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Image of the Week: The Cocaine Brain

Experiments with mice show how much cocaine exposure physically changes the brain.

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Autism

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by impaired social skills; verbal and nonverbal communication difficulties; and narrow, obsessive interests or repetitive behaviors.

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Our First Anniversary

BrainFacts.org launched one year ago to give people accurate information about the brain. Check out our most popular articles from the first 12 months.

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Fighting the Stigma of Mental Illness

The fierce stigma associated with mental illness prevents many people from seeking diagnosis and treatment. Learn what is being done and how you can help.

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Brain Awareness Video Contest

Shoot a short, educational video about the brain by June 10 — and it could appear on this page.

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Discoveries

The Moral Brain

Source: Society for Neuroscience
Scientists don’t claim to know how people determine right from wrong. However, they can study how the brain responds when an individual judges another’s actions.

Michelle Freund, NIMH Project Officer, on the significance of CLARITY

Source: National Institute of Mental Health
Project officer Michelle Freund, Ph.D., of the NIMH Division of Neuroscience and Basic Behavioral Science, explains the significance of CLARITY, a breakthrough method for analyzing the brain.

Tali Sharot: The Optimism Bias

Source: TED
Tali Sharot studies why our brains are biased toward optimism.

Disease-Causing Proteins

Source: Society for Neuroscience

Understanding the cause of “mad cow” disease and related conditions resulted in a fundamental shift in what scientists understood about proteins in brain disease.


Is photographic memory real? If so, how does it work?

Source: Society for Neuroscience
People with "photographic memory" are thought to be able to take and recall mental snapshots without error. But there is no evidence this type of memory exists.

Recent Neuroscience in the News

Science Tackles Mystery of the Teenage Brain

Source: New York Times
Date: 15 May 2013
Science may have split the atom and put a man on the moon but it has yet to solve the mysteries of the teenage brain.

Brain-Mapping Project’s Vision Coming into Focus

Source: Yahoo!
Date: 15 May 2013
An ambitious, federally funded research initiative aimed at developing the technologies needed to map the human brain has the potential to completely transform the field of neuroscience.

Your Brain Catches Grammar Errors Even When You Don't Realize It

Source: Popular Science
Date: 13 May 2013
Electroencephalography readings of the brain suggest it catches grammatical mistakes even when the person is not aware.

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