Brain/Neuroscience
In a battle of brains, chimpanzees match human toddlers
Many skills that we consider complex are in fact the result of relatively simple - and often universal - cognitive ...
When you get jetlagged, so does your microbiome
Your genome is the same right now as it was yesterday, last week, last year, or the day you were ...
Can the ability to learn be restored in an aging brain?
The time window for the brain to develop optimal connections based on learning and experience is relatively short-lived, occurring prior ...
‘Alzheimer’s in a Dish’—human brain cells in gel—opens new avenues for research
For the first time, and to the astonishment of many of their colleagues, researchers created what they call Alzheimer’s in ...
Dark history of eugenics spotlightlighted in New York University exhibit
An old stucco house stands atop a grassy hill overlooking the Long Island Sound. Less than a mile down the ...
Mystery of immune system infections slowly unravels
The mutations were familiar, but the patients’ conditions seemed baffling at first. A team lead by Rockefeller University researchers had ...
Can psychology explain strident opposition by some to GMOs?
Strident opponents of crop biotechnology often claim that they can actually taste the difference between foods with genetically modified ingredients ...
Are pesticides responsible for farmer depression, suicides?
On his farm in Iowa, Matt Peters worked from dawn to dusk planting his 1,500 acres of fields with pesticide-treated ...
Our GPS brain: What is the ‘doorway effect’ and how do we orient ourselves
How does memory and what amounts to a GPS system in our brain root us in the world? That's the ...
Neuroscientists awarded Nobel Prize for discovering brain’s internal GPS
The Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine has been awarded to three scientists who discovered the brain's "GPS system". UK-based ...
Controversial fetal cell transplants revived for Parkinson’s trials
Fetal brain cell transplants fell out of favor as a potential therapy for Parkinson’s disease after mixed reviews from trials ...
Should there be greater regulation on using stem cells in cosmetics and sports?
Long ago, in last century’s nuclear age, mythical mutations were created by radiation, in a sinister play on humanity’s newly ...
How Vietnam War vets aid in brain research
In 1967, William F. Caveness, a neurologist and veteran of the Korean War, began building a registry of living soldiers ...
Genetic basis for Monarch butterfly’s migration uncovered
The monarch butterfly is one of the most iconic insects in the world, best known for its distinct orange and ...
Single dose of anti-depressant alters brain? Maybe, but what does that mean?
All drugs "alter" the brain's connectivity, so that's hardly a surprise. But what does that mean? Are the changes ongoing ...
Intelligence genes: Elusive but real
The question of the degree to which genes control intelligence has been so controversial that many geneticists avoid pursuing it ...
Persistence of the massive microbiome myth
Scientists and layman alike have long touted the estimate that microbial cells outnumber humans by 10 to 1. While that ...
How misleading headlines distort scientific studies
Last week I gave a talk in Brazil called Why Is It So Hard To Think About The Brain?, Well, no ...
Who makes better space travelers–introverts or extroverts?
Is the long-run future of civilization to select-for those who are introverts? Is intro/extroversion genetically mediated? How might extended space ...
Organic food can cure autism caused by GMOs? More ‘quack science’ from Dr. Oz
Dr. Oz, who was recently reprimanded in Congress for his increasingly bizarre endorsements of crank cures and alternative nostrums, stumbled ...
Epigenetic cellular controls key for sperm and cancers
Sometimes in science there are unexpected threads tying seemingly very different things together. Unraveling the knots in these threads can ...
Sleeping brain still rehearses important tasks
Efforts to combine last minute cramming with a good night's sleep by sticking a book under the pillow and hoping the ...
Night owl or early bird, your genes matter
A couple of weeks ago I asked students in one of my classes whether they were early risers or night ...
Human language gene linked to early attentional multi-tasking
Neuroscientists have found that a gene mutation that arose more than half a million years ago may be key to ...
Diet soda and sweeteners alter gut bacteria, contributing to obesity? Not so fast.
According to a just-released study in Nature, rather than helping you avoid consuming fat-producing calories, sugar-free sodas and 'diet' snacks ...
More evidence IQ is in the genes
It was named the language gene before we really understood what it did. Now mice given the human version of ...
Neuroscience, mindfullness and reslience in school kids
For scientists the concept of psychological resilience began in the 1970s with studies of children who did fine – or ...
