About Brainstorm

Join us for a brain-teasing adventure called Brainstorm. Our tour guide — New York Times best-selling author and developmental molecular biologist John Medina — explores the marvels and mysteries of DNA and human behavior. What you read here, you’ll be talking about for the rest of the week. Learn more »

Latest Posts


May 7, 2012

Brain Development, Part 1: Of Mops and Brain Cells and Human Behavior

We have been discussing in equal measure the contributions that both nature and nurture make in the creation of human behavior. In this entry and the next, we are going to focus on the nature side of the discussion, summarizing a few features about how the human brain develops in the womb.


April 16, 2012

Of Princesses and Football Players

Sports-related head injuries are getting a lot of press these days. Learning from injuries sustained by prize fighters, hockey players, and American football players, researchers are beginning to understand there are severe consequences to sustained trauma on the mental life of professional athletes.


March 26, 2012

Of Sign Language and Combat Veterans, Part Two

In the last entry I talked about sign language, and I promised in this space to talk about combat veterans. This entry fulfills the promise (though I am also going to talk about business cards).


March 9, 2012

Of Sign Language and Combat Veterans, Part 1

I would like to introduce you to a terrific scientist. His name is David McNeill, a psycholinguist from the University of Chicago.