CBT helps rewire the brain's false beliefs by challenging negative thoughts

Negative thinking spirals are often the result of uncertainty and anxiety

Psychologists suggest that a helpful way to deal with negative thinking is to remind oneself that setbacks can simply be setbacks, rather than a grand catastrophe. Positive self-talk, focusing on the factors we can control, and being altruistic are other tools that can help one escape negative thinking.

Visualizing 11 cognitive biases that influence how you think

Humans are hardwired to make mental mistakes called cognitive biases, affecting the way we view our world. Among the most common are confirmation bias (seeking only evidence that affirms your views), authority bias (overweighting things said by authority figures), groupthink (assimilating ideas to avoid conflict), and more. This quick chart gives an overview of some of the most notable ways we mislead ourselves.

The history of brainwashing in America

"Brainwashing" refers to a coerced shift in worldview, often associated with cults or oppressive totalitarian governments. Though such processes are not well understood on a neurological level, they hold an outsized role in public imagination, particularly in science fiction and dystopias. This article reviews the history of the term, first popularized by Edward Hunter in 1950, and the subsequent use of the approach in pop psychology, the CIA, and more.

Researchers use the brain's ability to edit memories to explore memory deletion

Scientists have successfully implanted false memories in mice after studying how the editing process works in the brain. Beyond potentially deleting memories in those with PTSD, upcoming research may allow clinicians to forecast the onset of neurodegenerative diseases.

In recent years a child anxiety expert has created and tested a novel phobia and anxiety treatment approach for children, focused on changing how parents respond to the fears.

Unlike milder fears, phobias may get in the way of proceeding with your life

Clinicians may recommend exposure therapy—exposing oneself to the thing triggering fears in some doses—as one way to help overcome a fear.

Watch what depression does to the brain

This video explores the neurobiology of depression and why unraveling the complexities of this disease and its etiology will potentially improve treatments. Effective depression treatment, as this video highlights, can eventually make a depressed brain look like a healthy one on brain scans.

How to build curiosity

Change and uncertainty induce stress, but reframing the unknown into an opportunity for discovery has tangible benefits. Approaching change with curiosity enhances activity in the hippocampus and promotes neuroplasticity, promoting learning and serving as a barrier against anxiety. A neuroscientist explains how embracing the unknown, trying small experiments, and other techniques build curiosity.

Bill Nye made a course on the framework of scientific thinking and problem solving

The class focuses on developing and fostering critical thinking skills to evaluate the world and the accuracy of claims. Nye highlights how these skills can be applied to overcoming fear of the unknown and engineering creative, outside-the-box solutions to some of the world's biggest challenges, including climate change.

Who provides therapy is more important than what method they practice

What makes therapy work well is the connection that patients feel with their therapist, and the trust in that relationship. Some research suggests that while the therapeutic model—say cognitive behavior therapy or psychodynamic therapy—accounts for roughly 15% of outcomes, the therapeutic relationship with the therapist accounts for more than 30%.

Schizophrenia is challenging to diagnose and treat

The disorder is diagnosed by a clinician who observes behaviors and medical history and may run additional tests to rule out other explanations for symptoms including physical injury or other mental health disorders. But, ultimately, it's largely a diagnosis of exclusion—since there is no definitive test for the disease. Antipsychotic medications can help control its symptoms for some patients, but there is no cure for schizophrenia.

Open brain surgery is not required for BCIs inserted via blood vessel injection

Synchron's brain-computer interface, the Synchron Switch, takes advantage of preexisting medical devices, such as stents and catheters. Cells grow over the device over a 90-day period, incorporating it into the vessel wall and minimizing clots.

PTSD is a long-lasting mental disorder linked to past traumatic events

Posttraumatic stress disorder is a mental health condition arising from traumatic events with four key symptoms: intrusive memories, avoidance behavior, negative moods and thoughts, and changes in emotional and physical reactions.

A new tinnitus therapy involves mild electric tongue shocks and sound exposures

Lenire, an FDA-approved bimodal neuromodulation treatment approach for tinnitus, aims to teach the brain to distract itself from tinnitus. It includes short-term daily sessions wearing a mouth device that delivers mild electrical pulses to the tongue while listening to different sounds. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

The basics of behaviorism and its founder John B. Watson

Watson believed he could use classical conditioning to shape the behavior of infants toward positive outcomes, culminating in his famous "Little Albert" experiment. Here's a quick overview of his life and thought.

Corrective vision technologies rely on the bending of light waves

When focusing on an object, muscles change the shape of the lens, which refracts incoming light such that it focuses at the retina. If the cornea is unable to bend light correctly, lenses or contact lenses can provide supplemental refraction to ensure a focused image is produced.

Obsessive compulsive disorder is a mental health disorder, not a personality quirk

In popular culture OCD has been incorrectly overused to describe neatness or perfectionistic behaviors, but the disorder involves intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviors that take over a person's actions.

How to help teens balance social media use and mental healthcare

While initially alluring, excessive social media use is proven to lead to increased feelings of isolation, mental health declines, increased stress, and general dissatisfaction among teens. Conducting digital audits to track screen time, adding friction (or obstacles) to app usage to reduce mindless scrolling, and investing time in offline activities and hobbies may help.

Core memories are a popularized version of autobiographical memories

Core memories are not limited to five key events, do not individually shape personality traits, and are not formed in childhood. Our strongest memories are formed in early adulthood, but are as prone to error as any other memory.

Ray Dalio credits much of his success to his transcendental meditation practice

Dalio took up transcendental meditation after learning that The Beatles practiced it on a trip to India in 1968. He says the practice allows him to clear his mind, be more creative, and unlock his subconscious.

See how CAR-T cell therapy works to help fight cancer

Short for chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, CAR-T Cell Therapy helps augment the body's own ability to attack cancer cells. It's a cell-based gene therapy that alters the genes in a person's T cells—which are a type of immune cell—to help them beat back cancerous growths.

Brain hemispheres control opposite sides of the body without either dominating

Although distinctions exist between the two halves—language processing is left-oriented, and emotions are right-oriented—signals are sent along neural pathways between the hemispheres and across different regions to collectively process information about external stimuli.

Offering support to others linked to cognitive and physical health improvements

The Baltimore Experience Corps Trial, which was a large study evaluating the health benefits of volunteering among older adults, concluded that seniors spending about 15 hours weekly offering kids tutoring and mentoring was associated with improvements including better memory and increased mobility and strength.

Board games can improve life satisfaction and coping self-efficacy

They provide distraction, foster self-determination, and promote personal transformation. Purposeful engagement with games builds the capacity to face real-life problems.

AI chatbot use among quarreling couples can aggravate tensions

Chatbots can become a sounding board for venting spouses looking to analyze their relationship and find support for their views. Many couples report the negative influence of chatbots like ChatGPT, with some claiming the tools led to divorce.

Testing five common beliefs about bedbugs

Bedbugs are one of the most stigmatized pest infestations due to their resilience and tendency to dwell where humans are most unconscious for long periods of time: beds. A bedbug problem can lead to horror stories and intensive interventions to...

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

Recent research found that the brain doesn't seem to massively rewire following amputation—upending earlier beliefs about the cause of phantom limb pain.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

Crows are believed to have intelligence on par with a seven-year-old child and demonstrate complex behaviors, from problem-solving with tools to recognizing human faces.

Researchers believe the brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and plans for the future during dream states

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

Hookworm infection, though risky, may help fight certain autoimmune conditions by tamping down the immune system's inflammatory response.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

Objects can be 3D printed with light by projecting 2D computerized tomography (CT) scans onto rotating cylinders of resin, which solidify upon exposure.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

Salvador Dalí believed he was his own dead brother, who had died nine months before he was born

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

Brian Wilson wrote the Beach Boys' 'Don't Worry Baby' for the Ronettes, but the legendary girl group rejected it.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

Watch the cumbersome, but necessary, precautions healthcare workers must take to care for and protect themselves while caring for Ebola patients.

Trace how the Bill of Rights, inspired by centuries of political theory, took shape between 1774 and 1789.

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

While atoms are normally made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, exotic ones have been built with antimatter—alternate versions of normal matter that live for fractions of a second and are about a billion times as rare.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'