Previously, we’ve talked about how enlarged pupils can signify attention or arousal. If someone’s pupils dilate when you talk to them, conventional wisdom went, that means they’re very interested in what you have to say. It’s been speculated that this is why restaurants go in for mood lighting: the low light helps create the illusion that your dining companion is riveted, and thus increases the odds you’ll stay long enough to linger over that slice of cheesecake or extra glas

No two human brains are exactly alike. Or at least, that’s what neuroscientists have generally assumed. After all, consider the highly specific combination of genetic intermixing that makes up your DNA. Consider neuroplasticity—how easily the brain can wire itself based on past experiences. Learning how to navigate a complicated city, mastering the violin, even keeping your arm in a cast for two weeks all leave an indelible mark on your gray matter. Now consider the tremendou

Parrots: at times, they seem almost suspiciously smart. It’s not just about the talking and the mimicry; the Harvard Gazette reports that an adult parrot can routinely outperform a human four-year-old in a variety of cognition tests, including judging the relative volume of liquids. (Pour equal amounts of juice into a tall thin cup and a short stout one and your average preschooler will opt for the taller cup, while your average parrot won’t be fooled.) How can a creature wit

“You are what you buy,” our consumer culture seems to tell us. But how fixed and immutable are our buying preferences? How subject are they to chemical manipulation? This may sound like the premise for a paranoid and on-the-nose thriller about capitalism but it’s also the question raised by a recent collaboration between Caltech, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, University of Western Ontario, and ZRT Laboratory. And the results of that study suggest the a