Six space missions to look forward to in 2024 
The mystery of consciousness shows there may be a limit to what science alone can achieve 
Larger and more frequent solar storms will make for potential disruptions and spectacular auroras on Earth 
Synthetic human embryos let researchers study early development while sidestepping ethical and logistical hurdles 
Black hole, neutron star or something new? We discovered an object that defies explanation 
Genetic diseases: How scientists are working to make DNA repair (almost) a piece of cake 
How do airplanes fly? An aerospace engineer explains the physics of flight 
Archeoastronomy uses the rare times and places of previous total solar eclipses to help us measure history 
The brain is the most complicated object in the universe. This is the story of scientists’ quest to decode it – and read people’s minds 
The rising flood of space junk is a risk to us on Earth – and governments are on the hook 
Dark energy is one of the biggest puzzles in science and we're now a step closer to understanding it 
Tatahouine: 'Star Wars meteorite' sheds light on the early Solar System 
Orbital resonance − the striking gravitational dance done by planets with aligning orbits 
The brightest object in the universe is a black hole that eats a star a day 
Conventional wisdom has always taught people that winning takes dedication, conviction, and hard work. However, scientists recently discovered that it could also be as simple as flipping a switch in the brain. It’s a neat behavioral conditioning technique where those who have a meek or submissive disposition can be turned into more assertive personalities with a winner’s mindset.
In the paper published in Science, Chinese scientists explain how they were able to transform mice that displayed tendencies of “losers” into ones that had the traits of “winners”. It basically involves putting the rodents in a situation wherein they could display a more dominant act, which reinforces the part of the brain that aims for such results.
“Social dominance in mice depends on their history of winning in social contests,” the paper reads. “Zhou et al. found that this effect is mediated by neuronal projections from the thalamus to a brain region called the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Selective manipulation of synapses driven by this input revealed a causal relationship between circuit activity and mental effort–based dominance behavior. Thus, synapses in this pathway store the memory of previous winning or losing history.”
In a recent interview with The Guardian, lead researcher Hailan Hu from Zhejiang University noted how conditioning the mice to have an “Alpha” mindset also led to behaviors that lend support to that particular point of view. This behavioral conditioning method could potentially apply to humans as well.
“We stimulate this brain region and we can make lower ranked mice move up the social ladder,” Hu explained. “It’s not aggressiveness per se. It increases their perseverance, motivational drive, grit.”
As to how this could apply to people, most psychology experts agree that having a history of winning or being on a winning streak inevitably produces the effect of making organisms more assertive and confident. This applies to humans thanks to an obvious social structure.
