Youre probably concerned about the plight of polar bears. You may reach for your wallet when you see a panda on a fundraising flyer. But have you given much thought to the blobfish?More often than not, our reactions to animals are not very rational. Regardless of the threats to their survival, we love and often try to help animals we think are beautiful or cute. Others, not so much.People who raise money for conservation know this. Thats why the World Wildlife Fund has a panda on its logo and why certain animals are said to have donor appeal.Human-Animal RelationshipsAnimals we like tend to be big, furry, and have forward-facing eyes. Were particularly fond of animals that look like human babies, with big heads (relative to their bodies), chubby faces, and big round eyes.Konrad Lorenz, a 20th-century Austrian ethologist, identified this set of characteristics and called it Kindchenschema, or in English, baby schema. These characteristics are sometimes called baby releasers because they stimulate caretaking in adults.When you encounter baby schema well just call it cuteness in a creature, you might find yourself cooing and babbling, with a strong desire to cuddle and protect that creature.Read More: Here Are 6 of the Ugliest Animals in the WorldOur Brains on Animals Theres biology behind this response. A few years ago, a paper in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences looked into how cuteness can hijack our brains, as the studys authors put it in an article in The Conversation describing their work.When we encounter something cute, it ignites fast brain activity in regions such as the orbitofrontal cortex, the authors wrote, which are linked to emotion and pleasure. It also attracts our attention in a biased way: babies have privileged access to entering conscious awareness in our brains.Other research has found that cuteness can stimulate hormones, such as oxytocin, a hormone involved in the mother-infant bond and social bonds more generally, and dopamine, which gives you a surge of pleasure that rewards and reinforces a given behavior.Hal Herzog, author of Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why Its So Hard to Think Straight About Animals, is one of the leading researchers in the field of human-animal relationships. He explains that the evolutionary reason for the cuteness response is pretty clear. Humans are born virtually helpless and need adults to care for them, often at great cost in time and resources, if they are to make it past the rather lengthy human childhood.Individuals who were responsive to baby-like features in their infants would care for them more, and those infants would have higher chances of survival and ultimately reproduction, he says.But why are we melting into puddles of parental love over a baby seal? A puppy? Pictures of kittens? Those instincts that are so helpful in making sure we care for our own babies can misfire, Herzog explains.I think that pet keeping is, in part, a misfiring of these same parental instincts that attract us to animals that have baby-like features, Herzog says. Even enjoying kitten memes, it turns out, has an evolutionary basis.But What About Animals That Arent Cute?Our preference for cuteness has a downside. Not all animals that need our care are cute. Simon Watt is trying to address that problem. Watt is an evolutionary biologist and science communicator who uses every method available including comedy to educate people about science and natural history. Hes the wit behind the only partly tongue-in-cheek Ugly Animal Society.If you're a tiger or an elephant or any of the charismatic megafauna, youre far more likely to have PhD students clamoring to study you, Watt says. Scientists write more papers about these animals than about invertebrates and things under the sea. I thought, This is wrong, and I had to find a way of dealing with it.And so the Ugly Animal Society was born, complete with the aesthetically challenged blobfish, once voted the worlds ugliest animal, adorning its webpage. The society is not a real society, but we've kind of accidentally become a real one, he adds.The idea may be to use fun and goofiness to bring attention to oft-neglected species, but its serious work. Though he makes a lot of jokes about our affection for pandas, Watt, who is an ambassador for The World Land Trust, stresses that he doesnt want to insult anybody whos trying to do good.Still, he says, We need to look into the other animals that are not as well studied. We need to consider the ecosystem as a whole. You cant save the world unless you understand it.It seems that saving the world might require making an effort to get beyond our cuteness response or at least not let it limit us. We can give ugly animals a little love, too.Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:The Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Lorenzs classic baby schema: a useful biological concept?Trends in Cognitive Science. On Cuteness: Unlocking the Parental Brain and BeyondThe Nobel Prize. Konrad LorenzThe Conversation. How cute things hijack our brains and drive behaviourTrends in Cognitive Science. On Cuteness: Unlocking the Parental Brain and BeyondMental Health America. What is Dopamine?Avery Hurt is a freelance science journalist. In addition to writing for Discover, she writes regularly for a variety of outlets, both print and online, including National Geographic, Science News Explores, Medscape, and WebMD. Shes the author of Bullet With Your Name on It: What You Will Probably Die From and What You Can Do About It, Clerisy Press 2007, as well as several books for young readers. Avery got her start in journalism while attending university, writing for the school newspaper and editing the student non-fiction magazine. Though she writes about all areas of science, she is particularly interested in neuroscience, the science of consciousness, and AIinterests she developed while earning a degree in philosophy.

Stack CommerceShareWe may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more If youve ever handed your child a screen and immediately regretted it (hello, endless autoplay rabbit hole), then Pok Pok is about to be your new best friend. This award-winning, Montessori-inspired app is ad-free, stress-free, and designed for kids ages 2 to 8so theyre learning while playing, and youre relaxing without worry. Plus, for a limited time, you can get lifetime access for just $59.99 (reg. $250).Unlike the usual noisy, hyper-stimulating kids apps, Pok Pok takes a peaceful, open-ended approach to learning. There are no levels, no winners or losersjust pure, curiosity-driven play that helps kids develop essential skills in STEM, problem-solving, language, and creativity. Its like a digital playroom that actually grows with your child, featuring handcrafted animations, soothing sounds, and constantly updated activities to keep playtime fresh.Pok Pok offers a variety of engaging activities designed for independent exploration. Kids can count their way through Number Journey, roam with Dinosaurs, tinker with Shapes and Puzzles, explore Space Adventures, mix and match outfits in Dress-Up, and so much more. The app eliminates complicated menus, in-app purchases, and intrusive ads.Parents love Pok Pok because its designed with child safety in mind. Its COPPA and GDPR certified, meaning it meets the highest standards for protecting kids online. With no sneaky in-app purchases, no autoplay traps, and no overstimulating design, Pok Pok encourages healthy interactions with technology and makes screen time something parents can actually feel good about.Instead of paying for monthly subscriptions or worrying about hidden costs, Pok Poks lifetime access plan lets you make a single purchase and enjoy an endless supply of educational fun.Get this lifetime of Pok Pok fun for your kiddo while its just $59.99 (reg. $250) for a limited time.StackSocial prices subject to change.Pok Pok: Lifetime Subscription $59.99Get It Here

A small, rocky island off Iceland is home to the worlds largest breeding colony of Atlantic puffins.When breeding season is in full swing, around 1.5 million adults pair up and nestle into burrows on the grassy seaside slopes above Heimaey islands rocky cliffs.Once chicks hatch, puffin moms and dads devote about six weeks to caring for their babies, bringing meals of small fish and fending off predators such as seagulls. By late August or early September, the pufflings are mature enough to live on their own. Over four to five weeks, throngs of young birds head off to sea. Their instinct is to head for the open ocean, where they will spend most of their lives. They leave in the dark of night to hide from predators, guided by the moon.Puffin parents care for immature pufflings until they can fly on their own. The downy fluff around the neck of this puffling (right) indicates its not yet ready to fledge.Rachel Bennett/iStock/Getty Images PlusBut sometimes fledglings lose their way. Heimaeys only town got electricity about a century ago. Ever since, dazzled by night lights or swept along in stiff sea breezes, some young puffins have taken a wrong turn toward town.Light pollution affects wildlife in perilous ways, disrupting crucial activities from pollination to mating. Some creatures, like these Atlantic puffins (Fratercula arctica), lose their orientation and cant find their way to the ocean. Some could be attacked by predators; others might starve. Fortunately for these pufflings, the residents of Heimaey have taken a hands-on approach to addressing the problem.The community-based Puffling Patrol searches for and rescues birds that have gone astray. These chicks and colony adults are helping scientists study puffins largely mysterious lives at sea.The Puffling Patrol rescues lost birdsEquipped with flashlights, cardboard boxes and gloves, folks head out after dark searching for lost chicks. They scour backyards, parking lots and rooftops wherever the bright glow of town competes with moonlight.On any given night during puffling season, a dozen or more small groups and individuals may be patrolling the town. Rescuing stranded birds is a long-standing tradition on the island, though the catchy Puffling Patrol name has been around for only a decade or so. Typically teens or younger kids scour the night alongside parents or grandparents who pass down the tradition. (For the little ones, its a great excuse to stay up late.)Puffins dive from the sea surface to nab food. They zip through the water as if theyre flying. But adaptations that enhance swimming, such as a stubby wingspan, come at the expense of take-off ability, which leaves them vulnerable to cats and other predators on land.On the upside: The birds are easy to catch. Usually it takes just a short chase to grab one. The bird is put in a cardboard box and taken home. People are asked to weigh their rescued pufflings and log them on the Puffling Patrol website. (The only thing to watch out for are the pufflings tiny, kitten-like claws.)On the Icelandic island of Heimaey, nesting puffins raise chicks in burrows on the grassy slopes of cliffs. J. Krumrine Pufflings leave their nests under the cover of night and head to the sea, but artificial lighting can disorient them. Heimaeys Puffling Patrol looks for lost birds in town, such as at this gas station. J. Krumrine When members of the Puffling Patrol discover a wayward bird, they put it in a cardboard box to bring home. J. Krumrine Baby birds brought home are weighed and logged on the Puffling Patrol website. J. Krumrine To help monitor the puffin population, research assistant Lucas Canas Hernandez puts an ID ring on a rescued pufflings leg. J. Krumrine Healthy rescued birds are brought back to the seaside cliffs and released. Kim Cupples, a staff member at the Puffin Rescue Centre, gives one puffling a boost toward the sea. J. Krumrine The patrol often takes healthy rescues those large enough to live at sea to the cliffs. From this height, the birds can catch some air. Theyll fly as far as theyre able before landing in the water, perhaps 50 meters or more, the farther the better. Some pufflings need a helpful boost a push off the clifftop, while others take the initiative on their own.Some rescues, however, need extra care. While wandering around town, pufflings sometimes fall into the harbor and end up slick with oil from the local passenger ferry, cargo ships and fishing boats. Dirtied feathers must be cleaned to become waterproof again. Otherwise, the birds would not survive in the frigid North Atlantic. Other pufflings may be injured or underfed. And some may have left home too early, before growing their adult plumage.These birds are taken to the Puffin Rescue Centre in Heimaey, run by the global nonprofit Sea Life Trust. Theres even a drop box for after-hours arrivals, where pufflings will remain safe through the night.Sponsor MessageDuring the 2024 season, the Puffling Patrol rescued more than 4,200 pufflings thats approximately one bird for every human on Heimaey.Studying puffins at sea is trickyFor about 420 of the rescued birds, scientists put a ring on the puffins legs. Its an ID band, allowing researchers to document a birds location each time its sighted and to monitor their population.Adult puffins develop a brightly colored striped beak and orange feet. This adult appearance does not change much, aside from the beak color getting brighter during breeding season. So the only way to know a puffins exact age by sight is if its been tagged. With the rings, scientists have learned puffins can live at least 40 years.The birds spend most of their lives in the open ocean. Observing birds at sea is nearly impossible, so much about puffins remains a mystery. Ecologists like Erpur Snr Hansen, who leads a team at the South Iceland Nature Research Centre, are curious to know how far puffins roam and where they go.Each June, Hansen and colleagues briefly capture adults at their burrows while also checking on eggs and fit them with battery-operated global location sensors. These geolocators detect changes in daylight, which can be analyzed to pinpoint a birds location within about 180 kilometers.On Heimaey, only adult birds are currently tagged with these GLS devices, but other researchers in Scandinavia have begun tracking juveniles as well to learn about their movements after fledging.The range of Atlantic puffins spans the North Atlantic from the coasts of Canada and the northeastern United States to Greenland and Russia. borchee/E+/Getty Images PlusFor about a decade, Hansen and other researchers have contributed GLS data to SEATRACK, a project that tracks seabirds. The data are revealing what seabirds do offshore, why there are fewer and fewer of them and what humans can do to help them survive.In Europe, where more than 90 percent of Atlantic puffins reside, the species is listed as endangered. The European population of about 7.8 million birds is projected to decrease by 50 to 79 percent between 2000 and 2065, within three puffin generations.Puffins face a variety of threats. One of their main food sources is sand eels, a group of slender fish with an eel-like appearance. Sand eel populations are shrinking due to climate change and industrial-scale overfishing. Puffins must compete with other sea life and trawlers for dwindling numbers of these and other forage fish. When sand eels become scarce, puffins must work harder to find them. Puffins stressed this way often produce fewer chicks. Another threat is pollution, including mercury, plastics and contaminants from shipping.Bird migration studies using SEATRACK data have identified sites in the North Atlantic where restricting human activity and prioritizing pollution cleanup efforts could have a big impact.For instance, theres a vital feeding ground for about 5 million seabirds, including puffins and 20 other species, in the middle of the Atlantic. Species from at least 56 colonies spanning 16 countries and regions come to this area during the vulnerable molting period, when birds shed worn-out feathers. In 2021, a European consortium called the OSPAR Convention declared this spot a marine protected area: the North Atlantic Current and Evlanov Seamount. Its the first such area identified by tracking data.Waiting for a homecomingOnce puffling season ends and burrows empty out, Heimaeys seaside cliffs go quiet. Members of the Puffling Patrol catch up on lost sleep and share their favorite pics.At the end of the 2024 puffling season, three rescues couldnt be released and now live in an enclosure at the Puffin Rescue Centre, where visitors can watch their antics.Meanwhile, Icelands puffin researchers wait patiently for the birds summer return. Adult puffins return to the same colony even the same burrow year after year. With the data collected from these birds, Hansen and other scientists will weave together the story of each wanderers ocean journey.

The third episode of The Deep End finds Jon in the operating room as he gets electrodes implanted in his brain. Youll hear how Jon and other volunteers feel in the hours, days and weeks after their surgery, including an itch to go to the library, an urge to walk around the block and a newfound appreciation for scented candles. Along the way, well talk about the brain science that could help explain some of these changes.TRANSCRIPTLaura Sanders: Previously on The Deep End.Helen Mayberg: And all of a sudden, patient goes, Oh, thats interesting. The void is gone.Amanda: When we first walked into the OR, that was the first time I got scared. That was the first and only time I got scared. It just, I saw the machine there, and I saw the big operating room, and I was like, Oh, this is real. This is gonna happen.Jon Nelson: Getting prepared for the surgery was no stress for me, at all. It was like I was going to get my teeth cleaned.Barbara Nelson: What if it, what if he dies on the operating room table? What if it doesnt work? What if, I dont, what if it does work?Sanders: In this episode, were picking up our story early on a Monday morning in August 2022. Jon is about to have electrodes implanted in his brain as a last-ditch effort to ease his severe, unrelenting depression. And hes not worried about it at all. On this episode, were going to hear how the surgery went, and what it felt like in the days afterward, once the electricity started flowing. Im Laura Sanders. Welcome to The Deep End. Jons wife Barbara remembers that morning at the hospital.Barbara: And it was crazy being in like the corral wherever they have, you know, the patients who are getting lined up for surgery because there was like so much buzz around his surgery, and like so many doctors like flying in and out.Sanders: In the middle of all that buzzing, Jons medical team told him that neurologist Helen Mayberg would come in and check on him before his surgery.Jon: And she came in and, you know, gave me the pep talk of all I need you to do is be present. I need you to not care about anybody else or anything and focus on being present. And like, its very hard for me. Im a middle child. I like to take care of everybody. Im, like, the dude who, I wouldnt say Im a control freak in a bad way. Im like, Im like, I just take care of stuff, right? So she was, like, really adamant about that.Sanders: During the surgery, the medical team woke Jon up from anesthesia for some tests. It was a hazy time, but Jon remembers that strange moment pretty well for a guy who was sitting there in the middle of active brain surgery.Jon: But like youre so awake, and like Im so, I was so myself that I, like, Dr. Maybergs right in your face right away, and shes like, Jon, its Dr. Mayberg and Dr. Figee. And, and youre like, Hey, Doc, you know. And I said, Doc, I need to tell you something. And shes, like, so concerned. Shes like, Yes, yes, yes. Im like, Im present. And I was just like busting her chops, you know? Shes sitting there laughing. Shes like, What a character this dude is, right?Sponsor MessageSanders: Jon then went back under anesthesia. Everything with the surgery went smoothly. When he woke up the next morning, he felt like he had a bad hangover, but he had to push through, because now the real work was beginning. Scientists took him to a testing room and began sending electricity through his new brain implants. They were searching for the right settings, the right pattern of electricity that would override his brains own electrical signals. It was a strange situation, very much trial and error at this point.Jon sat with Mayberg and another scientist as they began to turn on and off electrodes. While this was happening, Barbara and other family members and researchers watched on a video feed from another room.Jon: So theres those people in the lab, and then theres an overflow room where everybodys on Zoom, so all the clinical researchers and everybody, my mom, my wife and my dad, and theyre all watching this in the other room.Sanders: Barbara remembers what it felt like to be in that room watching on a screen as her husbands brain got prodded with electricity.Barbara: We got to meet all the brilliant scientists and sit in a conference room while, and watch the whole thing that they do with the questions and the testing. And that was fascinating, and, like, I felt, like, very privileged to get to see. And its like, when you think about people like really devote their whole life and theyre helping so many people. Its so moving.Sanders: The researchers method of identifying which setting might be good involved asking Jon two simple questions: Do you want to walk your dog? And do you want to have friends over to sit around your fire pit? They sound random, but theyre not. They both were designed to gauge his desire to fight the inertia of his depression, to get up and to do something.Jon: When we moved to where I live now, I built this dope fire pit, right, and like we used it all the time. I havent had a fire in two years. And so I just, I cant do anything. And so she was like, Are you interested in having your friends over and having a fire? And so literally after every electrode is turned on, those were the questions I would answer.Sanders: Barbara remembers thinking about a different question.Barbara: And I would joke to my father, like, ask him if he feels like doing dishes. Like, thats the, thats the setting we want.Sanders: The questioning went on a long time, hours. It got tedious. By the end of it, Barbara could see on the video screen that Jon was fading.Barbara: And at one point he was getting very, like, tired and hungry. And so I remember like being like, Can you stop? Can I go get him a soda or something? You know. So I was happy to be able to, like, take care of him in that way.Sanders: The research team settled on a pattern of electricity, the strength, the spots, that seemed right.Barbara: And then we left and we drove home.Sanders: Back at home, the change was obvious.Jon: The next day that I got home, bandaged up in my head, I not only took the dog on a walk, I asked my son and my wife to come with me. I enjoyed the walk. I enjoyed the conversation. I enjoyed coming back home. I sat outside and had coffee. The, literally, the next day, I was walking with a friend. I, I havent, I, its just, its surreal. Like I, I feel like I tell them I feel like Im on like a 60 Minutes episode. I mean, it doesnt make any sense to me.Sanders: Jon and I first talked about six months after his surgery, and he has no doubt, not one, that it cured him.Jon: Overnight I was healed. I have been in remission from depression since the moment they have turned that on. I have not had a single suicidal thought.Sanders: Barbara could barely believe it. In fact, she held on to her skepticism for a while.Barbara: And we have a picture of the two of us, but he has got bandages on his head. And we walked, you know, around the corner and back, but that was a pretty big deal. But of course, I was like, well, you know, its placebo effect. Like, Im not gonna get too excited about that. And he just started to feel better so quickly. And he said, Can you email Dr. Mayberg and tell her what youre seeing? And I didnt do it. And hes like, Why? And I waited like a week, or 10 days, and then I finally did write to her. And he said, Why did you take so long? I was like, Because I wasnt really quite sold on this as being like the reason, right?Sanders: Barbara never did feel what Jon was feeling, that poison running through his veins, but she saw his shift from the outside.Barbara: Hes definitely back. Like, his energy level is back, and we always joke, were like, Do they have like a, like, can we turn it down a little? Like, is there, like, a setting that we can like dial it back? Because hes, hes a lot of personality. Hes very bubbly and vivacious. He kind of like walks in the room and starts talking. Give me a second here, so he, thats back for sure. Where its like, he, hes doing a speaking engagement, and hes gonna get paid 500 dollars. And I was like, Ill pay him 500 dollars to not talk for an hour.So he, thats definitely back. And that is the Jon I remember from 22 years ago, for sure. The Jon in between was a little bit quieter, a little bit more irritable, less present, less interested in, you know, hanging out with friends. And so, its, its nice to see him back.Sanders: Jon puts it plainly.Jon: So clearly, Im immediately healthy after the surgery and they turned it on. I am proof that major depressive disorder is a brain disease. I have an alternator in my car that is not working, and the mechanics fix that alternator, and my car works again. Its literally that simple.Sanders: The beginning of recovery looked a little different for Amanda, the artist and web designer in New York City. She didnt have that same obvious change, at least not right away. Her surgery was a few months after Jons. She remembers leaving the hospital feeling something.Amanda: I definitely didnt walk out feeling better, but I did walk out feeling hopeful. Because I sort of noticed something.Sanders: She struggled to put a name to it.Amanda: I left the hospital on a Friday. By Sunday, I could tell it was working.Sanders: Really?Amanda: I could tell things were getting better. Yeah.Amanda: And then by Wednesday, the fifth day after the, after the surgery, thats when it got completely better. And it stayed that way ever since.Sanders: Amanda thinks in pictures. And so when she tells me about the days and the weeks after her surgery, a lot of her descriptions are of the art that shes made.Amanda: Cause at first, I was felt like I was standing on the edge of a cliff, like, I sort of, Im a very visual person, so I was drawing pictures to sort of help myself think about it. So my first picture was this, like this giant weight at the bottom of the ocean. And I had just broken free from it, and I was on the surface, and I had little floaties on my arms. I was excited that I wasnt drowning anymore. That was the first picture. But the actual relief, I cant even describe the relief. Ive never felt relief so profound in my life. Like, it was like, you just like get used to living in pain, and the pain is all of a sudden gone. Youre like, What is this?Sanders: She started having what she calls weird experiences. These are experiences that are not weird at all to most of us.Amanda: The weirdest one that got me was smells. Like, I never enjoyed a smell before, and now I have like, I have these candles, one sitting here, and they smell so good. Like, candles never smelled good before.Sanders: I heard a similar thing from Emily Hollenbeck, who also lives in New York City and had DBS surgery in 2021, about a year and a half before I spoke with her. She describes her depression in terms of absence.Emily: That sensory anticipation isnt there, so I cant start, you know, my mouth wont water. I wont really think about, so with depression for me, and like, any sort of excitement or anticipatory fun is just shut down.Sanders: But with DBS, a funny thing happened. When a certain pattern of brain stimulation was turned on during her surgery, Emily started to think about bacon.Emily: I was tasting the bacon in my mind. And I could taste the salt and the fat and the crispiness, and I started to feel that sense of hunger.Sanders: Thats something she couldnt really do when she was depressed.Emily: So to have that in contrast and be like, Wow, I really want bacon, was just so immediate and so strong, and thats why it really struck me.Sanders: In the days after the surgery, she rested.Emily: So I remember, you know, getting these instructions to lay low and, you know, watching reality TV, you know, and eating, you know, what my, what my lovely friends are bringing me to eat. But Im also, like, I wanna go to the library. And I just noticed that kind of feeling of, like, almost itchiness and restlessness. Like, I have these impulses to move, to do things, to enjoy things.Sanders: Mayberg wasnt surprised at these desires for everyday activities.Mayberg: So one guy, we hit the switch. He kind of feels different. Hes having trouble describing it, and all of a sudden he goes, You know, Doc, I know its a pretty ridiculous thing cause Im bolted into the contraption in this operating room, but if I was home right now, I would clean my garage. And we all start cracking up. And then we had another patient whose comment was, I think if I was home right now, Id mow my lawn. No one ever said, I want to go to Disneyland. I wanna go dancing. Everything was, Thank you. I have an activity of daily life I want to do. One person said, I need to deal with the garden. I have dishes that are piled up in the sink. Here in this moment, the simple things is what came back into focus.Sanders: That motivation, that itch to do something normal, makes sense based on the part of the brain that was getting this extra electricity. Jon, Amanda, and Emily have constant brain stimulation targeted to a brain area called the subcallosal cingulate, or SCC. The SCC, and the signals it sends to other brain areas, seems to have a role in generating negative emotions, immobility, cognitive sluggishness, and heavy physical feelings. That shows up when Jon describes his feeling of being stuck, especially when it came to his own treatments and things he knew that would be good for him to do, but he just couldnt.Jon: I know that Im supposed to meditate. I know that Im supposed to get exercise. I know that Im supposed to eat well. I know that Im supposed to do these 800 million things that Ive been taught in every therapeutic setting in every environment that I can to get better. I cant do them.Sanders: Stimulating in the SCC can overwhelm those nerve cells that are telling Jon that he just cant do those things. The stimulation tires them out. It makes all of these I cant do it cells hush. And in this quiet, energy and motivation can begin to flow. This part of the SCCs job may explain why Jon went for a walk in the hospital halls and then later at home with his family, why Amanda felt a spark of energy and why Emily had an itch to get up and go to the library. The SCC used to be known as Area 25, and its the same spot that was targeted in the Broaden clinical trial. Thats the one that we talked about in the last episode, the one that was stopped because of poor results. So whats different now? Since Broaden, brain imaging techniques have gotten a lot better. So scientists can actually see this part of the brain and see how it connects to other parts. Its almost like a giant train station. It holds a confluence of tracts, inbound and outbound signaling paths. These are all called white matter tracts and they speed information across the brain.So in the Broaden trial, researchers could direct electricity to the SCC, to the right train station, essentially. But they were not able to hit the specific tracks every time. It turns out that the people who got better in that trial, they lucked out. Their electrodes happened to be hitting the key white matter tracts. If this research sounds like a work in progress, thats because it definitely is.In fact, the SCC isnt the only spot in the brain people are studying. Ill tell you about another promising target. This ones called the ventral capsule/ventral striatum, or VC/VS, and its involved in feelings of reward. To use Jons car metaphor, if the SCC is the brake, then the VC/VS is more like the gas pedal.In my reporting, I talked with a man who was in a different clinical trial, one that involved him getting stimulation to both spots, the SCC and the VC/VS. Scientists wanted to know where in the brain might be best and how other brain areas respond to this stimulation.It was essentially a massive eavesdropping situation. The man was the first to undergo this surgery. As such, he became patient 001 on his medical forms. And thats a name he actually grew fond of, he told me. For this story, he wants to stay anonymous, so Im gonna call him patient 001. The voice you hear isnt his, but the words are.Patient 001: Im going through this very non-emotional, but it was horrific. At this stage, Im on the other side of it, so I can explain it rationally. The only way I can describe it, and most of the time, this is to my family because I obviously dont talk to most people about this. My first depressive episode, Id say, Look, mom, this is something I wouldnt wish on my worst enemy. No human being ever, even the worst person in the world, should have to go through this. Its torment. Its torment. I dont have the words to describe it.Sanders: He traveled to Houston from New York City where he was living at the time, and was scheduled for surgery on March 9, 2020. His surgery squeaked through just days before all non-emergency surgeries were canceled because of the growing COVID pandemic. Jon, Amanda, and Emily each had two wires implanted in their brain. During surgery at Baylor Saint Lukes Medical Center in Houston, patient 001 was implanted with four. There were two in the SCC and two in the VC/VS. He got 10 extra electrodes too. These were temporary, put in to monitor other parts of his brain that were connected to the SCC and VC/VS regions. If you look at a picture of his brain while he was in the hospital, its full of hardware. It was a lot.Patient 001: Im not gonna say the 10 days stay in the hospital was a walk in the park, because it wasnt. But when you have nothing to lose and youre in hell, youll do anything.Sanders: Like Jon, patient 001 went through a similar testing phase with his electrodes. At one point, he felt something big.Patient 001: I said, I dont know what you did, but it feels like Im online again. Im online. If you think of your brain as a computer, it felt like I had a virus, and then my hard drive crashed, and all of a sudden, boom. They control all the leads and they reboot you, and youre OK again. I remember the doctor and the people in the OR literally laughing, like, Thats a new one. We laugh about it, but it came out of my heart. Its how I felt.Sanders: The stories youve just heard from Jon, Amanda, Emily, and the Houston volunteer all sound remarkable, almost one of a kind, and in all sorts of ways they are. These four people were pulled out of deep suffering and restored to themselves. But the story doesnt end here. Theres not a happily-ever-after stopping point. Things start to move from here in a more complicated way, and that makes sense because when it comes to people, and when it comes to the brain, nothing is simple.After their surgeries, Jon and the others found relief. But now they had to learn to live with a full emotional rangethe good, and also, the bad. And it turns out thats a lot easier said than done.On the next episode, youll hear about a crisis that Jon faces and what that crisis tells us about human emotions.Jon: Immediately I sent an email to the lead psychiatrist of this trial and I said, Did you guys turn it off? Like, is it working? Like, give me a heads up. You just start completely freaking out.Sanders: If you or someone you know is facing a suicidal crisis or emotional distress, call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.This is The Deep End. Im Laura Sanders. If you liked this podcast, tell your friends or leave us a review. It helps the show a lot. Send us your questions and comments at podcasts@sciencenews.org.The Deep End is a production of Science News. Its based on original reporting by me, Laura Sanders. This episode was produced by Helen Thompson and mixed by Ella Rowan. Our project manager is Ashley Yeager. Nancy Shute is our editor in chief. Our music is by Blue Dot Sessions. The podcast is made possible in part by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the John S. James L. Knight Foundation, and the Burroughs Welcome Fund, with support from PRX.Episode 3 creditsHost, reporter and writer: Laura SandersProducer: Helen ThompsonMixer: Ella RowenSound design: Helen Thompson and Ella RowenProject manager: Ashley YeagerShow art: Neil WebbMusic: Blue Dot Sessions,Morning by Edvard Grieg/Czech National Symphony Orchestra/MusopenSound effects: Epidemic SoundAdditional audio: Luke Groskin, Nikk OgasaThis podcast was produced with support from PRX, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.If you have questions, comments, or feedback about this episode, you can email us at podcasts@sciencenews.org.

Nature, Published online: 24 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00499-0Minimum stipends will rise from October in line with living-wage levels, says the country's main funding agency.

Nature, Published online: 24 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00570-wMariola Snchez-Cerd works to track the elusive European wildcats movements and habits.

Learn what happens inside the body during an asthma attack and why treatments help prevent or reverse the effects.

Competing theories explain how dogs came to be domesticated from wolves. Now, a new study adds further support to the idea that they domesticated themselves.

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Our talented community continues to amaze us with captivating environments. This week, we'd like to highlight six exceptional projects by Mark Carier, Guille lvarez, Ezgi Erdemir, Tushar Vashisth, Nikolas Volchenko, Anurag Tiwari. Read more: https://80.lv/articles/80-level-weekly-highlights-7/