Brain Blogs to inspire and informI’ve packaged up of some of my favourite brain, mind and neuroscience blogs on the internet.

These bloggers are super clever, witty, and at times irreverent. But most importantly, they make neuroscience, and current research about the mind and brain, accessible to everyone.

And, whether they know it or not, each of these bloggers has inspired me at some point since I started Your Brain Health last year. So, thanks guys!

 

1. PsyBlog – Psychologist Jeremy Dean blogs about scientific research into how the mind works. The studies he covers have been published in reputable academic journals in many different areas of psychology. Topics have included how memory works, self-control, methods for boosting creativity and the psychology of work.

2. The Best Brain Possible – The inspiring Debbie Hampton shares the mental, emotional and spiritual tools she used to over her suicide attempt/brain injury.

3. Mental Elf – The Mental Elf team lead by André Tomlin post short and snappy daily summaries that highlight evidence-based publications relevant to mental health practice.  The Elf team also includes The Lifestyle Elf, The Dental Elf, and The Diabetes Elf.

4. Brain Science Podcast – A podcast, not a blog. But emergency physician Ginger Campbell’s podcast has been sharing recent discoveries from the world of neuroscience, books on neuroscience and interviewing scientists since 2006. One of the top podcasts in iTunes!

5. Neurobollocks – The anonymous author of this fabulously entertaining blog debunks pseudo-neuroscience so you don’t have to!  His top tip: “When you see the word ‘neuroplasticity’ think ‘bollocks’ instead. 99% of the time you’ll be absolutely dead-on.”

6. Neurophilosophy – Neuroscientist turned science writer, Mo Costandi, blogs about molecules, mind and everything in between. His book ’50 human brain ideas you really need to know’ is a bible of mine.

7. Neurorexia – PhD student Shelley Fan claims to have an appetite for neuroscience. She blogs about the noggin. With a little body thrown in.  She shares her interpretation of cutting-edge peer-reviewed journal articles.

8. Mindhacks – Vaughan Bell & Tom Stafford do some myth debunking, handy news roundups, and in between provide neuroscience and psychology tricks to help you find out what’s going on inside your brain.

9. BeBrainFit – Chiropractor Pat and health writer Deane blog about the 6 pillars of brain health – nutrition, physical exercise, mental stimulation, sleep, stress management, and brain drains. They also have a podcast that has interviewed a certain brain health blogger you all know well…

10. SharpBrains – SharpBrains founder Alvaro Fer­nan­dez writes and curates articles on brain fitness and plasticity.  SharpBrains is a market research firm that offers inde­pen­dent, research-based, infor­ma­tion and guid­ance to nav­i­gate the grow­ing cog­ni­tive and brain fit­ness market.

11. Neuroskeptic – Neuroskeptics’s smart, snappy and witty description “no brain, no gain” sums up  this blog up! Read about neuroscience, psychology and psychiatry through a skeptical lens.

12. Lissa Rankin – is a physician and author of  the book ‘Mind over medicine – scientific proof you can heal yourself’ where she discusses the power of the mind, the placebo effect and mind-body medicine.  She blogs about living and loving fearlessly and how to heal the health care system.

13. Neurobonkers is an anonymous science writer with a history of debunking dodgy scientific research and tearing apart questionable science journalism in a uniquely irreverent style. She/he takes a critical sideswipe into the world of scientific controversy with a focus on the murky waters of the science of the mind.

14. Deric Bownd’s Mind Blog – Professor Bownd blogs prolifically on new ideas and work on mind, brain and behaviour.  He also lectures, has a podcast, book, course on the mind. Prolific!

15. Beautiful Minds – Scott Barry Kaufman is cognitive psychologist  who blogs about  development of intelligence, creativity, and personality at Scientific American.

16. Knowing Neurons – great blog aimed at university students.

17. BrainBlog – Neuropsychologist Anthony Risser has been blogging about the brain since 2004, which might make him one of the longest standing brain bloggers out there. I love that one of his aims is to point visitors to lesser-known academic and clinical centres around the world to try to get these sites some additional visitors.

18. Brain Posts – Physician, writer and photographer William Yates has the most beautiful images in his blog. Brain Posts translates neuroscience research into better care for brain disorders. In 2014 he has a theme a month to write about, starting in January with obesity, cognition and weight loss, followed by exercise in February.

19. Garden of the Mind – is written by “neuroscientist-mama-science writer” Rebecca Schwarzlose.  Her blog is a strange brew of science (particularly but not exclusively neuroscience and psychology) and reflections on everyday life.

20. BrainBlogger – Not really a single blogger, but an award-winning curated of site contributed to by 100 bloggers who write about neuroscience neurology, psychology, psychiatry, and healthcare.

21. Your Brain Health – The whip-smart, gorgeous, generous, and somewhat cheeky neuroscientist turned science writer Dr Sarah McKay breaks down neuroscience research into simple actionable steps to improve brain health.  Everyday neuroscience for you!

P.s. Another new site launched this year is Neuro TV – filmed discussions between scientists and philosophers who try to understand the brain and the mind.  Exciting stuff!

Hey – think I’ve missed out anyone amazing? Let me know in the comments below.

42 Responses to 21 top brain blogs to inform and inspire you

  1. Sarah,

    Thanks for including me on the list! I am in very good company. I especially like the last one and would agree with the description –

    “The whip-smart, gorgeous, generous, and somewhat cheeky neuroscientist turned science writer Dr Sarah McKay…”

    Love it! 🙂

    Reply

  3. I feel the blog “Neurocritic” is definitely worth a mention, otherwise great list and I look forward to checking out the other blogs I haven’t seen before.

    Reply

  5. Sarah,

    Great list and I visit nearly all of these myself for the latest news and studies regarding our most powerful organ.

    They are great resources for our startup company Urban Brain and Body, because we provided neurofeedback (which in and of itself is very innovative and therefore only discussed on blogs that are truly with it!) and I have been very excited to see neurofeedback highlighted lately in many of these well written and informative blogs.

    I will definitely check out the ones of which I was not familiar!

    Thanks again.

    Reply

  6. Hi Dr. Sarah, thanks for putting this list together. Some excellent new discoveries for me. A couple of other great blogs that look at both academic and commercial sides of brain research include:

    Roger Dooley’s Neuromarketing blog – http://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/blog/

    Adam Kolber’s Neuroethics and Law blog – http://www.adamkolber.com/

    The Neurocritic blog – http://neurocritic.blogspot.com/

    Discover Magazine Neuroskeptic blog – http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/neuroskeptic/#.UtgrzdKwLYg

    The Situationist blog – http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/

    Reply

  7. Hi Sarah,

    Wonderul information, I’ll make sure to read each one of the sites. Keep them coming, I have ALS so with me it’s mind over the illness and staying positive, focused and a good support team makes all the better. Thank you for posting it.

    Reply

  8. Hi Cheeky Neuroscientist,
    A great list- thanks for compiling. I can’t wait to check some of these out. I am fascinated about how we can take the neuroscience research (particularly as it relates to young children) and apply it to how young brains learn and develop.
    Thanks again, Kristy

    Reply

  9. Scientific Learning has a wonderful website and program based on neuroplasticity called Fast ForWord for the processing of speech sounds in a timely manner which translates into improved reading skills. A summary of the development of this program can be found in Norman Doige’s book The Brain that Changes Itself (chapter 3). This is a life changing book and a life changing program

    Reply

  10. I absolutely love your blog and find nearly all of your post’s to
    be what precisely I’m looking for. Would you offer guest writers
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    Reply

  14. Great list, I’ll be busy following some new blogs 🙂

    I’ve heard of some of these before but most are new to me. One that I already like that is not on your list is http://BrainSpongeBlog.com

    You should check it out, I find it a good place to find out fascinating nuggets of information. But other than that I don’t have any more suggestions.

    Reply

  15. There is a person in the UK who I know has a radio show on functional neurology and has free slide show downloads on her site that explains neurology to ANYONE which are really good (I nicked them!) . She does write blogs but not regularly as I know she does lots with Parkinson’s disease, workshop and works with patients a lot. But said she was going to start blogging again

    http://sarapughleeds.co.uk/news-blog/category/neuro-health/

    Reply

  20. Okay, so i checked out every single one of your blogs. I recently started out my blog and so far have over 500 views in a little over a week. You guys are amazing. My blog is called the “Klynic” more like a mind clinic.
    Pls do check it out: klynic.blogspot.com.ng

    Thanks guys…i would also appreciate personal comments which you could leave on the blog.

    Reply

  29. I feel the blog “Neurocritic” is definitely worth a mention, otherwise great list and I look forward to checking out the other blogs I haven’t seen before.

    Thank you for sharing man

    Reply

  30. Thanks for sharing such a beautiful article dear writter. I Liked it. also here are some other factors
    which can define intelligence or smartness of a person
    Genius People can have following traits
    Dark Past
    Accept their mistake
    not so social
    good reader
    day dreamer and night thinker
    funny

    here were some of sighs of intelligent people
    also see: Signs of genius 🙂

    Reply

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