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Psychology

Essays and videos offering insights into the self, relationships, cognition and neuroscience

Addiction Ageing and death Childhood and adolescence Cognition and intelligence Consciousness and altered states Family life Gender and identity Language and linguistics Life stages Love and friendship Mental health Mood and emotion Neurodiversity Neuroscience Personality Pleasure and pain Psychiatry and psychotherapy Self-improvement Sex and sexuality Sleep and dreams Social psychology Spirituality Teaching and learning Technology and the self Wellbeing

A murmuration of starlings forming a large, swirling shape in the early evening sky above silhouetted trees.

essay

Neuroscience

The entangled brain

The brain is much less like a machine than it is like the murmurations of a flock of starlings or an orchestral symphony

Luiz Pessoa

Black and white photo of man standing in front of a massive industrial tunnel with a Jeumont sign.

essay

Neuroscience

Why nothing matters

It took centuries for people to embrace the zero. Now it’s helping neuroscientists understand how the brain perceives absences

Benjy Barnett

Cartoon of three surgeons wearing scrubs and masks performing surgery on a patient, with surgical lights overhead.

video

Bioethics

What a 1970 experiment reveals about the possibility and perils of ‘head transplants’

6 minutes

3D rendering of a green, abstract, textured structure resembling dense tangled fibres on a black background.

video

Neuroscience

This intricate map of a fruit fly brain could signal a revolution in neuroscience

2 minutes

Silhouette of a person walking through a spray of water at sunset with cars and buildings in the background.

essay

Neuroscience

The melting brain

It’s not just the planet and not just our health – the impact of a warming climate extends deep into our cortical fissures

Clayton Page Aldern

Close-up of a hand gracefully resting on a naked woman’s torso, soft lighting accentuating the skin’s smooth texture against a dark background.

essay

Sex and sexuality

Sexual sensation

What makes touch on some parts of the body erotic but not others? Cutting-edge biologists are arriving at new answers

David J Linden

Close-up of a dog with blue and brown eyes, grey and white fur, looking directly at the camera.

video

Neuroscience

Dog vision is a trendy topic, but what can we really know about how they see?

11 minutes

Painting of a person in a striped dress, resting their head on their hand, sitting next to a table with bottles, and a green background.

essay

Pleasure and pain

Me versus myself

I work against myself through procrastination, distraction and addiction. Why do I consistently sabotage my own life?

Eliane Glaser

Rainy forest road with yellow railings on either side and autumn trees with colourful leaves lining the road. Wet reflective surface and slight haze from the rain.

essay

Neuroscience

How to make a map of smell

We can split light by a prism, sounds by tones, but surely the world of odour is too complex and personal? Strangely, no

Jason Castro

A patient plays the violin while undergoing brain surgery, surrounded by surgeons and medical staff wearing scrubs and masks in an operating theatre.

essay

Neuroscience

Rethinking the homunculus

When we discovered that the brain contained a map of the body it revolutionised neuroscience. But it’s time for an update

Moheb Costandi

A crab is seen on a sandy beach. In the background and out of focus is a woman in a swimsuit

essay

Philosophy of mind

What is it like to be a crab?

Consciousness science should move past a focus on complex mammalian brains to study the behaviour of ‘simpler’ animals

Kristin Andrews

A group of people dancing energetically in pairs on a dimly lit outdoor pavement, casting long shadows.

video

Mood and emotion

An Oceanic lullaby, ‘Gimme Shelter’ and more elucidate how music taps into our emotions

58 minutes

A Panama hat rests on a bed bathed in afternoon light filtering through gauze curtains. There is a slight motion blur

essay

Consciousness and altered states

Déjà vu

Have you been here before? The eerie sensation is the shadow of your mind searching inward for clues to its own survival

Anne Cleary

Painting of a person in a colourful robe sleeping on a desert ground with a lute beside them, and a lion standing over them under a night sky.

video

Sleep and dreams

How might the dreamworlds of other animals differ from our own?

8 minutes

Illustration showing a book with a human head and neurons, connected to icons of a heart, dove, ghost, face, and geometric shapes, all crossed out.

video

Philosophy of mind

Do we have good reasons to believe in beliefs? A radical philosophy of mind says no

5 minutes

Dark window with reflections and a red brick wall faintly visible through the glass. The light creates a blurred, shadowy effect on the brick surface.

essay

Neuroscience

A thickness in the air

The spooky sensation that someone or something else is right there haunts us all. But what does this felt presence mean?

Ben Alderson-Day

Abstract sculpture of a human head with intricate lines extending from the top against a green background, encircled by two semi-transparent rings.

video

Philosophy of mind

We may never settle the ‘free will’ debate, but tapping into it is still worthwhile

32 minutes

A group of four women and a man, all holding their fingers to their temples in concentration, with the man wearing a turban adorned with a star.

essay

Philosophy of mind

Super-cooperators

Clear and direct telepathic communication is unlikely to be developed. But brain-to-brain links still hold great promise

Gary Lupyan & Andy Clark

Abstract image with blurred and overlapping circles in red, yellow, and purple hues, creating a vibrant and colourful pattern.

video

Ageing and death

Death is a trip – how new research links near-death and DMT experiences

9 minutes

Japanese macaques relaxing in a hot spring with a snowy landscape in the background. Several monkeys are at the water’s edge, while others are bathing.

essay

Evolution

Connected-up-brains

Bat friends, monkeys sharing, and humans holding hands: the brains of social animals synchronise and expand one another

Sofia Quaglia

A gloved hand holding a small white mouse lying on its back, against a blurred background.

essay

Animals and humans

Freefall into darkness

Scientists study animals to illuminate human psychology. So why are we blind to the mental lives of our caged subjects?

Garet Lahvis

A woman in a navy blouse speaks animatedly with hands outstretched, seated in a library with bookshelves and a wooden table in the background.

video

Neuroscience

The brain repurposed our sense of physical distance to understand social closeness

5 minutes

Woman working on a laptop, child drawing on paper, and a dog between them on a table with pencils and a coffee cup.

essay

Technology and the self

Help! Brain overload

As tasks mount up, our brain’s ability to juggle goes down. Neuroergonomic tactics can relieve the cognitive burden

Emily Willingham

Leonardo da Vinci’s sketches showing swirling water currents and writing in his characteristic mirror script on a sepia-toned paper.

essay

Neuroscience

The turbulent brain

Energy flow between brain and environment drives the non-equilibrium that sustains life. Could turbulence help us thrive?

Morten L Kringelbach & Gustavo Deco