60-Second Mind

Speaking at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Tex., new media scholar Clay Shirky argues that businesses are buckling under the pressure of the digital revolution because of a subtle quirk in human nature. Christie Nicholson reports

A recent study links fear of feeling anxious to depression. Christie Nicholson reports

Imagine a future where a digital you is influencing the real you; where a communicating clone can convince us to alter our decisions and behavior. Research underway at Stanford University's Virtual Human Interaction Lab has shown that our digital self can persuade our real self to exercise more. (A good thing after gorging on mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie!)

A poster presented at the Society of Neuroscience meeting reveals that empathy isn't always about matching anothers' emotion. Researchers found that sometimes instead of feeling anothers' pain, we might feel more...amused.

Duke University neuroscientists have found a distinction between memories for specifics versus memories for the overall gist of an event. The latter, the overall impression we have of something, tends to be the memory that is more often false.

Research published in Nature describes how spontaneous activity in a developing ear creates the mechanics of hearing in the absence of sound. Researchers say this might help explain the tortuous ringing of tinnitus.

Biologists are able to turn on a gene in the brain of nematode worms that leads them to desire same-sex partners.

Clock genes, long known to regulate our circadian rhythms, also give clues to what makes sleep so persistent.

As neuroscientists search for brain circuits that lead to religious experiences, they're touching on some of our deepest questions - like, could religion be explained by a neural quirk? For more on this story, see David Biello's article, "Searching for God in the Brain" in this month's issue of Scientific American Mind.

A new high-tech helmet allows coaches and sideline doctors to spot concussions and other dangerous injuries on the football field, in real-time. The head gear has sensors that send impact measurements wirelessly. For more on this story, please read Larry Greenemeier's October 4 article on Sciam.com news.

Recent studies on a hormone receptor in the brain called CRF2 brought new hope for a solution to obesity. But research in the Journal of Neuroscience cautions: while CRF2 cuts appetite, it also increases stress.

A recent study with monkeys finds that the amygdala, the emotional center of the brain, has neurons that fire for good surprises, and different neurons that fire for bad surprises.

Special cells that control the wiring of a fetus' brain were thought to die off shortly after birth. But scientists have found some of these pre-natal neurons surviving, and communicating, in the adult brain.

New research in Science reveals that children and apes are on par when it comes to straight numerical and spatial abilities, but when they're tested on social learning, the children excel.

Turns out that hypnosis, once thought to be a hocus-pocus parlor trick, may now be considered a legitimate surgical tool