Summary: Researchers at Ruhr University Bochum explore why consciousness evolved and why different species developed it in distinct ways. By comparing humans with birds, they show that complex ...

Human consciousness once looked like an evolutionary extravagance, a mysterious inner movie with no clear purpose. Now a wave ...

Consciousness should not be deemed as an ‘all-or-nothing’ cognitive function but rather as a graded and multi-dimensional process.” ...

People have long pondered what consciousness actually is. Consciousness seems very different from other biological functions—like some sort of nonmaterial essence within our heads. Thoughts and ...

In this blog series, we’ve been discussing consciousness and how it relates to various cognitive functions, such as attention, emotions, and self-regulation. While “consciousness” can be defined in ...

The question of consciousness has puzzled scientists for decades, but new research suggests the answer lies not in what consciousness is, but rather in what purpose it serves. According to Professors ...

What does it mean to be conscious? People have been thinking and writing about this question for millennia. Yet many things about the conscious mind remain a mystery, including how to measure and ...

These are good times to be a thinking, conscious creature, despite events in the world that might make us doubt that. These are even better times to be a creature who thinks about consciousness: the ...

Ever since we published our very first issue 123 years ago—yes, we’re old—Popular Mechanics has endeavored to help you understand all kinds of technological marvels, from the tools in your shed, to ...