Mindframe

Suicide: the word itself is sobering. In the U.S., there are 38,000 suicides a year. This makes it one of the top ten causes of death in the country; twice as common as homicide, which in recent years has declined. Roughly 38,000 people also die annually on U.S. highways, but that number is also on its way down; we've experienced a 50% drop in highway fatalities since the seventies. Unfortunately, the suicide rate has not followed suit. In fact, overall it is ticking upwards. So why do people kill themselves? Experts on suicide are among the first to admit that their own understanding is limited. It's not something people feel particularly comfortable talking about, which makes research tough. Big Pharma has offered no solution; there are no anti-suicide drugs for sale. In fact, it's almost the opposite: a number of drugs list suicide as a possible side effect. From looking at the statistics, we do know some factors increase chances of suicidal behavior. Th...

The concept of studying is at the core of our learning institutions. It's what you're supposed to be doing in college. Still, just how you're meant to do it remains one of the many mysteries of college; the drop out rate is about 33%. To be fair, there's a number of reasons a person might drop out of college, but for those who are looking to up their study game, here are some quick neuroscience facts to work smarter and not harder. 1. Eliminate distractions. Splitting focus with your smartphone, tablet, TV, or roommate blathering away will force your brain to "task switch", flipping back and forth and draining your brain's energy reserves. This will drastically reduce your ability to move information into your memory for later retrieval. It might feel like multitasking, but research shows that attempting multiple demanding tasks at once sets you up for the 50/50 rule. That is, you'll make 50% more mistakes and you'll take 50% longer than i...

When you think of inventors, the iconic example might be Thomas Edison, who brought us the electric lightbulb. In the process, he discovered what we call the "Edison effect." The idea is that in a vacuum, electrons will move from a heated surface to a cooler one. Simple as it sounds, it's a fundamental principle underlying modern electronics, from toasters to computers. By the time the Wizard of Menlo Park died in 1936 at the age of 86, he had managed to attach his name to 2332 patents worldwide. Some of those creations he produced personally, some he helped develop as part of a team, and sometimes the connection is dubious. It seems if you worked in Edison's lab, he had no problem sticking his name on your work. (Edison didn't invent taking credit for the efforts of his underlings, but he certainly brought it to new levels.) Still, there's no denying Edison had a deep domain knowledge. The lightbulb, the phonograph, the movie camera—these are the kin...

The human brain is one of the true wonders of the world; after all, it contained the source material for building each of the seven famous Wonders.  From Twinkies to arugula, just about any scrap of digestible matter can power it: a machine that runs nonstop for an average of seventy years, somehow composed largely of fat. So it's no wonder that we're fascinated. Understanding how the brain works is front and center for the scientific community. In April of 2013, President Obama announced that the U.S. government had budgeted a hundred million dollars to begin a project to map the human brain, his call to action nearly an echo of Kennedy's imperative to land on the moon some fifty years before. Brain exploration leads us to Michael Gazzaniga. Not exactly a household name—and no, he's not latest new Republican candidate for presidency.) He is, however, one of the founding fathers of cognitive neuroscience, a field which seeks to find the connection betwee...