DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE JUNE 2016 NEWSLETTER including this months Freebie. Name that smell—if you can’t, it could be an indicator of a problem somewhere in your brain. New research suggests that scratch-and-sniff smell tests could become an easy and cheap way to detect signs of traumatic brain injury and neurodegenerative ailments. Recent research found […]
DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE MAY 2016 NEWSLETTER including this months Freebie. As I am writing this – on an unusually warm (for Holland) Sunday afternoon under the shade of our plum tree – I am wearing old jeans and a favourite faded cotton shirt. They feel familiar and comfortable. This attire is also ‘air conditioned’ (perfect […]
DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE APRIL 2016 NEWSLETTER including this months Freebie. When neuroscientist George Koob proposed creating a vaccine for addiction 25 years ago, his colleagues thought he was wasting his time. The immune system evolved to prevent infections, not highs from illegal drugs. Prevailing wisdom holds that treating addiction requires months or years of psychotherapy […]
How do hours of Facebook and constant streams of WhatsApp, tweets and text messages affect our cognition and mental health? Scientists are beginning to find out…. Green with FaceBook Envy Spending a lot of time on Facebook is linked to diminished well-being, according to many studies. Yet questions linger about cause and effect—perhaps people who […]
DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE FEBRUARY 2016 NEWSLETTER including this month’s Freebie. Now that I have your attention, then I may be about to disappoint you. We are going to be considering whether the size of Woody Allen’s second favourite organ really matters….The Brain. Does a bigger brain make you necessarily smarter or wiser? Adjectives such […]
DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE JANUARY 2016 NEWSLETTER including this months Freebie. At any given time, at least one in five adults reports being on a diet, but the majority don’t keep the weight off. A huge amount of scientific evidence tells us that dieting does not promote lasting weight loss. In fact, many dieters end up […]
DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE DECEMBER 2015 NEWSLETTER including this month’s Freebie. Are you one of those people who falls asleep minutes after their head hits the pillow and awakens cheery and refreshed when the sunlight filters through the window? If you are, then count your blessings! Your reliable inner clock may also deserve some credit for […]
DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE NOVEMBER 2015 NEWSLETTER including this month’s freebie. Textbooks have traditionally taught that when it comes to the immune system, the brain and body are separate entities. When exposed to foreign objects such as bacteria or transplant tissue, the body stirs up a torrent of immune activity: white blood cells devour invading pathogens […]
DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE OCTOBER 2015 NEWSLETTER including this month’s freebie. “Awesome” has become a common descriptor, yet genuine awe is a profound emotion: the intake of breath at a starry night sky, a shiver down your spine during live music or a lump in your throat at the sight of a silent vast crowd holding […]
DOWNLOAD ENTIRE SEPTEMBER 2015 NEWSLETTER including this month’s freebie. The arrival of a child brings big changes in the brains of the new mothers and fathers. Mothers experience a near immediate shift, thanks in part to the hormones involved in giving birth and nursing. Fathers’ brains tend to change in different and more subtle ways. […]
DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE AUGUST 2015 NEWSLETTER including this month’s freebie. After wandering round a unfamiliar part of town, can you sense which direction to travel back to get to your car or the station? If so, you can thank your entorhinal cortex, a brain area recently identified as being responsible for our sense of direction. […]
DOWNLOAD ENTIRE JULY 2015 NEWSLETTER including this month’s freebie. Sometimes a solution just appears out of nowhere. Intuition! This is the name we give to the uncanny ability to quickly and effortlessly know the answer, unconsciously, either without or well before knowing why. The conscious explanation comes later, if at all, and involves a much […]