Braincraft

I spoke with the composer Max Richter about the 8½ hour piece of music SLEEP, and the larger SLEEP project. Thanks to Universal Music for making this possible (and making this scientist feel particularly cool).

The Vagus Nerve controls various bodily functions, such as digestion, heart rate, and mood regulation. Recently there's been a surge in alternative therapies that claim to stimulate the Vagus Nerve, including icing, breathing exercises and meditation. In this video, I test the most popular TikTok trend, icing, based on the mammalian dive reflex. We explore the science behind VNS, the latest therapies, and what personalised medicine could look like in the future.

Self esteem is your evaluation of your worth, value, or importance. It's a basic feature of good mental health. But many of us have low self-esteem, and when your self-esteem suffers, it can lead to self-criticism, sadness, anxiety, shame and even depression. So I tried five research-backed ways to improve self-esteem – interventions that have had a positive impact in clinical trials.

This is an expert's guide to doing nothing.

I spent a year learning about a new area of psychology to try and change minds.| But am I the asshole?