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brains

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A representation of a human head examining its experiences.
The Joy of Why

What Is the Nature of Consciousness?

By Steven Strogatz
May 31, 2023
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Consciousness, our experience of being in the world, is one of the mind’s greatest mysteries, but as the neuroscientist Anil Seth explains to Steven Strogatz, research is making progress in understanding this elusive phenomenon.

machine learning

Some Neural Networks Learn Language Like Humans

By Steve Nadis
May 22, 2023
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Researchers uncover striking parallels in the ways that humans and machine learning models acquire language skills.

Quantized Columns

Why the Brain’s Connections to the Body Are Crisscrossed

By R. Douglas Fields
April 19, 2023
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In all bilaterally symmetrical animals, from humans down to simple worms, nerves cross from one side of the body to the opposite side of the brain. Geometry may explain why.

Human figures in fetal positions float through a dim, twilit space.
neuroscience

How Loneliness Reshapes the Brain

By Marta Zaraska
February 28, 2023
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Feelings of loneliness prompt changes in the brain that further isolate people from social contact.

Quantized Columns

When Does the Brain Operate at Peak Performance?

By John M. Beggs
January 31, 2023
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The critical brain hypothesis suggests that neural networks do their best work when connections are not too weak or too strong.

A sad woman stands under an umbrella that is decorated with images of brains, molecules and DNA. Rain falls on her under the umbrella but the day is otherwise clear.
neuroscience

The Cause of Depression Is Probably Not What You Think

By Joanna Thompson
January 26, 2023
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Depression has often been blamed on low levels of serotonin in the brain. That answer is insufficient, but alternatives are coming into view and changing our understanding of the disease.

2022 in Review

The Year in Computer Science

By Bill Andrews
December 21, 2022
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Computer scientists this year learned how to transmit perfect secrets, why transformers seem so good at everything, and how to improve on decades-old algorithms (with a little help from AI).

2022 in Review

The Year in Biology

By John Rennie
December 21, 2022
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Momentum for new ideas in Alzheimer’s research joined advances in neuroscience, developmental biology and origin-of-life studies to make 2022 a memorable year of biological insights.

neuroscience

What Causes Alzheimer’s? Scientists Are Rethinking the Answer.

By Yasemin Saplakoglu
December 8, 2022
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After decades in the shadow of the reigning model for Alzheimer’s disease, alternative explanations are finally getting the attention they deserve.


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