consciousness
Don’t panic — here’s how mindfulness can improve isolation
When you stop predicting the future and comparing the present to the past, you can reach a beneficial flow state.
▸
4 min
—
with
Neuroscientists find memory cells that help us interpret new situations
Neurons that store abstract representations of past experiences are activated when a new, similar event takes place.
How to tailor various ‘anxiety-reducing’ techniques to better suit your own needs
Combining various mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) can have numerous health benefits, according to new research.
5 effortless, science-backed changes to your isolation workspace that will improve productivity and mental health
A clean work space, plants, and putting on the right pants all make working from home easier, according to science.
Nostalgia triggers a reward pathway in our brains, according to science
Nostalgia is also proven to decrease loneliness and increase resiliency.
Ask Sophia the Robot: What can AI teach humans?
Through experiencing time in a nonlinear way, can artificial intelligence provide us more perspective?
▸
3 min
—
with
This brain balancing act allows consciousness
Two types of thinking have a time-sharing deal going on in your brain.
Being dominant in the bedroom can boost your work ethic
Studies have shown that dominant sexual activity can often boost your work ethic several days after a sexual experience.
Tiny area of brain may be ‘engine of consciousness’, scientists suggest
A recent study on monkeys found that stimulating a certain part of the forebrain wakes monkeys from anesthesia.
This is how an illusionist targets your unconscious mind
Juggling conscious experience with the machinations of the mind can create the ultimate audience experience.
▸
4 min
—
with
How will AI shape the future of storytelling?
Can technology act as a feedback loop for human emotions?
▸
3 min
—
with
The path to less stress? Strategic pessimism.
The key to happiness is being less optimistic and accepting a certain amount of unhappiness.
▸
6 min
—
with
5 neuroscience reality checks, from a top neuroscientist
In his new book, The Deep History of Ourselves, Joseph LeDoux explains where we come from.
The future of the mind: Exploring machine consciousness
What if consciousness is just a blip in the universe, a momentary flowering of experience that is unique to life in early technological civilizations—but eventually vanishes?
▸
16 min
—
with
Meet 5-MeO-DMT, the ‘powerful’ psychedelic that improves depression in one hour
A newly studied hallucinogenic substance has shown signs of treating mental health conditions more efficiently than psilocybin.
Conscious machines: How will we test artificial intelligence for feeling?
A review of the multifaceted questions we'll ask to determine whether robots have a felt quality of experience — an "inner feel."
▸
5 min
—
with
Michio Kaku: Feedback loops are creating consciousness
Our ability to make predictions about the future distinguishes our level of consciousness.
▸
6 min
—
with
Detecting patients’ pain levels via their brain signals
The system could help with diagnosing and treating patients that cannot communicate.
How can doctors tell if you wake up during surgery?
Researchers are only just beginning to really understand anaesthesia awareness.
How to use mindfulness to boost your standardized test performance
An expert's take on how to ace your exams through mindfulness.
Many vegetative patients are actually ‘covertly conscious’
This unsettling new understanding of vegetative patients raises medical ethics issues.
If reality is a data structure, can the simulation theory hold up?
Exploring the idea that objects we perceive in everyday life do not reflect objective reality.
▸
3 min
—
with
Plants have sensibilities, but are they conscious?
They experience reality differently than we do.
This optical illusion plays tricks on your brain
Check out these mysterious optical illusions that affect our visual perception.
Did we evolve to see reality as it exists? No, says cognitive psychologist Donald Hoffman.
Cognitive psychologist Donald Hoffman hypothesizes we evolved to experience a collective delusion — not objective reality.
How your immortal consciousness will travel the universe
Someday we'll beam to the moon for afternoon tea, and be back in New York for dinner.
▸
5 min
—
with
Is panpsychism accurate? Modern physics delivers a reality check.
If philosophers don't try to mesh their long-held views with new scientific insights, then we have a problem.
▸
5 min
—
with
It’s never really now: 4 ways your brain plays with time
We don't perceive time in an objective fashion; instead, the brain interprets time in a complex and amorphous way.
7 new things we’ve learned about the brain
Brain plasticity. Mindful superpowers. Pokémon invading our grey matter. Scientists have only begun to learn about the human brain.