Fluctuating environment may have driven human evolution
A series of rapid environmental changes in East Africa roughly 2 million years ago may be responsible for driving human evolution, according to researchers at Penn State and Rutgers University.
'Substitutional reality' system plays head games to explore delusions (w/ Video)
Researchers document how brain computes language
A study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine reports a significant breakthrough in explaining gaps in scientists' understanding of human brain function. The study - ...
Under a cloud -- darkness linked to 'brain drain' in depressed people
A lack of sunlight is associated with reduced cognitive function among depressed people. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health used weather data from NASA satellites to measure sunlig ...
Cheats of the bird world: Cuckoo finches fool host parents
Cuckoo finches that lay more than one egg in their victims' nests have a better chance of bamboozling host parents into fostering their parasitic young, a study has found.
Why is language unique to humans?
New research published today in Journal of the Royal Society Interface suggests that human language was made possible by the evolution of particular psychological abilities.
Scientists open new window into human learning—by studying maggots
(Phys.org) —The squirming larva of the humble fruit fly, which shares a surprising amount of genetic material with the human being, is helping scientists to understand the way we learn information from ...
By keeping the beat, sea lion sheds new light on animals' movements to sound
A California sea lion who bobs her head in time with music has given scientists the first empirical evidence of an animal that is not capable of vocal mimicry but can keep the beat, according to new research ...
Genes responsible for ability to recognize faces
(PhysOrg.com) -- The ability to recognise faces is largely determined by your genes, according to new research at UCL (University College London).
Magnesium supplement helps boost brainpower
Neuroscientists at MIT and Tsinghua University in Beijing show that increasing brain magnesium with a new compound enhanced learning abilities, working memory, and short- and long-term memory in rats. The ...
Scientists find mechanism that constructs key brain structure
Yale University researchers have found a molecular mechanism that allows the proper mixing of neurons during the formation of columns essential for the operation of the cerebral cortex, they report in the ...
Reading Kafka, watching Lynch improves learning, study suggests
Reading a book by Franz Kafka -- or watching a film by director David Lynch -- could make you smarter.
Protected fear memories
(PhysOrg.com) -- In the latest issue of Science, researchers from the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Switzerland, show how a class of proteins surrounding nerve cells allows fear memories to persis ...
Predictive powers: a robot that reads your intention? (w/Video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- European researchers in robotics, psychology and cognitive sciences have developed a robot that can predict the intentions of its human partner. This ability to anticipate (or question) actions ...