

The Chimpanzee Conga and the History of Human Dance
If you’ve ever watched a toddler bob up and down to their favorite song, the origins of dance might seem clear: moving to a rhythm appears to be something like basic human nature. From this point of view, dance must date back to the invention of the very first, most rudimentary drum. However, now some researchers at the University of Warwick believe it could be even older, and their theory stems from an unlikely place—grainy YouTube footage of two captive chimpanzees engrosse


How "Smart" is Your City?
Have you ever found yourself walking down a busy city sidewalk, so overwhelmed and overstimulated by all the signs, sounds, and cars that you felt your mood start to slip? This state, called “cognitive load,” can affect your ability to pay attention and even exercise self-control, and it affects many city dwellers. Now consider that we could eliminate this problem with the right urban planning. A growing new movement hopes to apply the principles of neuroscience and psycholog


Bad Breakup? Neuroscience Can Help
Minnesota-based singer-songwriter, rapper, and essayist Dessa is famous—to the extent she is famous—for her gorgeous, aching breakup songs. What even many fans don’t know is that most of those songs are about one person, a man Dessa has dated on and off for ten emotionally trying years. “And I was not only heartbroken, I was kind of embarrassed that I couldn’t rebound from what other people seemed to recover from so regularly,” she explained at a 2019 TED Talk offshoot, TEDxW