Chronic Pain Rewires the Brain

(NEWSER) - A functional artificial brain could be built within the next decade, leading scientist and brain-builder Henry Markram told a tech conference. Markram, who leads a project seeking to reverse engineer the mammalian brain from lab data, says his team has already duplicated parts of the rat brain, the BBC reports. The synthetic brain will be key to understanding mental disorders, according to Markam. More»

Study: Brain section thinks happy thoughts

(NEWSER) - If you think the glass is half empty, you’re a pessimist—but if you think it’s half full, you have strong activity in your rostral anterior cingulate cortex. That’s the section of the brain, located right behind the eyes, that controls optimism, according to a new study that pulls together new research and confirms old theories such as the “optimism bias.” More»

Decision-making part of the brain less dense in chronic insomniacs

(NEWSER) - In news unlikely to make insomniacs rest any easier, a study has linked sleepless nights to loss of gray matter for the first time. Neurologists using brain imaging technology found that chronic insomniacs had significantly lower brain density in the parts of the brain responsible for resting and decision-making. They were unable to determine whether insomnia causes lower brain density, or if it's the other way around. More»

Study finds new neurons clear out short-term memory

(NEWSER) - The birth of new brain cells bumps old memories into long-term storage, according to new research which upends earlier theories. Researchers working with rodents found that the creation of new neurons destabilized existing connections in the hippocampus instead of strengthening them as they had expected, effectively "clearing the inbox" and causing short-term memories to be transferred elsewhere in the brain More»

...and another for every celeb you recognize, study finds

(NEWSER) - You have a neuron in your brain devoted entirely to recognizing Tom Cruise. Another specializes in Barack Obama, yet another LeBron James, and, yes, Jon and Kate are taking up two. By studying a decade worth of brain activity, researchers have discovered a series of cells that act like celebrity groupies, the Wall Street Journal reports. Each pulls together all the sensory data on a personality to create a mental image. More»