from? The answer might seem obvious, but it's nothing less than a revolutionary discovery 03.01.2000

I See Music

03.01.2000

Do You See What They See?

Neuroscientists think people with synesthesia might open a window into the ultimate mystery of human consciousness. 12.01.1999

Eye of the Beast

The next time a panther stares you down, just try to imagine what the world looks like from its point of view 12.01.1999

A Window on Consciousness

People with a bizarre condition called synesthesia see sound, smell colors, and taste shapes. Neuroscientists think they might open a window into the ultimate mystery of human consciousness. 12.01.1999

The Physics of ... Singing

How a simple cough made us musical. 08.01.1999

Vital Signs

What did Mr. Leonard's back have to do with his eyesight? 06.01.1999

What's a Pinna For?

02.01.1999

Eyes of the Beheld

08.01.1998

Bird Brains

08.01.1998

Vital Signs: Sounds of Silence

An accident threatened Mr. Sinclair's poor hearing. Could microsurgery save his fragile world? 04.01.1998

Music of the Hemispheres

Why can a toddler sing? Why is even the most ordinary human brain a library of melodies? 10.01.1996

The Electronic Nose

Can't tell a Chateau Margaux '82 from an '84? Can't stop worrying whether you turned off the gas? Get a new nose. On a chip. 09.01.1996

Movie Vision

08.01.1996

Seeing Things

07.01.1996

Ego Boundaries, or the Fit of My Father's Shirt

A neuroscientist racks his brains to find where one person ends and another begins. 11.01.1995

The Smell Files

08.01.1995

The Brain That Misplaced Its Body

Though paralyzed on one side, Mrs. M. claimed she wasn't--at least until she had cold water poured in her ear. Then, for a while, her brain could again perceive her body. And a neuroscientist could glimpse a secret about how we construct reality. 05.01.1995

The Importance of Noses

They do more than smell: they contain tiny bones that keep us from getting dehydrated. 08.01.1994

Silence, Signs, and Wonder

What is it about our brains that gives us the capacity for language? 08.01.1994

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

The Sniff of Legend

Human pheromones? Chemical sex attractants? And a sixth sense organ in the nose? What are we, animals? 04.01.1994

The Vision Thing: Mainly in the Brain

The eye and brain work in a partnership to interpret conflicting signals from the outside world. Ultimately, we see whatever our brains think we should. 06.01.1993

Good Vibrations

We're under siege from age, drugs, and rock and roll, and all that stands between us and utter silence in 32,000 dancing hearing receptors. 06.01.1993

Making Senses

Can electronic devices make the blind see, the deaf hear? Quite possibly yes. Is that a good thing? 06.01.1993

Touching the Phantom

Amputees can feel missing hands grab a cup of coffee, missing feet itch, and missing legs ache. Behind these ghostly sensations lies the secret of touch. 06.01.1993

In the Realm of the Chemical

Smell and taste have helped us navigate a world of foul poisons and sweet, voluptuous pleasures. 06.01.1993

What is Consciousness?

Defining it is hard enough--giving it to a computer is even harder. 11.01.1992