The Harvard Mahoney Neuroscience Institute has published On The Brain from 1992 to 2020 before transitioning to a public lecture format beginning in spring 2021.
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Music and the Brain
Summer 2020By Debra Bradley Ruder
As COVID-19 spread insidiously around the globe this spring, people sought solace in music. They sang from their balconies, performed virtual fundraising concerts, and created both silly and serious tunes about hand washing, physical distancing, and other aspects of pandemic life.
Cannabis and the Brain
Spring 2020By Debra Bradley Ruder
Cannabis products are everywhere these days. As a growing number of states relax their medical and recreational cannabis laws, millions of Americans are using the cannabis sativa plant, known as marijuana or hemp, to relax or treat pain, anxiety, insomnia, and other conditions. Yet more data is needed on its pros and cons.
Abandonment and the Brain
Winter 2019By Debra Bradley Ruder
Studying the impact of adverse early experiences—extreme deprivation, neglect, and toxic stress, for example—on brain development and how these experiences can hamper a young person’s learning, behavior, and physical and mental health.
Delirium, Dementia and the Brain
Autumn 2019By Debra Bradley Ruder
Delirium affects up to half of all hospitalized seniors—including at least 70 percent of those treated in the intensive care unit—and 20 to 60 percent of nursing home patients.
Screen Time and the Brain
Summer 2019By Debra Bradley Ruder
How can children and parents manage their online behavior in this ever-changing digital landscape?
Hunger and the Brain
Winter 2018By Debra Bradley Ruder
How the intense drive of hunger compels us to eat—and make dieting so difficult?
Aging and the Brain
Autumn 2018By Debra Bradley Ruder
Someone develops Alzheimer’s disease every 65 seconds in the United States, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
Circadian Rhythms and the Brain
Summer 2018By Debra Bradley Ruder
Scientists want to know how prolonged changes to circadian rhythms—the internal processes that follow a roughly 24-hour cycle—may affect metabolism and body weight in people who keep unconventional sleep-wake schedules, such as nurses, security guards, and pilots.
Hearing Loss and the Brain
Spring 2018By Debra Bradley Ruder
Hearing loss is the most common neurological disorder, affecting an estimated 360 million adults and children worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Yet there are no biological treatments to restore hearing once it’s lost.
The Gut and the Brain
Winter 2017By Debra Bradley Ruder
The enteric nervous system that regulates our gut uses the same chemicals and cells as the brain to help us digest and to alert the brain when something is amiss.
Football and the Brain
Autumn 2017By Orna Feldman
There is growing evidence linking football and brain disease.
Zika and the Brain
Summer 2017By Lauren Carr
In 2016 the Zika virus emerged as an urgent global health priority, prompting researchers throughout the world to focus on better understanding this rapidly spreading condition and its devastating side effects, including brain malformations and other birth defects in unborn babies.
Addiction and the Brain
Spring 2017By Lauren Carr
With the recent rise in opioid abuse and overdose, which has quickly become a national health epidemic, scientists are focused increasingly on understanding the science behind addiction and its effect on the brain.
Holiday Stress and the Brain
Winter 2016By Scott Edwards
The end-of-year holidays are certainly a happy time for most of us, but the stress of the season puts many of us on such an edge that we wish it would all just go away.
Decision-Making and the Brain
Autumn 2016By Scott Edwards
How do voters decide which candidate is their candidate?
Reading and the Brain
Summer 2016By Scott Edwards
A number of things need to happen for a child to learn to read and to comprehend what she reads.
Sugar and the Brain
Spring 2016By Scott Edwards
Brain functions such as thinking, memory, and learning are closely linked to glucose levels and how efficiently the brain uses this fuel source.
Dancing and the Brain
Winter 2015By Scott Edwards
Millions of Americans dance, either recreationally or professionally. How many of those who are ballroom dancing, doing the foxtrot, break dancing, or line dancing, realize that they are doing something positive for their bodies—and their brains?
Nightmares and the Brain
Autumn 2015By Scott Edwards
Dreams are understood to be recent autobiographical episodes that become woven with past memories to create a new memory that can be referenced later, but nightmares are simply dreams that cause a strong but unpleasant emotional response.
Fly-Fishing and the Brain
Summer 2015By Scott Edwards
What is it about this so-called quiet sport, with its incantation of rod and fly, river and nature, a sport of both stealth and strategy, that helps to lessen stress and calm the brain?
Love and the Brain
Spring 2015By Scott Edwards
Richard Schwartz and Jacqueline Olds know a lot about love. These Harvard Medical School professors and couples therapists study how love evolves and, too often, how it collapses.