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Neuroscience

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Consciousness

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When does the first spark of human consciousness ignite?

We can’t ask babies what they’re feeling, but ingenious new methods are shedding light on the origins of subjective awareness

by Joel Frohlich

Black and white photo of a person sleeping on a train with their head on a blanket near a window with a blurred view outside.

Sleep and dreams

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The brain’s twilight zone: when you’re neither awake nor asleep

Neuroscientists are demystifying this in-between state, uncovering its role in memory processing and its creative potential

by Célia Lacaux

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Architecture

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How the buildings you occupy might be affecting your brain

Cutting-edge research in the field of neuroarchitecture is revealing the public health implications of building design

by Cleo Valentine & Heather Mitcheltree

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Brain injury and dementia

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Dementia is not a death. For some, it marks a new beginning

Advocates are reframing the syndrome as a different way of being – one in which potential for growth and connection endures

by Isabel Sutton

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Emotion regulation

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The Stoics were right – emotional control is good for the soul

Both neuroscience and psychotherapy agree that you can change your mental framework as the Stoic Marcus Aurelius described

by István Darabán

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Mind and brain

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This is how your brain distinguishes reality from imagination

In terms of brain activity, imagining something is very similar to seeing it, so why don’t you confuse the two more often?

by Shayla Love

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The body and physical health

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How ‘stirrings of the heart’ shape your experience of time

New research is showing the embodied nature of time perception and how it can fluctuate in tune with the heart’s beats

by Shayla Love

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Brain injury and dementia

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Earlier memories are relatively spared in dementia. Why?

People with Alzheimer’s have richer memories of late childhood and early adulthood and this could help therapeutic care

by Dorthe Berntsen

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Mind and brain

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To grasp how serotonin works on the brain, look to the gut

A new perspective uses an analogy between digestion and cognition to help explain the function of a key neurochemical

by James M Shine

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Mind and brain

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Slow down, it’s what your brain has been begging for

It’s no small task to live a life of sustained attention. So slow down, and give your brain a break to do its work

by Teodora Stoica

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Grief

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Seeing grieving as learning explains why the process takes time

Standard features of human memory and learning can help explain the disorientation that follows the death of a loved one

by Saren H Seeley & Mary-Frances O’Connor

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Mind and brain

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Allow error into your life and experience the joy of surprise

Neuroscience theories see the human brain as an error-minimising machine. But that overlooks the joy of the unexpected

by Leyla Loued-Khenissi