Brain/Neuroscience
Ethical questions surround deep brain stimulation therapy for Parkinson’s and other neurological diseases
[D]eep brain stimulation [is] a type of therapy in which one or more electrodes are inserted into your brain and ...
Deepening the nature v. nurture debate: How hormones impact development in the womb is often most key
Hormones released into an expectant mother's bloodstream may affect the child's intelligence, mental health and susceptibility to stress, among other ...
We still don’t know how anesthesia works—but we’re one step closer to figuring it out
If you’re planning to have major surgery soon, you might not want to read this next sentence. Scientists don’t actually ...
Google’s deep-learning Alpha Zero masters chess from scratch in 4 hours––then doesn’t lose
The architecture that beat humans at the notoriously CPU-impervious game Go, AlphaGo by Google Deep Mind, was converted to allow ...
Obesity linked to brain cell ‘antenna,’ opening potential treatment pathway
The key to controlling hunger and fighting obesity is in brain cells that produce hormones, according to research. ... Scientists ...
How Alzheimer’s kills: Protein tau spreads through the brain like an infectious disease
For the first time, scientists have produced evidence in living humans that the protein tau, which mars the brain in ...
Treating difficult brain and breast cancers with the help of viruses
New research published in Science Translational Medicine ... introduced a new potential treatment for some of the most difficult to treat cancers––brain and triple negative ...
Treating the concussion epidemic: Could spit tests identify those most likely to recover slowly?
A study found that microRNA in the saliva may offer early warning signs about a person's likelihood of recovering quickly ...
Deep learning: Google wants to use retinal photos to predict blood pressure, age, smoking status
Eyes are said to be the window to the soul—but researchers at Google see them as indicators of a person’s ...
Typing directly from your brain, and other neuroscience technologies to watch in 2018
Here are three fast-moving areas of neuroscience we’ll be watching in 2018: … [S]cientists at Brown University are developing salt-grain-sized ...
Should patients—not the FDA— have final say on risky gene therapy treatments?
Working with mice, researchers have used gene therapy to restore sight to the blind, reprogram the body’s own T cells ...
How ‘minor insults to the brain’ could fuel Alzheimer’s
When it comes to the perpetrator of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the finger of blame has long pointed to hard deposits ...
Italian family’s inability to feel pain spurs research on relief for chronic sufferers
The six members of the family barely notice broken bones or severe burns. Researchers have identified the mutation behind their ...
Why we stutter
While the average American might not come across it on a daily basis, stuttering is a relatively common condition. So when ...
Tackling Alzheimer’s by boosting mitochondrial health
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia and neurodegeneration worldwide. A major hallmark of the disease is the ...
How plants learn and use memories for prediction and decision-making
[Editor's note: Laura Ruggles is a philosophy PhD candidate at the University of Adelaide in Australia.] The idea that plants can ...
What differentiates humans from chimps: Differing DNA or different expression of similar genes
Scientists have found genetic changes that make brains bigger and may help explain why we are so different from chimpanzees ...
How your brain steps on the brake after starting a task
To stop an activity, your brain must engage in very precise timing that involves the careful coordination of three distinct ...
Canola oil causes Alzheimer’s? How the media mis-covers science, feeds NGO misinformation and scares the public
Sensationalist press coverage fueled by a poorly written university press release misled the public about a recent study on mice—a ...
Autism linked to electrical firing of neurons, neuron-controlled brain size
Researchers at UC San Francisco have developed a new genetic model of autism, using neurons created in the lab from ...
Never too old: Video games could insulate the eldery against Alzheimer’s
If you’re between 55 and 75 years old, you may want to try playing 3D platform games like Super Mario ...
New ‘curvature blindness’ optical illusion illustrates how the brain interprets images
A new optical illusion has been discovered, and it’s really quite striking. The strange effect is called the ‘curvature blindness’ ...
Possible genetic links to homosexuality like ‘finding needle in a haystack’
Scientists in the US looked at the whole genomes of around 1000 homosexual men and 1200 heterosexual men, finding several ...
Transplanting stem cells directly into brain could alter treatment of nervous system disorders
A therapeutic technique to transplant blood-forming (hematopoietic) stem cells directly into the brain could herald a revolution in our approach ...
Chasing a cure for narcolepsy—and why it should be a priority
For the first 20 years of his life, Henry Nicholls had a healthy relationship with sleep. Shortly after his 21st ...
Genetic Literacy Project’s Top 6 Stories for the Week – Dec. 11, 2017
Viewpoint: 12 ways organic activists mislead consumers | David Zaruk How anti-biotech environmental groups are trying to kill roll-out of AquaBounty’s sustainable ...
Migraine relief: First drug in 20 years that can prevent and cut in half length of attacks
A new migraine drug that can halve the length of attacks has been hailed as “the start of real change” ...
