First principles.
Each of these starts from scratch and builds a single idea about the brain from the ground up, with no jargon assumed.
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What is a neuron, really?
Most people learned in school that a neuron is "a brain cell that sends signals." That's about as useful as describing a phone as "a thing that sends signals." Let's build it from scratch.
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How can one drug treat both depression and anxiety?
The same pill is a first choice for depression and for panic, social anxiety, and OCD. That one fact strains the chemical imbalance story and points at how antidepressants really work.
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How does memory actually work?
A memory isn't a recording filed away in a drawer. It's a physical change in your neurons, and your brain rebuilds it every time you remember.
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Why do you need to sleep?
You spend a third of your life unconscious and you can't skip it. For something that costly, sleep must be doing real work. Here's what the research says it's for.
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Why can't most drugs reach your brain?
You can swallow a pill and it reaches your whole body, but most drugs never reach your brain. The blood-brain barrier is why, and it's the hardest problem in brain medicine.
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What does an fMRI actually measure?
When a headline says a brain region lit up, what was actually measured? Not thoughts, and not even electricity. Blood, indirectly, and a few seconds late.
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