Giggles, guffaws, or belly laughs -- whenever we crack up, we're communicating more than we realize. Laughter, says Dr. Sophie Scott, a neuroscientist at University College London as well as a standup comic, is pretty complicated. It's a way of expressing group membership and affection (as long as nobody is laughing AT you) and involves a physical reaction as well as an emotional one. Scott can make you laugh -- and then explain why you did!

Laughter, says Dr. Sophie Scott, is pretty complicated. It's a way of expressing group membership and affection (as long as nobody is laughing AT you) and involves a physical reaction as well as an emotional one. 

Extreme athlete Wim Hof has set records for immersion in icy water, and he recommends it for physical and mental health. Find out why his wife's suicide drove Hof to master controlled hyperventilation -- in breathtaking cold -- to become happy, strong, and healthy. (Everything else, he'll tell you, is BS!) Surprisingly, heart and brain science just may support the Wim Hof Method.

Plus... contrasting Ice with Fire.

http://www.wimhofmethod.com/

Extreme athlete Wim Hof has set records for immersion in icy water, and he recommends it for physical and mental health. Find out why his wife's suicide drove Hof to master controlled hyperventilation -- in breathtaking cold -- to become happy, strong, and healthy. (Everything else, he'll tell you, is BS.)

With each of us receiving more than 30,000 messages a day - everything from news headlines to print, TV, radio, and online advertising - how do today's marketing professionals have a chance of getting a product or service to stand out? Dr. Christophe Morin is a "neuromarketer," combining his expertise in neuroscience with his passion for understanding how to persuade people to do or buy almost anything. This week, Dr. Morin talks about the "emotional cocktail" that is our response to advertising messages, and why appeals to the rational brain don't work. Hit the primal brain using these six strategies, he says, and you'll get the emotional brain to respond every time. Plus... did subliminal advertising ever work?

Dr. Christophe Morin is a "neuromarketer," combining his expertise in neuroscience with his passion for understanding how to persuade people to do or buy almost anything. Next week, Dr. Morin talks about the "emotional cocktail" that is our response to advertising messages, and why appeals to the rational brain don't work.

Your brain, your heart -- in fact, every cell in your body -- has its own clock telling you when to be alert and when to pack it in. You probably know that jet lag and daylight savings time affect that clock, but did you know that the food you eat (and when you eat it) as well as your activity level can also wreak havoc on it? Emily Manoogian, PhD, chronobiologist and clinical researcher at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, explains how shift work, long flights, eating at the wrong times, and even staying up too late on weekends all affect health, mood, and emotional regulation.

Plus - what happens when animals are thrown off their rhythm?

Your brain, your heart -- in fact, every cell in your body -- has its own clock telling you when to be alert and when to pack it in.

Dr. Emily Manoogian, chronobiologist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies explains how disrupting your circadian rhythms through shift work, long flights, eating at the wrong times, and even staying up too late on weekends can affect your health, mood, and emotional regulation.

Magicians and illusionists rely on our brains' tendency to predict what comes next—and the surprise we feel when we're wrong. Dr. Luis Martinez, a neuroscientist at the Spanish National Research Council at the Institute of Neuroscience in Alicante, Spain, explains how card tricks, illusions, and other sleight of hand is all about the brain's interpretation of reality. Hint: your reality is different from the magician's.

https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691208442/the-illusionist-brain

https://www.maryannewolf.com/