Surprising Science — May 7, 2010

Letting It Roll

Scientists have found that the brains of problem gamblers react more intensely to “near misses” than those of casual gamblers—possibly spurring them on to play more.

bigthinkeditor

Scientists have found that the brains of problem gamblers react more intensely to “near misses” than those of casual gamblers—possibly spurring them on to play more. The brain region that responds to rewards by delivering a dose of dopamine was found to be especially active in these people, indicating a possible correlation between brain chemistry and the severity of a gambling addiction.

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

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Surprising Science

Kill the Birds?

A German animal biologist Silvia Gaus says we should be killing the oil-soaked birds in the Gulf of Mexico. Doing so would be less painful in the long run than trying to clean them, she says.