Jet Lag Makes You Dumb (If You’re a Hamster)

Staff / Truthdig Nov 18, 2010 Scientists gave some hamsters the frequent flier treatment and found that their brains birthed fewer neurons. The sleep-confused rodents also had learning and memory issues almost a month after their simulated travel ordeal. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Video Games Are Good for Your Brain

Peter Z. Scheer / Truthdig Sep 16, 2010 Don't listen to Hillary Clinton. Video games are good for you. They make you and your children sharper, and kids should be able to play them without permission.Video games make you and your children sharper, and kids should be able to play them without permission. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Drink Up, Ladies

Staff / Truthdig Aug 19, 2010 There are three kinds of studies we hear about. (1) Something incredibly obvious turns out to be true. (2) Something you like is good for you. (3) Something you like is bad for you. Obviously we prefer No. 2s, like this study out of Norway that says drinking wine -- especially if you're a woman -- might make you smarter. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Breakthrough Test for Alzheimer’s

Staff / Truthdig Aug 11, 2010 Researchers say they have developed a 100 percent accurate spinal tap test for the brain disease. Brain scans, too, have become a potentially important tool in diagnosing the disease. The new tests are significant because Alzheimer's can begin more than a decade before symptoms show up and because there is hope that new drugs could be effective. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

One-State Solution?

Staff / Truthdig Aug 10, 2010 Today on the list: Why academics are still flipping out about television, how Israeli conservatives may be pushing for a one-state solution, and the human brain's "Life of Brian" mechanism. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Cyberspace Dunderheads

Ruth Marcus / Truthdig Jun 9, 2010 I've come down with a bad case of the shallows. That's technology writer Nicholas Carr's term -- and the title of his new book -- for the invisible, invidious impact of computers on the modern brain. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Palin’s Payday, Flotilla Folly and Priest-Love, All in One

Staff / Truthdig Jun 1, 2010 Why shooting peace activists to death is a big deal -- even in foreign policy circles, what priests' mistresses think of celibacy, and how much public money Sarah Palin got paid to attempt public speech. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Cell Phones, Cancer and You

Staff / Truthdig May 17, 2010 Here's some good news for all of us who are tragically glued to our mobile phones: According to a new study, there may be reason to doubt the alarming cell-phones-cause-cancer theory, but it should be noted that this study was funded in part by the mobile industry. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Free Umbrella Edition

Staff / Truthdig Mar 2, 2010 Inside Citibank's homophobia, how to clean art with tattoo removal lasers, and populism with brains. All this and more after the jump. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Millennial Edition

Staff / Truthdig Feb 26, 2010 Why the brain forgets things on purpose, the ugliest fish in the world, and finding out how millennial you are. These discoveries and more after the jump. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Tracing the Neural Circuitry of Humor

Staff / Truthdig Feb 8, 2010 Everyone's going nuts for functional MRI in research circles these days, it seems. Why, a bunch of wacky neuroscientists from Dartmouth College have even used the technology to study what happens when we humans find something funny. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Are We Wired for Compassion?

Staff / Truthdig Jan 20, 2010 When the term human nature gets thrown around, it's sometimes used in a derisive fashion, as if to boil all the complex motivations, biological drives and psychological quirks that comprise our makeup down to some simplistic, base formula However, there are some who might cast the concept in a brighter light (continued). Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )