The "Curiosity Chemical"

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is commonly misunderstood as the "pleasure chemical." In modern slang, we talk of "dopamine hits" to describe what people are doing when they, say, spend hours scrolling their social media feeds or waste a day playing video games. Dopamine is involved in those activities, of course, but not the way many people think. It doesn't serve as a reward, but rather as a…