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Cartoon showing the neurons in the brain enjoying the frightening movie the person is watching.
| 6 min read
From thrill seeking to morbid curiosity, why some folks enjoy a good scare has many possible scientific explanations.

fear

Photo of Steve Ramirez

Steve Ramirez Reshapes Memories in the Brains of Mice

The balance of mind and body on a seesaw

Psychological Stress Distracts the Immune System from Fighting Infections

Photo of krill and plankton in the sea, macro detail

Fear Could Help Explain the Behavior of Animals in the Ocean

A puma walking through the woods at night

Pandemic Lockdown Eases Mountain Lions’ Fear of Urban Areas

Screams Communicate Human Emotions

neuroscience, mice, fear, pain, empathy, social transmission, emotion contagion, optogenetics, analgesia, Stanford University

Mice Share Each Other’s Pain and Fear

Book Excerpt from The Nature of Fear

The Sound and the Fear

Wielding Fear

Trending

A drawing of men and women holding boxes, resigning en mass from their jobs as editors.

Editors Mass Resign from Elsevier Journal After Editor-in-Chief Let Go

A team of cartoon scientists studying a giant pancreas.

Prolonged GLP-1 Exposure Remodels Gene Expression in the Pancreas by Flipping a Molecular Switch

Image of a Diploptera punctata cockroach.

Cockroach Milk Proteins Churn Out an Ig Nobel Win

In the TS 40th Anniversary template, Sarkis Mazmanian smiles in a black and white headshot photo on the left. In a photo on the right, he stands in front of a large image of a cross-section of the brain. He wears a navy jacket, a white shirt, and glasses.

Then and Now: Sarkis Mazmanian Finds Gut-Brain Links to Parkinson’s Disease

Multimedia

Essential Genes Are Dominantly Activated by Single Transcription Factors

Essential Genes Are Dominantly Activated by Single Transcription Factors

EpiCypher Logo
Rethinking ALS Biomarkers: From Discovery to Clinical Impact

Rethinking ALS Biomarkers: From Discovery to Clinical Impact

Alamar Biosciences logo
The Scientist Digest cover September 2026
September 2026

Multiplex Microscopy Becomes Easier with Encoded Antibodies

A new system that enables researchers to uniquely tag monoclonal antibodies for use in microscopy could help simplify complex imaging studies.

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Essential Genes Are Dominantly Activated by Single Transcription Factors

Essential Genes Are Dominantly Activated by Single Transcription Factors

EpiCypher Logo
Rethinking ALS Biomarkers: From Discovery to Clinical Impact

Rethinking ALS Biomarkers: From Discovery to Clinical Impact

Alamar Biosciences logo
Engineering CAR-Neutrophils In Vivo to Target Glioblastoma

Engineering CAR-Neutrophils In Vivo to Target Glioblastoma

Miltenyi
Best Practices for qPCR Assay Design and Optimization

Best Practices for qPCR Assay Design and Optimization

Bio-Rad

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