New research may upend our understanding of the brain, showing that travelling waves of neuronal excitation dominate the activity associated with our thoughts and feelings.
A meta-analysis helps resolve conflicting evidence on the benefits of tACS.
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Transcranial alternating current stimulation, or tACS, is a type of brain stimulation that can change neural activity and improve memory, attention and executive function.
A class of inhibitory neurons can make long-distance connections across both hemispheres of the brain.
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Learning new rules requires the suppression of old ones. A better understanding of the brain circuits involved in behavioral adaptation could lead to new ways to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
It appears that the rhythms of your brain waves get in sync with the speech patterns of the person you’re conversing with. Videoconferencing throws off that syncing process.
The internet is awash with videos that claim to use ‘binaural beats’ to improve your focus or relieve stress. But while they can influence your brain, the touted mood-enhancing effects may not be.
Your brain is conducting multiple orchestras of information at the same time.
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Like a cocktail partygoer able to focus on one discussion in a noisy room, brains are able to make reliable connections against a busy neural background. Here are two phenomena that help it happen.
Do you have a magnetic compass in your head?
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Your brain’s sensory talents go way beyond those traditional five senses. A team of geoscientists and neurobiologists explored how the human brain monitors and responds to magnetic fields.
A test subject entering a brain password.
Wenyao Xu, et al.
Biometrics are more secure than passwords – but when they’re compromised fingerprints and retina scans are hard to reset. Brain responses to specific stimuli are as secure and, crucially, resettable.
‘Mini brains’ can be grown in the lab, and brains of decapitated pigs were recently ‘kept alive’ for a day and a half. But what makes a conscious brain?
Campers at Twitch and Shout, a camp for teenagers with Tourette, in Winder, Georgia, say goodbye in this 2014 file photo.
David Goldman/AP
There’s more to Tourette syndrome than swearing and shouting. Over the last several years, many life-altering treatments of this tic disorder have become available to patients and their families.