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From: Scientific American <newsletters@scientificamerican.com> Date: March 5, 2025 at 3:00:54 PM GMT-3 To: mhallak@fcq.unc.edu.ar Subject: Mind & Brain: Relax, we have free will Reply-To: newsletters@sciam.com
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March 5—This week, the neuroscience of "ear worms"—songs that get stuck in your head. Plus, how making a pledge can increase honesty (if worded correctly), and a new bar for proving that free will doesn't exist. All that and more below.
—Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor
TOP STORIES
Neuroscientists Should Set a High Bar for Evidence against Free Will Neuroscience research claiming to question the existence of free will may have been misinterpreted
Aaron Schurger, Adina Roskies, Uri Maoz
How Plastics in the Brain Connect to the Wider Debate over Petroleum Many people are concerned about microplastics reaching our brain—but few realize how this connects with petroleum production and the climate crisis
Rachel Feltman, Megha Satyanarayana, Fonda Mwangi, Naeem Amarsy, Alex Sugiura
Cutting a Parent Out of Your Life Isn’t Always the Right Solution Popular culture paints going “no contact” as the best way to deal with hard family relationships. But it’s not always the right choice
Joshua Coleman, Karl Pillemer
Your Candy Cravings Might Be Controlled by This Gut Bacterium Mouse and human studies suggest a connection between a gut microbe and the appetite-regulating hormone GLP-1
Claire Maldarelli
Interjections Are, Uh, More Important than We Thought Utterances like um, wow and mm-hmm aren’t garbage—they keep conversations flowing
Bob Holmes, Knowable Magazine
Why You Can’t Get That Song Out of Your Head Some songs get stuck in our head more than others, and scientists have uncovered what makes them so irresistible.
Rachel Feltman, Josh Fischman, Fonda Mwangi
Making a Pledge Can Encourage Honest Behavior—If the Wording Is Right Can taking a simple oath make you more trustworthy? That depends a lot on its exact wording
Simon Makin
A New Device Lets You Taste Things without Actually Eating Them This tiny instrument lets users taste things—without actually eating them—by releasing a combination of chemicals that reconstruct different tastes. But replicating associated smells and textures will take some time
Gayoung Lee Want access to more mind and brain content? Consider a subscription to Scientific American. WHAT WE'RE READING Human brains contain enough plastics and nanoplastics to make a spoon. | Fast Company In tough times, this Polish phrase means acting without worrying about the consequences—and having faith that things will work out in the end. | BBC Travel Deep sleep could slow brain decline. | ScienceAlert FROM THE ARCHIVE
Free Will Is Only an Illusion if You Are, Too New research findings, combined with philosophy, suggest free will is real but may not operate in the ways people expect
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