neuroscience – Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org Illuminating science Mon, 16 Sep 2024 14:10:47 -0400 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2 How Our Longest Nerve Orchestrates the Mind-Body Connection https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-our-longest-nerve-orchestrates-the-mind-body-connection-20240826/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-our-longest-nerve-orchestrates-the-mind-body-connection-20240826/#respond Mon, 26 Aug 2024 14:45:37 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=140053 The post How Our Longest Nerve Orchestrates the Mind-Body Connection first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> It is late at night. You are alone and wandering empty streets in search of your parked car when you hear footsteps creeping up from behind. Your heart pounds, your blood pressure skyrockets. Goose bumps appear on your arms, sweat on your palms. Your stomach knots and your muscles coil, ready to sprint or fight. Now imagine the same scene, but without any of the body’s innate responses to an...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-our-longest-nerve-orchestrates-the-mind-body-connection-20240826/feed/ 0 What Happens in a Mind That Can’t ‘See’ Mental Images https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-happens-in-a-mind-that-cant-see-mental-images-20240801/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-happens-in-a-mind-that-cant-see-mental-images-20240801/#respond Thu, 01 Aug 2024 14:30:51 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=139440 The post What Happens in a Mind That Can’t ‘See’ Mental Images first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Two years ago, Sarah Shomstein realized she didn’t have a mind’s eye. The vision scientist was sitting in a seminar room, listening to a scientific talk, when the presenter asked the audience to imagine an apple. Shomstein closed her eyes and did so. Then, the presenter asked the crowd to open their eyes and rate how vividly they saw the apple in their mind. Saw the apple? Shomstein was confused.

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-happens-in-a-mind-that-cant-see-mental-images-20240801/feed/ 0 The Brainstem Fine-Tunes Inflammation Throughout the Body https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-brainstem-fine-tunes-inflammation-throughout-the-body-20240614/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-brainstem-fine-tunes-inflammation-throughout-the-body-20240614/#respond Fri, 14 Jun 2024 13:47:54 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=134492 The post The Brainstem Fine-Tunes Inflammation Throughout the Body first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Last month, researchers discovered cells in the brainstem that regulate inflammation throughout the body. In response to an injury, these nerve cells not only sense inflammatory molecules, but also dial their circulating levels up and down to keep infections from harming healthy tissues. The discovery adds control of the immune system to the brainstem’s core functions — a list that also includes...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-brainstem-fine-tunes-inflammation-throughout-the-body-20240614/feed/ 0 The New Math of How Large-Scale Order Emerges https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-new-math-of-how-large-scale-order-emerges-20240610/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-new-math-of-how-large-scale-order-emerges-20240610/#respond Mon, 10 Jun 2024 14:50:02 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=138428 The post The New Math of How Large-Scale Order Emerges first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> A few centuries ago, the swirling polychromatic chaos of Jupiter’s atmosphere spawned the immense vortex that we call the Great Red Spot. From the frantic firing of billions of neurons in your brain comes your unique and coherent experience of reading these words. As pedestrians each try to weave their path on a crowded sidewalk, they begin to follow one another, forming streams that no one...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-new-math-of-how-large-scale-order-emerges-20240610/feed/ 0 Can Psychedelics Improve Mental Health? https://www.quantamagazine.org/can-psychedelics-improve-mental-health-20240606/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/can-psychedelics-improve-mental-health-20240606/#respond Thu, 06 Jun 2024 13:00:01 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=138356 The post Can Psychedelics Improve Mental Health? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> During traumatic periods and their aftermath, our brains can fall into habitual ways of thinking that may be helpful in the short run but become maladaptive years later. For the brain to readjust to new situations later in life, it needs to be restored to the malleable state it was in when the habits first formed. That is exactly what Gül Dölen, a neuroscientist and psychiatric researcher at the...

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