Cognitive Neuroscience

Cognitive Neuroscience

Silhouette of a human head in white with a small red figure appearing to move or climb inside, set against a black background—illustrating how our brains shape our selves.
Your sense of self isn’t located in a single part of the brain — it emerges from a complex interplay of cognitive processes that change over time.
A blue-walled hallway with white trim features several doorways in a row, with large fluffy clouds filling the rooms beyond.
4mins
Have you ever woken up after a dream and thought to yourself, “That made absolutely no sense”? According to modern neuroscience, there’s a reason why dreams feel so abstract and bizarre. Two sleep experts discuss.
Unlikely Collaborators
An older man with a beard sits on a chair in front of a white backdrop, with yellow neuron-like patterns on a black background surrounding the scene.
1hr 7mins
Members
Neuroscientist David Linden sheds light on the biology behind phenomena that medicine has long struggled to explain, from voodoo death and broken heart syndrome to the placebo effect, and why grief shows up in autopsy results
Book cover of "Emergence" by David Sussillo, featuring a blue background with fish and circuit patterns, and a subtitle about boyhood, computation, and the mysteries of mind.
In this preview, the Stanford professor muses on how emergence, arriving at complex patterns from simple parts, explains AI, brains, and life itself.
A blue hand holding a tool touches a red illustrated brain, with brain wave patterns shown in the background.
A new framework suggests that bursts of neural chaos could be the fingerprints of a conscious mind at work.
A silhouette of a person reading a book sits on abstract, geometric stairs overlaid on collaged text and blue circular patterns.
Books don’t just stimulate the mind — they trigger physiological changes throughout the body.
A split image explores the nature of life, with a gray rock on a dark background on the left and a colored microscopic view of a cell—hinting at intelligence—in vivid detail on the right.
Sixty years ago, a little-known philosopher challenged how science understands life. His perspective is finding new relevance in the age of artificial intelligence.
Silhouette of Reddit's alien mascot overlaid on abstract geometric shapes and patterns in green, blue, and beige tones.
Moltbook is a social media site built for conversation — but not for humans.
A woman sits on a chair against a white backdrop, gesturing with her hands, with a dynamic black background and white abstract swirl surrounding her.
53mins
Members
“Our conscious awareness is everything. And the fact that it's still so mysterious to scientists and to all of humanity, the fact that it's still one of the great unsolved mysteries makes it something that everyone can be excited about and that inspires awe in everyone.”
A woman in a blue outfit and red heels sits on a chair in a studio with a white backdrop, flanked by stylized images of a person's face looking at a phone.
1hr 23mins
Why social media is the perfect recipe for kids to become addicted to their smartphones.
A person stands next to a large book titled "The Knowledge," symbolizing mastery of the city’s map.
One of the toughest vocational exams in the world requires candidates to memorize 25,000 streets in an area five times the size of Manhattan.
A stylized human figure runs in front of a large, abstract eye, with geometric shapes and colorful patterns in the background.
Elite athletes train their “quiet eye.” What happens if the rest of us do the same?
A person is seen in a hazy landscape, centered within overlapping geometric shapes and colorful patterns, with lightning streaks in the background.
The Stoic philosopher argued that most of life is outside our control — but the little we do control defines who we are.
A silhouette of a monkey with brainwave patterns is shown beside a stylized computer, divided by a vertical line on a blue and gray background.
Researchers built a model that behaves like a brain. Without being trained on neural data, the model produced a peculiar signal — one that was later discovered in actual brain activity.
Ancient-style illustration of three nude male warriors running, each holding a decorated round shield and wearing a crested helmet, inspired by themes explored by thinkers like Ezekiel Emanuel.
Health policy expert Ezekiel Emanuel says you don’t have to be obsessed to live a healthy life. Wellness can, and should, be something you enjoy.
Aerial view of a river delta with branching waterways, shaped by natural intelligence, flowing into the sea and surrounded by green and brown land.
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
Two monkeys sit on a tree branch interacting, with brain diagrams and EEG waveforms in the background, one with a purple arrow pointing to its head.
By tracking brain activity as primates move freely in the wild, neuroethology could reshape what we think we know about our own minds.
A petri dish containing smart slime mold with branching vein-like structures, viewed from above against a black background.
As we crank up our search for more powerful AI, maybe we should slow down and reimagine the shape and language of intelligence itself.
A silhouette of a person in profile thinking, juxtaposed with a close-up illustration of a synapse releasing neurotransmitters in blue light.
2mins
Our brains weren’t built for the amount of info we deal with now. That’s why scientists have made the case for a “second brain” — a place to dump ideas so you can actually see how they connect later.
Unlikely Collaborators
A person with an illustrated book as a head—pages open, filled with wavy black lines—appears to be brain reading as they stand against a plain light green background.
The technology might be much closer than you'd think.
A stylized image of a red brain half with a curved red arrow pointing downward, set against a blue background with circular patterns.
Metacognition — the ability to think about your thinking — can help you learn faster and make better decisions.
3mins
Philosophy asks if free will is real. Neuroscience reveals why the answer is more complicated than we expected.
Unlikely Collaborators
A close-up of a spotted nudibranch with translucent, pointed cerata on a brown underwater branch against a black background, inviting reflection on the intricate nature of consciousness in marine life.
In this excerpt from "One Hand Clapping," Nikolay Kukushkin makes the case that neurons reveal how memory, meaning, and even consciousness emerge from the same biological roots in humans, sea slugs, and beyond.
Two figures in military gear salute, rendered in white and red with visible brain scans over their heads, set against a black background—a striking nod to the neuroscience of war.
In “Warhead,” neuroscientist and national security adviser Nicholas Wright explains how the brain navigates warfare and why it is our ultimate weapon (and instrument for peace).
A split image showing a brain scan on the left and hands using a smartphone on the right.
6mins
Daily habits can help you thrive or quietly turn into addictions. The difference is how your brain handles cues, routines, and rewards. Three experts explain how to work with your wiring instead of against it.
Unlikely Collaborators
The cover of "All That We See or Seem" by Ken Liu features blurred colorful lines and glowing blue text on a dark background, perfectly capturing the enigmatic spirit of all that we see or seem.
A preview of the latest novel by the Hugo- and Nebula-winning author.
A stylized collage featuring a woman's face, abstract patterns, and a winding arrow in green, red, and black on a divided background.
Members
Barbara Oakley, instructor of a popular MOOC, offers strategies for enhancing learning skills by leveraging insights from neuroscience and cognitive science, addressing the challenges posed by our brain's hardwiring in changing habits and acquiring new skills.
A blue and green dot drawing of a woman looking through a microscope.
Members
This class explores human cognition and decision-making through insights from experts like Michio Kaku on magical thinking, Madhavan on systems-level thinking, Mlodinow on elastic thinking, Konnikova on deductive reasoning, and Summers on structured decision-making, promoting a scientific mindset for effective problem-solving.
A silhouette of a human head with swirling arrows inside the brain, illustrating a concept of circular thought or mental processes.
8mins
"If you're interested in human performance, what you want is something that's reliable and repeatable, and thus you want neurobiology because neurobiology gives you mechanism."