Brain/Neuroscience
CRISPR shows promise against a ‘range of disorders’ in animal studies
The race is on to edit the DNA in our body to fight or prevent disease. Promising results from animal ...
Treating aggressive brain cancer with poliovirus
The idea of using a modified poliovirus as a treatment for glioblastoma brain cancer isn't new. But recent research shows ...
CRISPR ear injections repair genetic hearing loss in mice
We all know that CRISPR is the next big thing in gene-editing treatments. But how do you get the versatile genetic scissors ...
Genetic Literacy Project’s Top 6 Stories for the Week – Oct. 2, 2017
Tale of two neonicotinoid bumble bee studies—And how science can be massaged | Jon Entine Upchuck factor: Alcoholism targeted with novel ...
Insomnia cures: Do drug remedies provide the kind of sleep that our brain needs?
People spend billions on sleep remedies. The act of sleep and artificially assisting sleep are not on the whole a ...
15 years in vegetative slumber, man stirs after brain stimulation
Patients who lose consciousness for more than a year are considered extremely unlikely to regain it, but a 35-year-old Frenchman ...
Postpartum depression: It impacts dads, too
Postpartum depression affects fathers, too. Men experience lower testosterone levels throughout pregnancy and paternal care, increasing the chance of depression ...
Modified polio virus could be used as cancer treatment
A protein common on some types of cancer cell turns out to be the same one that in other circumstances ...
Baby or your life: Pregnant women with cancer face impossible choice
Sadly, a woman’s tragic story-- recently all over the news-- plays out in the real world more often than people may ...
Human embryoids push bioethical boundaries
Scientists are using stem cells to create clumps of cells that increasingly resemble bits of brain, lungs, or intestine. […] ...
‘Information bottleneck’ theory could help crack human learning mysteries
Even as machines known as “deep neural networks” have learned to converse, drive cars, beat video games and Go champions, dream, paint pictures ...
Seeking human consciousness at the cellular level
To define human consciousness at the neuronal level is among the most difficult of tasks for neuroscience. Still, researchers have ...
Using Zika in the fight against deadly brain cancer
With traditional cancer-fighting tools--surgery, radiation and chemotherapy--proving ineffective against glioblastoma tumors, researchers are exploring an unconventional treatment using a weakened ...
Air pollution, while abating in most places, poses ‘greatest threat to public health?’
Even with vast improvements in air quality since the ’70s, people haven’t stopped dying from the air they breathe. An ...
Bible and the brain: How did ancient Israelites ‘hear’ God?
James Kugel has been spent his entire scholarly career studying the Bible, but some very basic questions about it still ...
Mini ‘brains’ aid study of dementia and mental illness
[A] brain organoid begins as a single skin cell taken from an adult. With the right biochemical prodding, that cell ...
Children receive four times as many genetic mutations from dads than moms
Children inherit four times as many new mutations from their fathers than their mothers, according to research that suggests faults ...
Upchuck factor: Alcoholism targeted with novel gene therapy
Researchers are exploring the use of a naturally occurring mutation that causes people to get sick after drinking alcohol. The ...
Alzheimer’s ‘brain health’ quiz likely to scare more than help
Critics question the integrity of a risk assessment sent to prospective patients by NorthShore University Health System's Center for Brain ...
Questioning the promise of anonymity for DNA donors
Thousands of human genomes have been collected by research institutions around the world in recent years, as they attempt to find ...
Genetic mutation causes insulin production without eating carbs
Researchers have discovered how a genetic mutation may lead to excess production of insulin, a condition known as congenital hyperinsulinism, ...
Orthorexia nervosa: Do anti-GMO activists have this ‘eating disorder’?
Orthorexia nervosa is being evaluated as a possible psychiatric diagnosis -- which is causing symptoms of anxiety among some people ...
Transhumanism and inequality: Enhancing human life could bring dystopian consequences
Transhumanism may offer a pathway to an 'engineered paradise,' but there are many perils and pitfalls ahead -- particularly for ...
Psychologists downplay role of genetics in mental health
While there has been some success in uncovering genes which make people more susceptible to various disorders, specialists say that ...
Is scientific neutrality being lost to commercialism?
In the past few decades, the life sciences have been transformed into gigantic bio-technosciences, blurring the boundaries between science and ...
Extreme Male Brain Theory? Girls with autism have characteristically more masculine faces
A new study suggests that boys and girls with autism have facial features that are characteristically more male than female. [...] ...
Multiple sclerosis added to list of diseases exacerbated by gut microbes
The trillions of bacteria that live in our intestines, known collectively as the gut microbiome, have been linked to maladies ...