Brain/Neuroscience
Safety and efficacy of oxytocin hormone treatments brought to question
There’s a new paper out by Gareth Leng and Mike Ludwig that bears the coy title “Intranasal Oxytocin: Myths and Delusions” ...
Brain has special process for distinguishing human speech from other noises
Researchers from Duke University and MIT discovered that part of our brains that is responsible for human speech recognition. Until recently, ...
Brain disorder impedes navigation by preventing internal ‘map’
Even though she hates lawn ornaments, Sharon Roseman, 68, has a grinning, pink lobster outside her home in Highlands Ranch, ...
Genetics might help explain why some people have stronger emotions than others
Your genes may influence how sensitive you are to emotional information, according to a new study which found that carriers ...
Individuality might be a measureable genetic trait
Benjamin de Bivort's lab at Harvard University is Groundhog Day for fruit flies. In de Bivort’s version, a fly must choose to ...
Rabies virus becomes unlikely tool for mapping brain networks
Humans have a long tradition of turning things that harm us into things that help us. We made bears into ...
My journey from suburban mom and chef to GMO and science advocate
I’m a suburban mom. I became an accidental activist when I uncovered a nefarious corporate/government scheme to poison my food ...
Genes might explain differences in how we experience emotions
Your genes may influence how sensitive you are to emotional information, according to new research by a UBC neuroscientist. The ...
Humans and dolphins: Same big brains, separate evolutionary paths
Until our upstart genus surpassed them, dolphins were probably the largest brained, and presumably the most intelligent, creatures on the ...
Using the human mind to control how genes work
Combining two technologies –optogenetics and neuroelectromechanical interfaces — researchers based in Switzerland and France have demonstrated a means for control ...
Biofortifying rice with folate could prevent birth defects
Bolstering rice with a gene to produce more folate, or vitamin B9, could ward off birth defects, according to a ...
Brain structures communicate through ‘post office’ system
Scientists have achieved a greater understanding of the mammalian brain’s connectivity by showing that the hippocampus—a central information processing hub—sends ...
Stem cell therapy might help prevent brain tumors in breast cancer patients
Researchers have developed a mouse model of brain-metastatic breast cancer and found the potential of stem-cell-based therapy to eliminate metastatic ...
Evolving big heads made childbirth hard on humans
In hominids, upright walking evolved 4-5 million years ago. The human pelvis was affected by these changes and evolved accordingly ...
What do ants and your brain have in common?
Each of the brain’s 86 billion neurons can be connected to many thousands of others. When a neuron fires, it ...
Gluten-free fits food myth narrative about eating ‘unnatural’ foods
There is a growing sense that people — in particular those who don't suffer from celiac disease — are being a ...
Why the Human Brain Project was doomed to fail
In 2005 neuroscientist Henry Markram embarked on a mission to create a supercomputer simulation of the human brain, known as ...
Radiophobia: Dental x-rays can kill you!–and other sage advice from the Land of Oz
We evolved in an environment that provides constant low level radiation. Our cells are good at dealing with it, and ...
Can science risk tolerating the alternative medicine world of Oz?
The Dr. Oz Show provides critics with ample material: séances, energy healing, miracle diet products. Once a media darling, Oz ...
Coffee: Guilty pleasure or life saving elixir?
Coffee is ubiquitous, grown in more than 70 countries. But it's also a drug, with caffeine as the primary psychoactive ...
Treating multiple sclerosis may rely on stem cell stimulation
Two drugs already on the market — an antifungal and a steroid — may potentially take on new roles as ...
Link between serotonin and depression ‘marketing of a myth’
The widely held belief that depression is due to low levels of serotonin in the brain and that raising those ...
Biotech activists caught plagiarizing web polemic in journal article challenging GMO safety consensus
Did you ever read something and swear you have read it somewhere else before? It happens to me now and ...
Worried about eating a bacon burger? That’s orthorexia–Misplaced obsessions of the affluent
It’s become very fashionable to get overly focused and concerned over the food choices we have. Guess what: That's as ...
What explains the dog-human love affair?
Wolves are wild, powerful, and fearsome predators, capable of bringing down even large prey. And yet, tens of thousands of ...
New Alzheimer’s research illuminates origins of disease
The hope that Alzheimer’s will one day be curable has in recent years faded to a flicker as successive clinical ...
How ancient mammal spurred war between paleontologists
I’m not sure why I’m so taken with Uintatherium and its relatives. Maybe it’s because poorly-made models of the beast ...
