Brain Waves

Exploring the science of how we think, learn and feel.
Lydia Denworth
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So You Think You Can Dance?

What makes a woman a good dancer? The hips don't lie.
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Pregnancy Changes the Brain for the Better

Feeling forgetful in pregnancy? Your brain is changing, but in ways that will help in motherhood.
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Growing Up and Gazing Down at Mom

As my kids overtake me in height, I remind myself that their brains haven't fully grown yet.
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The Slippery Slope of Dishonesty

New brain research tells the truth about lying. It gets easier over time.
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What Exactly Does Lead Do to a Child's Brain?

The water crisis in Flint has put lead back in the headlines. Here's what it means to be a neurotoxin.
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Reconsidering Resolutions

No more same old, same old resolutions this year. They don't work anyway. I'm trying on a new attitude instead.
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The Surprising, Undeniable Power of Touch

What's in a mother's caress? A set of specialized nerve fibers may help to explain why holding babies builds attachment.
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The Power of Talk

What is the best way to nurture a child's brain? The answer is simpler than you think.
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Behind the Scenes of our Senses: Vision

In order to see clearly, the brain has to take the world apart and put it back together again.
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Adolescence and the College Search: A Perfect Match?

The teenage brain may be perfectly adapted to thinking about college. Really.
Behind the Scenes of Our Senses: Part Two, Hearing

Behind the Scenes of Our Senses: Part Two, Hearing

Did you hear that? Even a word as simple as "hello" requires a process of sequencing and precision as complicated as a symphony.
Behind the Scenes of Our Senses: Part One, Perception

Behind the Scenes of Our Senses: Part One, Perception

Every piece of information that comes into the brain enters through the doors of our senses in a process so complex computers still can't do it as well as people can. New thinking about the nature of perception helps explain why.
4 Rules For Hanging On to What You Learn

4 Rules For Hanging On to What You Learn

To get better at a skill, you've got to do it. But how much and for how long? New research on perceptual learning has a few answers.
The Neurobiology of Dr. Seuss

The Neurobiology of Dr. Seuss

Neuroscientists have been able to peer inside the brain and see what happens when children hear and learn language. They know now that Dr. Seuss was on to something. Repetition, rhythm and rhyme help children in crucial ways to process the speech they hear, and fine-tune the connections between auditory and language networks.
A Blind Man Sees With Technology ... and Practice

A Blind Man Sees With Technology ... and Practice

With hard work, the first patients with retinal implants are learning to see all over again. Roger Pontz can tell if his wife, Terri, is wearing black or white. Someday, he hopes to see her face.
The Importance of Connections

The Importance of Connections

The exuberant new maps and diagrams of a mouse’s brain show us what brain connectivity really means and what it might look like under the surface when children read, do math or even play video games.