Stephen Johnson

Arieh Smith, a New York City-based polyglot who runs the YouTube channel Xiaomanyc, talks language-learning with Big Think.

Katie Kermode — a memory athlete with four world records — tells Big Think about her unique spin on an ancient technique to memorize unfathomably long lists of information.

The benefits of the psychedelic seem to last long after the trip wears off.

“When Harry Met Sally” lied to you.

Jung thought these autonomous entities live in your unconscious mind — often at a cost.

Dogs tend to tilt their heads when they hear words they have learned, suggesting that the behavior is a sign of increased attention.

A woman in Scotland was found to feel virtually no pain and report zero trace of any anxiety or depression.

Pain makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. What’s puzzling is why so many of us choose to seek out painful experiences.

The American author said he attempted to bring scientific thinking to literary criticism, but received “very little gratitude for this.”

Focusing on the present moment has some strange effects on how people estimate stretches of time.

Does microdosing psilocybin decrease symptoms of anxiety and depression? A new study say it’s no different than placebo.

What factors explain why men and women tend to pursue more sex-typical jobs as their nations become more prosperous and equal?

Neuroscience research suggests it might be time to rethink our ideas about when exactly a child becomes an adult.

We seem to have a “progression bias” that nudges us toward pro-relationship decisions and away from breaking up.

A recent study involving 70 couples in intimate relationships tested whether oxytocin could reduce feelings of arousal and jealousy.

GPT-3, which features 175 billion parameters, just might fool you in a conversation.

The General Index aims to make it easier than ever to access and search through the world’s accumulated research papers. Legally, this time.

Our moral attitudes about sex and drugs share a genetic basis, suggests a recent study that examined the attitudes of more than 5,000 twins.

Offensive speech can cause mental and emotional pain. But classifying it as violence erodes the foundations of intellectual liberalism.

A recent study suggests the secret to treating chronic back pain may be to treat psychological issues like anxiety and repressed emotions.