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If you are a professional football player, and especially if you are a retired professional football player, the risk of long-term health problems from injuries is high. And one of the most uncomfortable long-term health problems happens inside the brain. Concussions are common in football, and the human brain does not respond well to them. [...]
Blow Your Mind: Why Your Brain Likes a Conspiracy
by Robert Lamb | March 31, 2011
Unforeseen events required me to take a sudden leave from the office last week, but the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast must go on. Luckily, fellow HowStuffWorks podcaster Ben Bowlin popped in to help us out with a special guest appearance. The Stuff They Don’t Want You To Know co-host is a student of conspiracy in all its forms, so in this episode he chats with Julie about the nature of conspiracy theories and just why our minds crave them so.
This short video clip popped up on YouTube yesterday. Since it was posted in the comedy category with a snide description, it was probably posted as a form or derision. However, most people with medical expertise look at the clip and believe that the woman (Serene Branson) had a stroke just after the camera started [...]
This video documents the simple, unexplained fact that a blindfolded people can’t go straight ahead. They can’t walk in a straight line, or swim or drive. If they have no landmarks to guide them, people will always travel in curving paths: Any theories? Update: This video has bugged me all day. I found this paper [...]
In this illusion, it’s funny that you can look at the same video and hear two completely different things… “What’s remarkable about this illusion is, even knowing how its done, doesn’t seem to make a difference…” “When the brain has conflicting information it tries to make sense of the conflict. And depending what type of [...]
Music has a real effect on us. Why, I’m listening to music right now (Devo at the moment) and it’ll probably help shape this post. Case in point: There’s a new study out in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin that covers how songs with prosocial lyrics have a prosocial impact on its listeners. Take, for instance, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” Remember Band Aid? The all-star group recorded that song 25 years ago to raise money for famine-stricken African nations. And it worked; the single raised over 8 million pounds. That’s pretty prosocial.
Although the speed of computers is growing exponentially, the human brain may handle roughly ten quadrillion instructions per second. Learn more about the world’s fastest computer in this HowStuffWorks podcast.
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