“Should I go left or right?” you ask—silently. Your lips don’t move, but your mind speaks. That...
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.
You’ve heard the phrase “like watching paint dry”—usually meant as the ultimate dig at something boring. But...
Benjamin Franklin was a man of many titles: printer, inventor, diplomat, philosopher, scientist, statesman. But in today’s...
Some days your brain just feels slow—like trying to wade through molasses. Mental fatigue, sluggish thinking, and...
There was a time—not long ago—when phones were tethered to walls. When conversations happened with full attention,...
If you’ve ever felt a split-second too slow in conversation, sports, or during a work meeting, you’re...
Think of creativity as motion—fluid, responsive, full of bounce. Now think of someone who loses that bounce....
History is full of brilliant minds that burned white-hot and then imploded. Nikola Tesla, Sylvia Plath, Kurt...
Citicoline, Lion’s Mane Mushroom, and Phosphatidylserine are among the best nootropics to improve verbal fluency. These ingredients...
No, your brain isn’t a crystal ball—but in its own way, it’s constantly trying to predict what...