The 21st Century Brain: How Our Brains Are Changing in Response to the Challenges of Social Networks, Ai, Climate Change, and Stress

Discover the Influences of Social Media, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Climate Change, Stress, and More on Our Brains and Behavior Unique to the Twenty-first Century.

During the past twenty-five years, we've encountered powerful influences for good and bad on brain function and even brain structure. Consider the changes that have already taken place in how we communicate. During the last half of the twentieth century, images displaced words as the common parlance of communication. On the nightly news we've become accustomed to watching images drawn from video cameras used by law enforcement and, thanks to a proliferating number of cellphones, everyday use. Yet AI is turning the traditional dynamic that images carry more weight than words ("seeing is believing") upside down because we now have to question the authenticity of images. We are finding ourselves forced to adjust to a world where what we see is not always what's really happening.

Next, consider the effects of our changing environment on our brains and our behavior. There is good reason to believe that a link exists between an increase in global temperature and suicide. Wildfires, becoming more and more common thanks to climate change, affect air quality, which is often undetectable by the average person until it reaches toxic levels. Studies have proven that wildfire smoke is affecting our brains and potentially causing disease.

Perhaps the greatest twenty-first century contributor to changes in brain function is stress. Due to many factors explored in the book, it's likely that levels of mental and emotional instability are on the horizon that can only be fully understood by focusing on the changes in the human brain brought about by these unparalleled levels of stress.

The brain is always evolving. The 21st Century Brain will describe those influences on brain and behavior that are unique to this century, as well as available preventive measures to mitigate some of these factors. This book is a quintessential study on how our brains are uniquely changing in the twenty-first century, as well as a guide to the personal and collective measures that can be taken to eliminate these factors or reduce their impact.

Author: Richard Restak
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 11/18/2025
Pages: 264
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.97lbs
Size: 9.23h x 6.36w x 1.03d
ISBN: 9781510784154

About the Author
Richard Restak, MD has built his career on unlocking the mysteries of the human brain--the command center that shapes everything we think, feel, and do. He is one of today's most trusted voices in neuroscience, known for translating complex discoveries into insights the public can understand and apply. The author of 25 books on the brain, including three New York Times bestsellers, Restak now introduces The 21st Century Brain, which explores how modern life is changing our brains in ways never seen before in human history.

Alongside his books, Restak has also contributed essays and articles to leading publications including the Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, London Observer, Huffington Post, Vogue, and The American Scholar. He has been profiled in the Washington Post, New York Times, The Guardian, and The Times (London). Restak is also a recipient of the Claude Bernard Science Journalism Award, given by the National Society for Medical Research, and a former president of the American Neuropsychiatric Association.

He has lectured widely on brain and behavior at institutions as varied as the Smithsonian, the 92nd Street Y, the Library of Congress, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of State, the Foreign Service Institute, Renaissance Weekend, the Aspen Institute, the Rubin Museum of Art, and the Brookings Institution. Restak's media appearances include The Today Show, Good Morning America, NPR Weekend Edition, The Discovery Channel, The Diane Rehm Show, The Jim Bohannon Show, The Charlie Rose Show, All Things Considered (NPR), and many more.