Mirror neurons – Why you yawn or smile back when someone does it?

Ever wondered why you smile at others back when you see someone smiling at you? Ever thought about why you yawn whenever you see someone does it? Sometimes when you see a stranger hit their toe on something, you might have flinched. You might be watching a cricket match on TV, and when the batsman…

Why do we cry – The reason behind it

Usually, we relate crying to sadness. But, do you know why we really cry? Experts believe crying may be an evolutionary trait. When our ancestors hurt themselves or felt upset, they cried. Their tears evolved as a way to send a message to people close to them that they needed help from others. The same…

Why do we feel better after crying?

Usually, humans tend to cry in tears when they are emotional. Negative emotions like sadness, grief, anger, suffering, mourning, or physical pain produce emotional tears. Even extreme happiness during times of intense humor and laughter also produces emotional tears. Whether we are really happy or sad, our limbic system in the brain feels it is…

Types of tears – Why older adults get dry eyes more?

Tears are an essential substance produced by our bodies. The lacrimal gland situated just above our eyeballs produces all human tears. Their primary purpose is to clean and lubricate the eyes, remove irritants, supports the immune system and as a part of the body's natural pain response. They are composed of water, salts, fatty oils,…

Cryonics – Can you revive a human body by preserving it?

Cryonics is a technique that is used to preserve a human body at extremely low temperatures to revive them sometimes in the future. If a person's full body is preserved it is said to be in Cryonic-Suspension and if only the brain is preserved, then it is in Neuro-Suspension. The idea of Cryonics originated with…

Walking corpse syndrome – The real walking dead

Most of us know that zombies are science fiction. But there is a medical condition that will make you believe that you are a zombie. Yes, it is an extremely rare, frightening and serious mental illness. This psychiatric and delusional disorder is called as Cotard’s syndrome or Cotard’s delusion. The affected persons believes that they…

Sleeping beauty syndrome – Real life sleeping beauty

We all grew up hearing the classic fairytale The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods by the Brothers Grimm. It is about a princess who is cursed to sleep for a 100 years by an evil fairy with a spell that could be broken only by a kiss from a handsome prince. In fact, there is…

Autopilot – Why does our brain works as autopilot when we drive to our routine places?

After certain period, usually every time when you drive home from work, do you ever remember the drive? Have you ever noticed that? Think of your morning. When you get up, there will be a sequence of tasks to do.Like brush your teeth, then hit shower, wash here, wash there, then shampoo, shave and so…

Scopaesthesia / Gaze detection – Do you feel like you are being watched?

Do you have a constant feeling that someone is watching you? Sometimes it could be true. The phenomenon in which humans detect that they are being watched or stared is called the Psychic staring effect. The technical term for this is Scopaesthesia. Edward B. Titchener The phenomenon was first explored by psychologist Edward B. Titchener…

The laughing death – Kuru

You might have heard someone say they died of laughing in their humourous situation. But people literally can die laughing due to a rare disease. It is called Kuru and it is a progressive and fatal nervous system disease. Kuru means trembling or to shake. As the illness progressed, the person will lose the ability…