Brain & Behavior
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A New State of Mind
New research is linking dopamine to complex social phenomena and changing neuroscience in the process.
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Marc Hauser + Errol Morris
The evolutionary psychologist and the documentary filmmaker discuss game theory, Stanley Milgram, and whether science can make us better people.
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In Memory of Sir Arthur C. Clarke
Will machines serve as our surrogates on other worlds?
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Out of the Blue
Can a thinking, remembering, decision-making, biologically accurate brain be built from a supercomputer?
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Will Self + Spencer Wells
The writer and the genetic anthropologist meet up to talk about place, identity, and what it means to be human.
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Questioning Consciousness
To understand consciousness and its evolution, we need to ask the right questions.
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The Listener
As Oliver Sacks observes the mind through music, his belief in a science of empathy takes on new dimension.
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The Evolution of Language
What songbirds, dancing, and knot-tying can tell us about why we speak.
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A Little Bird Told Me
Alex the Parrot knows all the colors of the rainbow. He likes green beans but not women (generally) and recognizes that they are "different." He can count to six and identify five shapes, and he knows a Hot Wheels when he sees one. But is Alex smart?
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Michael Shanks + Lynn Hershman Leeson
The archaeologist and the artist meet up to talk about presence.
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Rise of Roboethics: Videos
Get just a taste of the "Eliza Effect," discussed in Rise of Roboethics, by watching these videos of relational artifacts....
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Rise of Roboethics
Grappling with the implications of an artificially intelligent culture.
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David Byrne + Daniel Levitin
The singer/songwriter and the neuroscientist meet up to discuss music.
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Mind Games
An emerging trend in brain fitness puts science in your Xbox.
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Whale of a Brain
Researchers discover surprising similarities between the brains of whales and humans.
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Inspiration Festival: Jonah Lehrer
Seed's Editor-at-Large on Walt Whitman connection to modern neuroscience.
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The Most Beautiful Painting You've Ever Heard
Synesthesia makes sense of art and art from sense.
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Where The Sidewalk Ends
Behavioral psychology's unexpected lesson for urban design
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Social Exclusion Can Prompt Poor Decisions
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For Post-Traumatics, the Rest is History
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A Console To Make You Wiip
How the Nintendo Wii will get you emotionally invested in video games.
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When Two Minds Think Alike
Simon Baron-Cohen discusses how a powerful new idea may give us valuable insights into the cause of autism.
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Brain Changes While Speaking in Tongues
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Who Wants to Be a Cognitive Neuroscientist Millionaire?
A researcher uses his understanding of the human brain to advance on a popular quiz show.
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Study Suggests New Election-Day Strategy: Imagine the Vote
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Neurotransmitter Linked to Memory Clarity
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Must We Fire the Electronic Babysitter?
Why the autism and television link isn't convincing experts.
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It's Not You—It's the Prozac
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Science Finally Tackles Hypnosis
Neuroimaging studies may domesticate the long-controversial practice.
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Mole Man Gets a MacArthur
How Ken Catania followed his star-nosed moles to an alternate funding goldmine.
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Beauty is in the Processing-Time of the Beholder
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Brain Region May Override Economic Self-Interest
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On My Mind: V.S. Ramachandran
On Consciousness Evolved
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Cognitive Processing Structure Helps Prevent Emotional Distractions
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The Sound of Science
When seeing isn't enough for believing
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An 'Om' A Day Could Keep Inflammation at Bay
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Seed Video Feature: Michel Gondry + Robert Stickgold (Full Cut)
The Oscar-winning filmmaker enters the Seed Salon to discuss dreams with the Harvard sleep researcher.
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New Study Finds Monkeys Hate Techno Too
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Mirror Neurons Also Respond to Language and Sound
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Losing Your Memory May Mean Losing Your Mind
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The Media Assault on Male Body Image
If being a man means having body hair and sweating, why are the sexy guys in ads immune to both?
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Looking Away May Help You Face Mental Challenges
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Snakes on the Brain
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Girl Shortage Could Cause Rise in Crime
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Seed Video Feature: Noam Chomsky + Robert Trivers
The anti-war activist and MIT linguist enters the Seed Salon to discuss deceit with the Rutgers evolutionary biologist.
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Noam Chomsky + Robert Trivers
The anti-war activist and MIT linguist meets the Rutgers evolutionary biologist in the Seed Salon to discuss deceit.
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Seed Video Feature: Noam Chomsky + Robert Trivers (Full Cut)
The anti-war activist and MIT linguist enters the Seed Salon to discuss deceit with the Rutgers evolutionary biologist.
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Do Landscapes Influence Human Behavior?
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Best Week Ever
Between Pluto, stem cells, dark matter and long-term potentiation, last week brought a slew of scientific discoveries, reminding us why we love this stuff.
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Fewer Vietnam Vets Suffered From PTSD
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Fast-Evolving DNA May Account for Differences Between Human, Chimp Brains
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Infants May be Able to Detect Arithmetic Errors
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Men (And Sometimes Women) Lure Mates Creatively
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The Culture-Shaping Parasite
The prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii, a single-celled parasite, accounts for some cultural differences.
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How We Make a Memory
Researchers find that familiarity is the touchstone for being able to remember.
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How To Spot a Noun
Scientists find a relationship between how a word sounds and how it's used.
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A Fundamental Difference in the Autistic Brain
Swollen amgydalae suggest causes, and possibly even cures, for the debilitating disorder.
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What You Think But Don't Say
Neuroimaging research finds that people often consider drug addicts and homeless people to be sub-human.
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Acting Under Surveillance
When eyes are watching us, we tend to be more honest.
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To Exploit or Explore
Researchers probe human decision making
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Hot or Not
Women's brains respond to erotic images as quickly and strongly as men's.
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Mice Can Feel Cagemates' Pain
Canadian researchers observe empathy in mice.
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How Do Brains Filter Data?
Salk Institute teams gain insight into how synapses separate important neural messages from background noise.
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It's Not All in the Eyes
New research suggests that personal circumstance affects visual perception.
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Seduced by the Flickering Lights of the Brain
fMRI images have captivated headline writers, grant committees and the public beyond their actual scientific worth.
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Putting the Past In Front
Researchers discover a South American culture that travels backward through time.
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No Longer a Mind of Our Own
New research is blurring the species boundary, forcing us to rethink what it is to be human.
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Built to be Bilingual
Researchers pinpoint how the brain switches between languages.
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Serenity Now!
Researchers discover Americans just might have "anger issues."
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The Gay Animal Kingdom
The effeminate sheep & other problems with Darwinian sexual selection.
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The Horniness Gene
Researchers find a link between a gene and human sexual behavior.
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Hardened to Life, Open to Suggestion
Study finds that people who've gone through adversity don't always have the courage of their convictions.
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Monkeys and Humans Are Both Irrational
Capuchins and humans are both more scared of losing than economics would suggest.
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The Incredible, Communicable Yawn
Scientists aren't exactly sure why we yawn, but they know yawns are contagious.
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Cocky Athletes or Successful Psychos?
Inside the mind of the well-adjusted deviant.
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Why We Haven't Met Any Aliens
A radical explanation for a conundrum about extra-terrestrial life, and what it means for the future of humanity
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Cocky Athletes or Successful Psychos?
Inside the mind of the well-adjusted deviant.
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What's It Worth to Ya?
A neuroeconomic study discovers a mechanism for decision-making.
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On My Mind: James D. Watson
The Nobelist on Enduring Memories
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One Kid, Two Kid, Red Kid, Blue Kid
Study shows correlation between childhood personality and adult political orientation.
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Gluttons for Punishment
Sanctioning institutions have a clear competitive advantage over sanction-free institutions.
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Our Multi-Tasking Mind
New study shows that the brain can process and organize information, even when the body is not at rest.
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Up In Smoke
Study shows that the brains of recovering alcoholics who smoke heal slower than non-smokers.
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Born a Gamblin' Man
Research at the University of Iowa finds gambling addictions tend to run in the family.
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A Head for Numbers
A new study shows the different thinking involved in "how much" versus "how many."
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The Link Between Tickling and Mental Illness
A study pinpoints an aspect of brain function that schizophrenia sufferers may lack.
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’Roid Rage Lingers
Anabolic steroids could be setting up a generation of young athletes for long-term anger management problems.
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The One Drug To Replace All Drugs
Researchers may have found the magic pill that can cure even the worst addiction.
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A Break from Decision-Making
Taking your mind off a big decision often results in a more satisfactory outcome.
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The Reinvention of the Self
A mind-altering idea reveals how life affects the brain.
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Doing Math With Baby
Infants are born with the abstract ability to understand numerical ideas.
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Crunchy Granola Suite
How our brains analyze the sound of food to determine crispness.
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Hitting a High E
Italian scientists find loud music intensifies and extends the brain’s response to MDMA.
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Ramparts of Speech
Researchers find elements of grammar are hardwired into the human brain.
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Meeting of the Minds
New online dating service favors brain chemistry over interests in making matches.
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18 and a Lifetime to Go
Study finds that, developmentally speaking, 18-year-olds are not quite adults.
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Built to be Fans
During the Olympics, the mirror neurons of whole nations will be electrically identical. Jonah Lehrer takes a look at why we love to watch.
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Instant Study Hints Advertisers Should Objectify Women
Your brain's favorite Super Bowl ads may not be the ones you wanted to like the most.
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Highways and Byways in the Brain
The brain's division of gray and white matter optimizes speed of signal traffic.
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Seeing Things
Machines kick our fleshy little butts at many activities: They're stronger lifters, faster multipliers and better chess players. But with...
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Dangerous Minds
Thoughts from the Edge of science.
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The Anti-Kyoto
Researchers examine how laughter may have evolved.
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Mental Time Travel
Researchers find that memory consists of recreating past brain states.
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Thinking Pain Away
People can decrease pain by observing their own brain activity.
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The Week in Science: 12/10 - 12/16
South Korea's cloning pioneer labeled a faker, a new map points out where endangered species could disappear and Virgin's Richard Branson finds a home for his spaceport.
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New & Notable: 12/03 - 12/09
A boy genius, drugged-out elephants, the end of aging, and prairie voles in love!
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Jews on Jews: Jews are Great
Steven Pinker Discusses "Jews, Genes, & Intelligence" at the Center for Jewish History.
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Reflections on Mirror Neurons
Broken Mirror Neuron Systems May Cause Autism.
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Neurons Notice Novel Noises
Cells respond to change in pitch, intensity, duration.
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Conic Cross Sections
New imaging technique reveals shocking variability in eye.
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New & Notable: 11/26 - 12/02
Year-long love, tricking the body to stay thin, the beautiful Crab Nebula, and more nasty boys!
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Java Jives With Brain
Caffeine boosts short-term memory.
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Lose Weight in Seconds!
Scientists alter body image with a laboratory illusion.
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Fear Itself
Blocking a gene in the brain could keep you from being afraid, very afraid.
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New & Notable: 11/19 - 11/25
Singing with Alzheimer's patients, the length of the Great Wall, more on climate change, and nasty boys!
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What Happens When Science is Made in China?
A Seed exclusive from Beijing
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Childhood Neglect Leaves Biological Mark
Orphaned children experience stunted social functioning linked to low hormone levels
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New and Notable: 11/13 - 11/18
Emotional genes, comic hero aggression and more.
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Sweet Tooth Might Reduce Stress
Researchers look to sugar and saccharin to lessen anxiety.
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Red, White and Bleu
Researchers use scientific methodology to pair wines and cheese.
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Tickled Pink: Gender Affects Humor Response
Men and women use different parts of their brains when deciding what's funny
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Girls Gone Wild ... for Monkeys
What you are into may surprise you
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Disconnections During Sleep
Brain areas stop communicating with each other as sleep sets in
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The Dover Monkey Trial
Mixing Buddhism and neuroscience to understand human consciousness
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Pathological Liars' Brains Physically Different
Frequent fibbers can blame their brain
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Behavioral Mimicry Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
Who could better than you?