The Human Brain
This section gives you a wealth of information on the human brain. We clarify in short reviews various aspects of the brain from the regions, to the cells, to the chemicals that drive the brain.
New Discovery: Swirling Spirals Move Across Your Brain
Different areas of the brain are associated with empathy – this new research shows how brain regions synchronise to induce empathic responses.
“Forgetting is Learning” and More Interesting Research on Memory, Learning, and Social Media Algorithms
Reading time: about 8 minutes For this weekend review I’d like to look into various aspects of memory and learning - the one that has...
Why Your Brain Folds
The brain is wrinkly but until now this process of folding has been poorly understood. Now we know more: a simple process forces neurons to spread out in the developing brain.
Dark Matter in the Brain
The little-known electrical neurons Reading time: about 4 minutesThe little-known electrical neurons have been discovered to be more...
The Brain Stem
The base of your brain The brain stem sits lower in the brain and is often considered the “primitive” part of the brain. This may be an...
Serotonin
The mood modulator Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) may sound like gibberish to many but are in fact one of the most common...
Thalamus
A Central Switch for Everything The Thalamus is one of those brain areas that crops up in everything – it is considered a central relay...
Hormones
Hormones and the Brain A short primer to understand differences between transmitters and hormones and how hormones are directly controlled...
Norepinephrine
Colloquially called adrenaline – a powerful activator in the brain When we speak of adrenaline we think of high stress situations,...
The Amygdala
Fear, or emotions, or attention? The Amygdala is one of those brain areas that gets a lot of attention. A lot. In fact, it may be one of...
The Prefrontal Cortex
The part of the brain that is considered particularly human The frontal cortex gets a lot of press being known as the executive centre and...
Manly Testosterone
Testosterone is considered the male hormone – is it and what does it really do, in the brain? Testosterone is considered the male hormone....
Visual Cortex
A huge part of the brain is involved in visual processing, and it is involved in just about everything we do The brain dedicates many...
GABA – Braking Your Brain
We often think of transmission in the brain, but we forget that the transmission has to stop. And that is the domain of GABA. ,When we...
The Motor Cortex
The part of the brain that helps you move One of the fundamental functions of the brain is to simply move. That simple. Organisms that...
Oxytocin – Bonding, and Murder!
Why oxytocin is not just the innocent cuddle chemical Reading time: about 5 minutes Oxytocin has been called the cuddle chemical and the...
Where is the Brain’s Social Centre?
Social constructs are incredibly important to human beings but where does this sit in the brain? Reading time: about 9 minutes The term...
Cortisol – Stress or Activation
Cortisol is a key hormone in the human body and brain. But in a lot of popular literature, it is considered the stress hormone. This is not just the popular literature, a standard way to measure stress physiologically in academic research is to measure levels of cortisol in saliva. So is cortisol just the stress hormone?
Hippocampus – Orientation or Learning
As research accumulates the role of the hippocampus has been modified Reading time: about 5 minutes The hippocampus is one of the most...
Brain Control Through Light
Genetically encoding neurons with genes from green algae may sound like a weird thing to do, but in the case of optogenetics this is precisely what enables unthinkable views of how the brain works. Fortunately, or unfortunately, this is only carried out on mice and rats – but the ability to research brain function is nothing short of astounding.
ACC – Monitoring Mistakes
The Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) has been ascribed multiple functions including monitoring of mistakes – but it seems to be involved in an awful lot. Just what does it do?
Very Human Neurons
Our special Von Economo neurons Reading time: about 4 minutes We’re back to neurons this month but not just any old neuron - Von Economo...
Decision Time – The Orbitofrontal Cortex
Balancing emotion and reason – or more? Reading time: about 7 minutes When it comes to decision-making the orbitofrontal cortex is the...
Our Brain’s Underrated Little Helpers
The importance of our supporting brain cells Reading time: about 4 minutes When we think of the brain and brain cells we automatically...