Meet your brain bosses

There's a part of your brain whose entire job is spotting danger, and it's fast. Twelve milliseconds fast, quicker than a blink. We call it the Guard Dog; scientists call it the amygdala. It kept your ancestors alive when the danger was actual tigers. The problem is, it can't tell the difference between a tiger and a maths test. Then there's your Thinking Brain, the prefrontal cortex, right behind your forehead. Slower, but smart: it plans, weighs things up, calms the rest of the brain down. Here's the bit that explains so much: when the Guard Dog barks loudly enough, the Thinking Brain partially goes offline. That's why you can't think straight when you're anxious. It's not you failing. It's wiring. Tap each part of the brain and it'll introduce itself.