Whether it’s pester power strategies, signs with short-term offers or special scents in the air: by now we are all familiar with the trickery that supermarkets use to get us to buy. But why do we fall for them again and again?
WoW
Some pills consist only of sugar and starch – and can still make you healthy. How can the placebo effect be explained? Researchers suspect that the body heals itself in many cases of illness.
Some people can memorize hundreds of faces or phone numbers in a matter of minutes. Everyone is capable of such feats of memory.
Almost everyone has encountered déjà vu – the sudden feeling of having experienced a similar situation before. But where does it come from?
Neuroscientists can peer into our brains and read what we are thinking. There are also less chilling possibilities, such as prosthetics that can be controlled by the power of thought.
Soldiers in crisis areas or aid workers on disaster relief missions often have traumatic experiences. The images, sounds and smells remain with some people for the rest of their lives. What happens in our brain? And can trauma be healed?
What if we were able to cure even the most serious illness using only the power of our thoughts?
Pain is essential for survival, but it can also be an enormous burden. We explain the different types of pain and why a broken bone doesn’t really hurt.
Many people find it unbearable to watch another person suffer. Physical mishaps make them uncomfortable, physical violence in movies is almost unbearable. But what is really going on inside us when this happens?
Unpleasant sounds can cause physical reactions. In some cases, this is a remnant of human evolution. In other cases, it is a disorder.
