We’ve all seen it: the entrepreneur working 14-hour days. The student who never stops studying. The professional...
Oscar Forrester
Very Big Brain is written by Oscar Forrester, a researcher and writer with a long-standing fascination with how the brain works. Oscar spent several years working in hospital IT, including on infection control systems, and grew up in a household shaped by medicine — his father was a physician and his mother a registered nurse. He is not a clinician himself, and nothing on this site should be taken as medical advice. What he brings instead is a rigorous, source-first approach to research, honed over two decades of writing (he’s authored numerous published books, primarily on software development), and a genuine curiosity about the science of cognition. Mr. Forrester strives to present complex topics in a clear and engaging manner, making it easy for you to understand and apply the knowledge to your daily life.
It’s a peculiar sensation. You return home after a trip—whether it was a weekend getaway or a...
You finally get a break. A day off. No tasks. No meetings. You lounge around, scroll, maybe...
You’re not imagining it. That first whiff of freshly brewed coffee in the morning can do something...
Ever felt the difference between waking up feeling motivated and focused versus anxious and irritable? That emotional...
You’re in line at the coffee shop. The person next to you comments on the weather. You...
Time isn’t just measured by the ticking of a clock. In the brain, time is felt—stretched, compressed,...
Blink, and you might miss it. That’s not just a catchy line for a movie trailer—it’s also...
You’re trying to finish a task. Just one task. But your phone lights up. A browser tab...
Everyone has those days. The kind where emails pile up, deadlines crash into meetings, and your brain...