Activity in the self-related, mentalizing, and positive valuation regions of the brain combine unconsciously in our thoughts to determine what we want to read and share, such that brain scans from a small group of people can predict large-scale virality, say researchers. New fMRI research reveals what goes on in the brain when people decide to share news articles with others. The researchers then used this neural activity in 80 people to accurately predict the virality of 80 New York Times health articles.