How the Brain 'Constructs' the Outside World

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June 03, 2022

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Neuroscience How the Brain 'Constructs' the Outside World Neural activity probes your physical surroundings to select just the information needed to survive and flourish By György Buzsáki

Mental Health Science Shows How to Protect Kids' Mental Health, but It's Being Ignored Yes, the COVID pandemic has made the problem worse. But our teens were in trouble long before that By Mitch Prinstein,Kathleen A. Ethier

Epidemiology Long COVID Risk Falls Only Slightly after Vaccination Results from a large study suggest that vaccines offer less protection against lingering symptoms than expected By Sara Reardon,Nature magazine

Arts This New Album Makes Beautiful Music out of Gravity, the Elements and Photosynthesis The British band the Sound of Science elevates edutainment on its debut By Ryan Reid

Psychology How Dominant Leaders Go Wrong Highly assertive, confident individuals may foster a selfish culture that hurts productivity By Hemant Kakkar,Niro Sivanathan

Epidemiology Monkeypox Outbreaks: 4 Key Questions Scientists Have Researchers are racing to understand the latest monkeypox outbreaks—from their origins to whether they can be contained By Max Kozlov,Nature magazine

Climate Change Record Methane Spike Boosts Heat Trapped by Greenhouse Gases NOAA's Annual Greenhouse Gas Index finds that greenhouse gases trapped nearly 50 percent more heat last year than they did in 1990 By John Fialka,E&E News

Reproduction Pregnancy Is Far More Dangerous Than Abortion Restricting access to and prohibiting abortion in the U.S. will only increase maternal mortality in the nation that already ranks shockingly low in maternal health By Adebayo Adesomo

Pollution U.S. Emissions Rise 4 Percent as Drivers Log a Record Number of Miles Drivers tallied 753 billion miles in the first three months of the year, the highest total on record By Benjamin Storrow,E&E News

Medicine An IVF Embryo Test Aims to Prevent Miscarriages: Is It Worth It? The test could help ensure a successful pregnancy but still leaves hopeful parents with some difficult decisions By Laura Hercher

Neuroscience U.S. Kids Are Falling behind Global Competition, but Brain Science Shows How to Catch Up Paid parental leave and high-quality child care improve children's brain development and prospects for a better future By Dana Suskind,Lydia Denworth

Extraterrestrial Life Scientists Sprout First-Ever Seedlings in Apollo Moon Dirt We now know that plants survive but fail to thrive in lunar soil By Joanna Thompson

FROM THE STORE Revolutions in Science Normally science proceeds in incremental steps, but sometimes a discovery is so profound that it causes a paradigm shift. This eBook is a collection of articles about those kinds of advances, including revolutionary discoveries about the origin of life, theories of learning, formation of the solar system and more. *Editor's Note: Revolutions in Science was originally published as a Collector's Edition. The eBook adaptation contains all of the articles, but some of the artwork has been removed to optimize viewing on mobile devices.

BRING SCIENCE HOME Put Your Peripheral Vision to the Test Can you see me now? Did you know that our central and side vision works very differently? Learn how your own eyes work to notice objects and movement on the edge of your vision. You may be surprised about what you don't notice!  Credit: George Retseck  Do you only think of your peripheral (side) vision—peripherally? This side vision is actually useful for many daily activities, including riding a bike, reading or playing basketball. You might not even realize when you are using it. But our survival once depended on the quick response of our peripheral vision. A detailed picture, created by our central vision, is only useful in situations where time allows us to focus on the details. But our side vision can help us avoid dangers quickly. In this activity you will find out how specialized our peripheral view is.

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