Sublime

Neuroscientists sometimes refer disparagingly to these studies as “blobology,” their tongue-in-cheek label for studies that show which brain areas become activated as subjects experience X or perform task Y.

Increasing your production of BDNF and thus increasing neurogenesis while adding protection to your existing brain neurons doesn’t require that you enroll in a research study to determine if some new laboratory-created compound will enhance BDNF production. The gene that turns on BDNF is activated by a variety of factors, including voluntary physic

BESIDES BEING BORN with plenty of oxytocin receptors, how can one attain a high degree of empathy? One answer, I believe, is to be depressed.

Our mind is similar: by looking at how our brain is structured, we can learn where we came from and understand more about our evolutionary history. We can learn, for example, that we are rewarded for being social—a good amount of our brain’s structure is devoted to connecting with others. We can observe that the outer layers of our brain—such as th

“neurogenesis is clearly involved in our interactions with our environment, both emotionally and cognitively,” says neuroscientist Fred Gage, of the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California.

I described three common ways in which people flip the hive switch: awe in nature, Durkheimian drugs, and raves. I described recent findings about oxytocin and mirror neurons that suggest that they are the stuff of which the hive switch is made. Oxytocin bonds people to their groups, not to all of humanity. Mirror neurons help people empathize with