Following a trip to Peru, a British woman went to the doctor with what she thought was an ear infection. She just couldn't shake this strange scratching noise inside her head. When doctors investigated her ear canal, they found something unusual—IT WAS JUST A BUNCH OF MAGGOTS IN HER BRAIN FEASTING ON HER MEMORIES. » 2/18/14 4:20pm 2/18/14 4:20pm

A new research paper published today in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences demonstrates that men and women's brains connectivity is very different which, according to the authors, gives a "potential neural basis as to why men excel at certain tasks and women at others," matching some commonly-held… » 12/03/13 1:08pm 12/03/13 1:08pm

Sudoku or crosswords are decent mental exercises, but only in certain parts of the brain. Orgasms, however, work the whole damn thing over according to scientists. » 8/05/13 11:50am 8/05/13 11:50am

Ever since Carl Jung first started giving people their personality types, there's been a divide between the introvert and extrovert camps. It's possible to bridge that gap, though. Here's how to coexist with different personality types. » 7/02/13 12:11pm 7/02/13 12:11pm

Do you find yourself surrounded by uggos on a near-constant basis? Do you ever despair that the world is just crawling with ugly goblin-people whom you can’t bear to look at without retching? It’s okay — Karl Lagerfeld probably feels the exact same way, which is why he’s never seen without his ugly-dimming… » 6/23/13 2:00pm 6/23/13 2:00pm

Although it always becomes tempting around this time of the year to watch a marathon of Angel on Instant Netflix do really cool lazy indoor things that only the coolest lazy people do, you could do your brain a real service by getting out there and doing some wintry frolicking, according to The New York Times'… » 1/12/13 6:00pm 1/12/13 6:00pm

The long-term effects of alcohol abuse have always been linked to white matter reduction in the brain, which carries side effects that include flat affect and memory problems, but a new study has now determined that the healing process during recovery is separated along gendered lines. » 8/11/12 5:00pm 8/11/12 5:00pm

As advanced as we've gotten with our scientific and technological skills, it seems as we can still be brought down by the simplest of errors. That's what happened recently at the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center, where they experienced a freezer malfunction that has defrosted 150 brains. » 6/11/12 8:45pm 6/11/12 8:45pm

As we all know, everything delicious is terrible for you. That is especially true of sweets, which are so tasty but also can cause nasty things like diabetes. Still, most of us are able to convince ourselves that eating sugar probably won't kill us. Sure, but you know what will happen if we keep stuffing our faces… » 5/16/12 12:20pm 5/16/12 12:20pm

Mother Nature has already given us so many things to be terrified of in this world—flesh eating bacteria, tsunamis, Tan Mom, to name just a few. Tapeworms certainly deserve a place on the list too. Who among us did not become obsessed with the idea that we might have one slithering around inside our intestines when we… » 5/16/12 10:00am 5/16/12 10:00am

We love our dogs so much and are so close to them that we often feel like we know exactly what they're thinking. We can read each tiny reaction in their face, each wag of their tail as a signal of not only what they want but of how they feel about us. Now new research at Emory University promises to give the first… » 5/10/12 10:00am 5/10/12 10:00am

It's hard to believe, but there was a time, less than a decade ago, when Facebook didn't even exist. There was no way to immediately tell everyone you've ever met that you just ate some delicious ribs or that your kid is finally used the big girl potty. (Finally! We all breathed such a sigh of relief on that one.) But… » 5/08/12 10:50am 5/08/12 10:50am

You know how some people clam up and freeze and poop their pants and start crying when presented with a math problem (especially us ladies, amirite?)? Turns out, "math anxiety" is a totally legit thing, neurologically speaking—and a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy as well. » 3/23/12 3:45pm 3/23/12 3:45pm

For so long, we've thought that racism was a product of our culture and of ignorance. We assumed it would take decades, or even centuries, more of hard work and education to undo. But silly us, maybe all we really need to do is take a pill. Seriously? » 3/07/12 10:00pm 3/07/12 10:00pm

We all joke about being addicted to dessert or salt or various other vices, but in the case of ice cream, one new study has shown that it actually does share some characteristics with drugs. It sets off the pleasure centers of our brain in the same way, but it's also now clear that when you eat a lot of ice cream, you… » 2/24/12 9:40am 2/24/12 9:40am

That's kind of what a new study makes it sound like, at least. Here's how Forbes puts it: » 2/20/12 7:00pm 2/20/12 7:00pm

Have you ever tried to love someone as hard as you could for five minutes? It sounds like a strange thing to attempt, but that's exactly what the people in a study at the Stanford Center for Cognitive and Neurobiological Imaging were asked to do while they sat in an fMRI machine. They scanned people of varying ages,… » 2/16/12 9:45pm 2/16/12 9:45pm

Child abuse is a dark and depressing reality in American life, but until now, it's never been clear just how widespread a problem it was. A new study, led by Dr. John Leventhal of Yale University, offers the first comprehensive estimate of serious injuries caused by child abuse in the U.S., and the results are pretty… » 2/07/12 12:00pm 2/07/12 12:00pm