Your Brain On Us

The neuroscience of social interactions

by Jamil Zaki

Tom Coburn, Ignorance, and the need for Scientific Communication

Tom Coburn and others don't recognize the value of psychology, and it is up to psychologists to answer back Read More

Let's get amoebic: The charitable slime mold as a model for facing climate change

A dirty, but heroic protozoan could revamp our hopes of climate reform. Read More

Play nice with the 2000s

Negative opinions about the last decade may stem not only from all the bad things that happened in the last ten years, but also from the biased way in which we store and recall memories. Read More

The failure of leaders in Copenhagen to come to an agreement on stopping climate change may be an example of an old problem: people's difficulty governing common resources. Research suggests several key features they may want to include in their next attempt. Read More

The altruism instinct

There is a deep tension between self interest and a desire to help others. This tension can be resolved by evidence that we actually have an instinct for altruism. Read More

The two human natures

Philosophers, some scientists, and many people have long held the assumption that human nature is antisocial and self interested. This does not make sense, because people are deeply connected with each other, and self interest is often social. This blog will detail the ways in which people are fundamentally social, and what that could mean for our sense of who we are. Read More