‘Jump scare’ science: Study explains how the brain responds to fear

In haunted houses across the country this month, threatening figures will jump out of the shadows, prompting visitors — wide-eyed and heart racing —to instinctively freeze and flee. Evolutionarily speaking, this “innate threat response” is key to survival, helping a wide variety of animal species escape predators. But when stuck in overdrive it can cause problems for humans. A University of Colorado Boulder research team has identified a novel brain circuit responsible for orchestrating this threat response.