{"id":8556,"date":"2026-08-20T22:39:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T22:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newstoday365.today\/?p=8556"},"modified":"2026-08-20T22:39:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T22:39:20","slug":"scientists-uncover-the-brains-hidden-foundations-of-consciousness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newstoday365.today\/?p=8556","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Uncover the Brain\u2019s Hidden Foundations of Consciousness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"567\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/newstoday365.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/780024405_1641822040742401_1807841919420295307_n_cleanup.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8557\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newstoday365.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/780024405_1641822040742401_1807841919420295307_n_cleanup.png 567w, https:\/\/newstoday365.today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/780024405_1641822040742401_1807841919420295307_n_cleanup-236x300.jpg 236w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 567px) 100vw, 567px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Consciousness remains one of the most difficult mysteries in science, but researchers have uncovered new clues about how the brain produces it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A study found that consciousness may depend on a delicate balance between <strong>self-awareness and awareness of the outside world<\/strong>. This balance appears to involve two major brain networks: the <strong>default mode network (DMN)<\/strong>, which is more active when the brain is at rest, and the <strong>dorsal attention network (DAN)<\/strong>, which becomes active when we focus on tasks or our surroundings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Researchers analyzed hundreds of 3-D brain scans from healthy people, anesthetized patients, and individuals with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome. Using machine-learning methods, they identified eight major patterns of brain activity, including the DMN and DAN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In people who were unconscious because of anesthesia or severe brain disorders, the normal interaction between these two networks was significantly reduced. This suggests that the constant back-and-forth between the brain&#8217;s internal thoughts and its awareness of the environment may be essential for maintaining consciousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The discovery doesn&#8217;t fully explain what consciousness is, but it provides an important new piece of the puzzle. In the future, understanding these brain networks could help doctors <strong>measure levels of consciousness<\/strong>, improve anesthesia monitoring, and develop treatments for people with disorders of consciousness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Consciousness remains one of the most difficult mysteries in science, but researchers have uncovered new clues about how the brain produces it. A study found that consciousness&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newstoday365.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newstoday365.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newstoday365.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newstoday365.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newstoday365.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8556"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newstoday365.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8558,"href":"https:\/\/newstoday365.today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8556\/revisions\/8558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newstoday365.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newstoday365.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newstoday365.today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}