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October 8, 2008 2:13:25 AM CDT

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Stories related to: brain

Stories

Stories 1 - 20 of 45

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  • September 2008

    • Autism-Reversing Drugs Show Promise

      NPR  |  Sep 24, 08 12:50 PM CDT

      Autism-Reversing Drugs Show Promise

      (Newser) - MIT scientists have discovered one of the mechanisms of Fragile X Syndrome, one cause of autism, and are developing drugs to treat it, NPR reports. The disorder, triggered by a genetic mutation, interferes with the normal links between brain cells, making those networks something like a car without a brakes. The new drugs limit acceleration, and have been successful in mice. More »

      Tags

      medical breakthrough  • brain  • mental health  • MIT  • autism  • scientific research  • neurons

    • 'Social Siberia' Isn't Just a Metaphor

      New York Times  |  Sep 16, 08 2:22 PM CDT

      'Social Siberia' Isn't Just a Metaphor

      (Newser) - Icy stares and chilly receptions can leave you feeling—well, cold. Metaphors about social behavior, like "warm welcome" and "cold shoulder," seem to relate to physical reality, new research finds. People who had experienced and recalled social rejection perceived a 5-degree temperature drop in the lab and experienced hot food cravings, the New York Times reports. More »

      Tags

      brain  • personality  • behavior  • human behavior

    • Low B12 Levels Tied to Brain Shrinkage, Memory Loss

      BBC  |  Sep 9, 08 1:22 PM CDT

      Low B12 Levels Tied to Brain Shrinkage, Memory Loss

      (Newser) - Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause memory loss, particularly in the elderly, reports the BBC. People short on the nutrient were 6 times more likely than individuals with normal levels to experience brain shrinkage, which is strongly linked to dementia, a new study shows. Forty percent of people are believed to have deficient levels of B12, which is found in meat, fish, and milk—and that percentage is even higher among the elderly. More »

      Tags

      health  • elderly  • brain  • dementia  • health study  • Alzheimer's Disease  • memory loss  • vitamin B

    • Busy Brain May Mean Big Belly

      LiveScience  |  Sep 5, 08 12:50 PM CDT

      Busy Brain May Mean Big Belly

      (Newser) - Does thinking make us fat? Researchers say that intellectual activity just might cause us to pig out, LiveScience reports. Volunteers who performed a series of problem-solving tasks in a study consumed almost 30% more calories afterward than those who just sat around and took it easy. One theory: The body demands food to restore glucose depleted by the stress of thinking. More »

      Tags

      health  • science  • brain  • hunger  • health research  • medical studies  • calories

    • Brain Doesn't Remember Events—It Relives Them

      New York Times  |  Sep 5, 08 9:19 AM CDT

      Brain Doesn't Remember Events—It Relives Them

      (Newser) - Scientists for the first time have observed how brain cells drum up a memory, and the findings buttress the notion that our minds don't so much remember events as relive them. When recalling short film clips they had seen, patients' brains repeated the same pattern of neuron activity they experienced while first watching the film, the New York Times reports. More »

      Tags

      brain  • scientific study  • memory  • Alzheimer's Disease  • neurons  • brain scans

  • August 2008

    • Children Can Count Without Numbers

      Wired  |  Aug 19, 08 8:30 AM CDT

      Children Can Count Without Numbers

      (Newser) - A study sure to fan a fiery disagreement among developmental psychologists has found that children can count objects even if their language lacks words for the numbers involved. Researchers found that Australian Aboriginal children, who know words for only a few small numbers, did just as well as English-speaking children on counting tasks, Wired reports. More »

      Tags

      Australia  • psychology  • brain  • language  • mathematics  • psychological research  • Aborigines

    • Staying Sharp While Aging: It Has a Price

      Washington Post  |  Aug 17, 08 5:25 PM CDT

      Staying Sharp While Aging: It Has a Price

      (Newser) - Fighting the aging process is more about hard work than anti-wrinkle cream and hair dye, Jonah Lehrer writes in the Washington Post . The issue for most of us is not to dance like Madonna or swim like US Olympian Dara Torres; it's to remember names and places and find the car keys. And that requires exercise—for the brain. "The brain is a learning machine, and like all machines it needs to be continually maintained," one professor told Lehrer. More »

      Tags

      brain  • aging  • memory  • cognitive decline  • cognitive behavioral therapy

  • July 2008

    • Roots of Speech Found in Humming Fish

      National Geographic  |  Jul 18, 08 3:13 AM CDT

      Roots of Speech Found in Humming Fish

      (Newser) - The songs of birds, the hums and grunts of toadfish, and the lofty speech of humans all use the same ancient brain circuit, despite an evolutionary split 400 million years ago, reports National Geographic . Researchers have discovered that the base of the hindbrain and upper spinal cord is the starting point for all vocalizations. More »

      Tags

      animal  • brain  • evolution  • fish  • speech  • nature  • amphibians

  • June 2008

    • That Irritating Itch? It May Just Be Your Brain

      New Yorker  |  Jun 24, 08 3:17 PM CDT

      That Irritating Itch? It May Just Be Your Brain

      (Newser) - A woman suffers from an itch so severe that she scratches right through to her brain—yet doctors find no medical ailment. War victims feel the sensations of a real limb—but from phantom appendages. What does it all add up to? Perhaps a new understanding of how our brains perceive reality: Call it the “brain’s best guess” theory, Atul Gawande writes in the New Yorker . More »

      Tags

      science  • medicine  • brain  • neuroscience  • pain

    • Brains Look Alike in Gay Men, Straight Women

      Guardian (UK)  |  Jun 17, 08 12:24 PM CDT

      Brains Look Alike in Gay Men, Straight Women

      (Newser) - Gay men and straight women have similarly shaped brains, new research shows. Homosexual men and heterosexual women both have relatively symmetrical brains, while heterosexual men and lesbians have significantly larger right hemispheres, reports the Guardian . The research provides new evidence that sexual orientation is hardwired into the brain. More »

      Tags

      homosexuality  • brain  • MRI

    • Dude! Harsh! Weed Shrinks Your Brain

      Age (Aust.)  |  Jun 3, 08 9:09 PM CDT

      Dude! Harsh! Weed Shrinks Your Brain

      (Newser) - Heavy marijuana use over a number of years can cause significant brain abnormalities, damage memory and emotional processing, and even shrink parts of the brain, the Age reports. All cannabis smokers—not just high-risk groups such as the young and those susceptible to mental illness—can experience effects equivalent to those of a mild brain injury, Australian researchers found. More »

      Tags

      drugs  • smoking  • marijuana  • brain  • weed

  • May 2008

    • New Trust Drug: Good for Shyness, Bad for Investing

      BBC  |  May 22, 08 9:46 AM CDT

      New Trust Drug: Good for Shyness, Bad for Investing

      (Newser) - Scientists have created a nasal spray that makes its users more trusting, the BBC reports. Made up mostly of oxytocin, alternatively nicknamed the “love hormone” or “cuddle chemical,” the spray decreases social fears by lowering activity in the amygdala. That should be great news for social phobics; just don’t use it when you’re, say, making investment decisions. More »

      Tags

      medical research  • brain  • hormones  • psychiatry  • oxytocin  • trustworthiness

    • How Bad Is It, Doc?

      CNN  |  May 20, 08 3:52 PM CDT

      How Bad Is It, Doc?

      (Newser) - While doctors know that Sen. Ted Kennedy has the most common form of brain cancer, the positioning, type and size of the tumor will determine the degree of danger and side effects from surgery, CNN reports. Kennedy’s glioma is in the left parietal lobe, which is involved in speaking and understanding speech as well as motor control for the body's right side. More »

      Tags

      Congress  • Senate  • cancer  • Ted Kennedy  • brain  • brain cancer  • tumor  • brain damage  • glioma