News

Rats have similar physiological reactions to humans when it comes to sex, and perhaps also to orgasm. In fact, a good deal of what we know about what happens in our brains during orgasm comes from the laboratory rat. While...

Imagine a life without pain. No toothache. No period pain. No arthritis. A woman who feels no pain has been in the news recently, linked to a case study published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia. Jo Cameron came to...

For the longest time, “death” used to be when the heart stopped beating and breathing stopped. Then, machines were invented in the 1930s that enabled people to receive air even if they could not take in the air themselves. In...

Depression is a common mental disorder affecting over 300 million people across the world. It’s estimated that one in ten people in Australia (10.4%) suffer from depression. Alongside other therapies, medication is often used to treat patients with depression. About...

Do human beings have a magnetic sense? Biologists know other animals do. They think it helps creatures including bees, turtles and birds navigate through the world. Scientists have tried to investigate whether humans belong on the list of magnetically sensitive...

What makes a criminal a psychopath? Their grisly deeds and commanding presence attract our attention – look no further than Ted Bundy, the subject of a recent Netflix documentary, and cult leaders like Charles Manson. But despite years of theorizing...

The often painful and stigmatising nature of chronic inflammatory disorders, such as psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis, can take a toll on people’s quality of life, ultimately leading to anxiety and depression. But could depression be a consequence of inflammatory disease...

How many times have you thought about starting a company, taking a year out to write that novel or leaving a loveless relationship but ended up doing nothing about it? A fear of regret – which is a powerful driver...

The term “smiling depression” – appearing happy to others while internally suffering depressive symptoms – has become increasingly popular. Articles on the topic have crept up in the popular literature, and the number of Google searches for the condition has...

If you’ve ever seen someone in a club on MDMA, it may not surprise you to hear it’s linked to a heightened ability to share other people’s feelings and emotions. Yet in our new study, we found that even when...

We recently conducted one of the largest-ever studies on perfectionism. We learned that perfectionism has increased substantially over the past 25 years and that it affects men and women equally. We also learned that perfectionists become more neurotic and less...

For decades now, GDP has been the standard measure of a nation’s well-being. But it is becoming clear that an economic boost may not be accompanied by a rise in individual happiness. While there are many reasons for this, one...

Ella, who is in her early 20s, has depression. When her sleep started to fall away after a stressful term at school, her smartphone was programmed to note the late-night texts and phone conversations indicating her insomnia. It made suggestions...

Researchers, doctors, public health officials and parents are all trying to make sense of the impact of screen time on children. Some historians argue that every new technology has been vilified — from the printing press and television to digital...

A study has shed light on the neurocomputational contributions to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in combat veterans. The findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, revealed distinct patterns for how the brain and body respond to learning danger and...