Mind, features and articles | Educational Science

Feb 10, 2016

To Stop Brain Shrinkage, Start Moving

Couch potatoes beware: Physical fitness during middle age may be a driver of brain health later in life, according to the results of a new study. In a research project spanning two decades, scientists have found that the participants who were less fit at age 40 had a greater degree...

Feb 12, 2016

30-Year Amnesia: How the Brain Suddenly Remembers

A man wakes up one morning just as he always does but suddenly has flashbacks to a past identity, a name he held 30 years ago. It sounds like the setup to The Bourne Identity, but this bizarre scenario actually played out recently in real life. A 51-year-old man with...

May 10, 2016

Yoga May Improve Memory Better Than Brain Training

Yoga isn't just good for the body; it might help your memory too, a small new study suggests. The study involved 25 adults ages 55 and over who had mild cognitive impairment, or problems with thinking and memory that sometimes precede Alzheimer's disease. The participants were randomly assigned to complete...

May 11, 2016

Memory Eraser: This Trick Helps You Forget

Whether it's an embarrassing situation at work or a bad date, everyone has memories they'd rather forget, and now new research suggests a way to do just that. In the study, researchers found that trying to push away your thoughts about the less obvious, background aspects of such memories was...

Jun 16, 2016

Memory-Boosting Trick: Exercise After Learning

To increase your chances of remembering new information, you may want to exercise 4 hours after learning it, a new study suggests. Researchers found that people who did a high-intensity workout on a spinning bike 4 hours after completing a memory task had better recall when they were retested two...

Jan 26, 2017

Cluster of Mysterious Amnesia Cases Puzzles Researchers

More than a dozen people in Massachusetts suddenly developed severe amnesia, but there was no clear cause of their memory loss, leaving researchers puzzled about what exactly could have been behind these cases, according to a new report. In the report, researchers describe a cluster of 14 cases involving people...

Mar 8, 2017

You, Too, Can Become a Memory Champion, Scientists Say

It's like a magic trick: Some people can memorize a long list of hundreds of random words and numbers in seconds, and then recite it perfectly hours later. But unlike magicians, these memory athletes are open about the secrets of their trade. They use a well-known memory method called the...

Apr 5, 2017

How Long Do We Remember Major Plane Crashes?

American Airlines Flight 587. Germanwings Flight 9525. Air France Flight 447. How long will these flights, all of which crashed and killed everyone aboard, be remembered? If history is any guide, about 45 years. A new study finds that collective memory of plane crashes lasts about 45 years, at least...

Apr 24, 2017

What Is Short-Term Memory Loss?

When a person experiences short-term memory loss, he or she can remember incidents from 20 years ago but is fuzzy on the details of things that happened 20 minutes prior. There are a number of causes of short-term memory loss, some which are a result of medical conditions and others...

Apr 24, 2017

Zapping the Brain at Certain Times Improves Memory

Zapping the brain with just a bit of electricity at the right time may help to improve memory function in some people, according to a new study. The findings of the study, which was conducted in patients with epilepsy, may one day help researchers develop technologies that could aid people...

Oct 3, 2017

Forget Me Not: History's 17 Most Bizarre Amnesia Cases

Don't you forget about me (Image credit: Shutterstock)Amnesia is a popular plot device in movies and television, but real-life instances of memory loss are arguably more bizarre than anything seen on the screen. From Agatha Christie's 11-day memory lapse, to Patient H.M. who forgot events as soon as they occurred,...

Nov 7, 2017

How Your Brain Blocks Out Unwanted Thoughts and Memories

If you don't want to think about a fight you had with your sister yesterday, a scary movie you watched recently or the source of that nasty smell on the subway, you're going to need some GABA. A new, small study suggests that GABA, or gamma-Aminobutyric acid, plays a key...

Dec 26, 2017

What Is 'Water Memory'? Why This Homeopathy Claim Doesn't Hold Water

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Dec. 18 that it plans to crack down on dangerous or dishonestly advertised homeopathic products — a class of products that sellers claim treat diseases by delivering extremely diluted traces of the substances that cause those diseases in the first place. If certain...

Mar 1, 2018

How a Little Bit of Anxiety May Improve Your Memory

Something as simple as running out to grab a coffee may not be a memorable experience — but anxiety could change that. A new study suggests that people with higher anxiety levels might remember certain events better than people with lower anxiety levels. That's because, researchers say, higher anxiety may...

Apr 6, 2018

Military-Funded Study Successfully Tests 'Prosthetic Memory' Brain Implants

If a computer chip lived inside your brain and monitored your every memory, could it learn to remember for you? The concept may sound like science fiction, but according to a new paper in the Journal of Neural Engineering, technology like this may be a reality before long. In a...