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·May 25, 2025·5 min read

Boredom Is Good for You: Why Embracing It Calms the Brain

Boredom, often seen as a negative state to avoid, may actually serve an important role in emotional regulation and brain health. When we're bored, the brain shifts away from external attention networks and activates introspective systems like the default mode network, encouraging creativity and self-reflection.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·May 19, 2025·6 min read

Want to Live to 115? Here’s What Research Says You Should Do

New insights from longevity research suggest that lifestyle—not just genetics—plays a vital role in living a longer, healthier life. While rare individuals like 115-year-old Ethel Caterham may benefit from exceptional genes, research shows that physical activity, diet, sleep, and stress management are key factors that can significantly influence lifespan.

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Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 19, 2025·5 min read

Reading Fiction Boosts Empathy and Fights Loneliness

While AI companions are marketed as a fix for loneliness, research shows that reading offers far more meaningful benefits. Reading fiction can foster social connection, reduce stress, enhance empathy, and even reshape brain activity linked to social cognition.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 12, 2025·5 min read

Does the TikTok Grounding Trend Really Improve Sleep?

Grounding, or physically connecting the body to the Earth, has gained traction as a wellness trend—now even through high-tech mats and sheets designed to replicate direct Earth contact. Advocates claim benefits for sleep, mood, and recovery, but scientific evidence remains limited.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·May 12, 2025·6 min read

Face Blindness Affects 1 in 50

A new study reveals that people with developmental prosopagnosia, or face blindness, struggle daily to recognize even close friends and family, despite having normal vision and memory. Many participants described coping strategies like keeping spreadsheets or using voices and clothing to identify others, but these are often exhausting and unreliable.

Featured Neuroscience Neuroscience Videos Psychology

·May 11, 2025·5 min read

Verbal Abuse in Childhood Rewires the Developing Brain

New neuroscience research highlights how verbal abuse in childhood can alter brain development and increase the risk of mental health issues later in life. Children who are routinely shamed, threatened, or belittled by adults may develop a hyperactive threat system and a blunted reward response, making trust and emotional regulation more difficult in adulthood.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 11, 2025·7 min read

Brain Cells That Predict What Comes Next, Even When It’s New

A new study reveals that the brain uses special neurons to track where we are in a sequence of actions—not just where we are in space. In mice, researchers found “goal-progress cells” that fire based on how far along the animal is in a behavioral task, enabling them to infer what comes next even in novel scenarios.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 27, 2025·4 min read

Practicing Gratitude Builds Resilience and Hope

While gratitude has been praised for its mental health and relationship benefits, cultivating it during stressful times can be especially challenging. Negative information naturally grabs our attention more than positive events, but simple strategies like gratitude lists and expressing thanks can help shift focus.

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Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 13, 2025·5 min read

When Obsession Masquerades as Love: Understanding Limerence

Limerence is an intense, involuntary obsession with another person, often marked by intrusive thoughts, emotional dependency, and a fixation on perceived signs of interest or rejection. Coined by psychologist Dorothy Tennov in 1979, limerence differs from love due to its compulsive and often one-sided nature.

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Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 13, 2025·5 min read

How Psychology Has Shaped, and Continues to Shape, AI

Psychology has been instrumental in the evolution of artificial intelligence, offering foundational insights into learning, cognition, and behavior that have shaped key AI technologies. From early neural networks based on Hebbian learning to modern deep learning and metacognition, psychological theories continue to inform AI’s development.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Pain

·April 13, 2025·6 min read

Why You Sometimes Don’t Feel Pain Until It’s Too Late

New research highlights how the brain’s own chemistry can suppress pain, explaining why severely injured individuals, like WWII soldiers, sometimes feel little discomfort. The key lies in a brain region called the periaqueductal grey (PAG), which dampens pain signals before they reach conscious awareness.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·April 13, 2025·6 min read

Breathing Syncs with Pupil Size, Revealing a New Mind-Body Link

A groundbreaking study has revealed that our pupils change size in sync with our breathing—a response now dubbed the "pupillary respiratory phase response." Researchers confirmed that pupils are smallest around the start of inhalation and largest during exhalation, regardless of lighting, focus, or cognitive effort.