What Waves of Brain Research Are Teaching Us About Growing Up
The largest long-term study of adolescent brain development in the United States shortened its own cognitive tests twice. Whether the thing it was measuring survived that is a better question than it sounds.
Why Some People Become Exhausted From Simply Concentrating
An afternoon of concentration can leave someone as flattened as a long walk. A meta-analysis of 46 studies covering 2,603 people found a consistent brain network associated with fatigue — and was candid about its own limitations.
The Brain’s Incredible Ability to Filter Out the World
Until you read this sentence you were not feeling your clothes. A study of 143 adults found that how quickly people stop noticing things comes with a cost — and a benefit.
Early Stress May Leave Biological Footprints—But What Does That Really Mean?
Researchers followed 225 young people from age nine, taking six biological measures across six years. The finding that matters is not that early stress leaves marks — it is which kind of stress left which kind of mark.
Bipolar Disorder and the Brain: Beyond “Highs and Lows”
The two-state description leaves out most of the condition — including the periods between episodes, where a 2026 review reports that difficulties persist.
Could Your Brain Be Tired of Making Decisions?
By six o’clock the small choices feel disproportionately hard. There is a large research literature on that experience — and a serious dispute about whether the mechanism everyone cites actually exists.
Why PTSD Isn’t Only About Memory
The popular account is flashbacks and intrusive memories. A 2026 proposal argues for measuring something wider — and a 2026 study found the most informative signal was not a memory at all.
The Parent’s Nervous System Matters Too
Researchers recorded heart-rate variability in 129 mothers and their preschoolers at the same moment, during a deliberately difficult task, a year apart. What changed between three and four is the interesting part.
Is Your Brain Predicting the World—or Actually Seeing It?
Lift a box you expect to be heavy and find it empty, and your arm flies up. That small, familiar moment is a prediction error — and it is the clearest everyday evidence that perception is not simply reception.
Why Concussion Symptoms Can Outlast the Original Injury
The injury was weeks ago and the scans were normal, but the headaches and the fog have not gone. Up to 30% of people with a mild traumatic brain injury are in that position.