Tag Archives: brain

Shutterstock/PopTika Stephanie Rossit, University of East Anglia Understanding how the brain controls certain actions – such picking up a knife in the correct way – is important for many reasons. One of these is working towards the development of brain-computer interfaces that may help people with artificial limbs control them, using their minds. Yet how the human brain controls our …

Short and long naps both have benefits. Rawpixel.com/ Shutterstock John Axelsson, Karolinska Institutet and Tina Sundelin, Stockholm University Some people swear by an afternoon nap – whether it’s to catch up on lost sleep or to help them feel more alert for the afternoon ahead. Even Boris Johnson supposedly favours a power nap during his work day (though the prime …

How androgynous are you? Thomas Piercy, University of Cambridge., Author provided Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, University of Cambridge; Christelle Langley, University of Cambridge; Qiang Luo, Fudan University, and Yi Zhang, University of Cambridge From advertising to the workplace, it is often assumed that men and women are fundamentally different – from Mars and Venus, respectively. Of course, we all know people …

It’s time to snap out of bad habits. Jolygon/Shutterstock, CC BY-SA Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, University of Cambridge; Christelle Langley, University of Cambridge, and Jianfeng Feng, Fudan University There’s no doubt that 2020 was difficult for everyone and tragic for many. But now vaccines against COVID-19 are finally being administered – giving a much needed hope of a return to normality …

XiXinXing/Shutterstock Vincent DeLuca, University of Birmingham Depending on what you read, speaking more than one language may or may not make you smarter. These mixed messages are understandably confusing, and they’re due to the fact that nothing is quite as simple as it’s typically portrayed when it comes to neuroscience. We can’t give a simple “yes” or “no” to the …

Shutterstock / Misha Beliy Elisabet Alzueta, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid En la playa, en el campo, frente al espejo… quien no se haya hecho un selfie en su vida, que tire la primera piedra. ¿Acaso no es curioso cómo los seres humanos, de los mil usos que podríamos haberle dado a una cámara, priorizamos el de hacernos fotos a nosotros …