Brain/Neuroscience
Evolutionary survival mechanism ‘gone-awry’ likely source of sleep walking
Recent research from Stanford University shows that up to 4 per cent of adults might have [walked in their sleep] ...
Half our brain’s neurons are in cerebellum but its region’s role in consciousness unclear
One of the best-known regions of the brain, the cerebellum accounts for just 10 percent of the organ's total volume, ...
How brain ages may depend on genetic variant linked to Alzheimer’s risk
Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have discovered a common genetic variant that greatly impacts normal brain aging, starting at ...
Can a specific exercise make you smarter: Sprinting, jogging or weightlifting?
Exercise...augments adult neurogenesis, which is the creation of new brain cells in an already mature brain...[R]esearchers at the University of ...
Gentle touch: Premature babies’ brain development may benefit from physical contact
A gentle touch can make all the difference. Premature babies – who miss out on the sensory experiences of late ...
Social anxiety, phobia may stem from gene linked to suppressing emotions
People with social anxiety avoid situations in which they are exposed to judgment by others. Those affected also lead a ...
Losing too many brain cells? Even adults can make more, study says
Many people think that their adult brain is not capable of generating new cells...[However,] the reality is much more complex ...
Criminal intent: Brain scans could show whether someone meant to do bad
What if lawyers could prove that a person knowingly committed a crime by looking at scans of his or her ...
Life after death? Brain activity sometimes mimics ‘deep sleep’
When the heart stops, the body is declared dead, but this isn't always absolute...New research has now added another piece to the ...
Casting a wider net: Expanded carrier screening recommended for cystic fibrosis, other genetic diseases
All prospective parents should have carrier screening for a range of genetic disorders, according to new recommendations by the American ...
When loud noises interrupt conversations, your brain fills in the blanks
Noise is everywhere, but that’s OK. Your brain can still keep track of a conversation in the face of revving ...
Plants may experience consciousness — but in a different way than humans
Like us, plants possess receptors, microtubules and sophisticated intercellular systems that likely facilitate a degree of spatio-temporal consciousness. Instead of ...
Too much knowledge? Should you sequence your baby’s genome?
Is there such a thing as having too much information about the health of your newborn? With the cost of ...
Genetic Literacy Project’s Top 6 Stories for the Week, March 13, 2017
From this past week, here are the #GLPTop6 among many great stories on human and agriculture genetics around the world ...
Psychotherapy revival: Can “talk” therapy change our brains and genes?
"Talk therapy" has fallen out of fashion as being more art than science. But new research suggests that psychotherapy may ...
Early warning: Alzheimer’s risk could be identified sooner through ‘jumping genes’
Duke University scientists have identified a mechanism in the molecular machinery of the cell that could help explain how neurons ...
Ignorance and the brain: Why people are so quick to believe falsehoods
How can so many people believe things that are demonstrably false? The question has taken on new urgency as the ...
Quest for a cure: Gene therapy offers hope for children with rare form of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease
A couple strives to help their daughter, who was born with a rare form of Charcot-Marie-Tooth, a muscle-wasting disease that ...
Is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) a legitimate diagnosis?
Is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) a legitimate diagnosis or is it mostly a fraud? The answer has important implications ...
Skin cells of schizophrenia patients reveal faulty genetic pathway that began in womb
The skin cells of four adults with schizophrenia have provided an unprecedented "window" into how the disease began while they ...
Evolutionary tradeoffs: Genes linked to autism may persist because they make us smarter
Autism genes may have been conserved during human evolution because they make us smarter, say scientists. More inherited genetic variants ...
Human brain could evolve to require very little sleep, study of tiny Mexican cavefish suggests
Neuroscientists at Florida Atlantic University have been studying Mexican cavefish to provide insight into the evolutionary mechanisms regulating sleep loss ...
When Celebrity And Science Collide: Hollywood And The Anti-Biotechnology Food Movement
Celebrityhood does not equate with science knowledge. The opinions of music and media stars are no more relevant to the ...
Neanderthals’ legacy genes: Some people taller, protect against schizophrenia
Neanderthals are still affecting what illnesses some people develop, how tall they are and how their immune systems work, despite ...
Golfing bumblebees? Amazing video of insect learning could spark artificial intelligence research
Bumblebees have learned to push a ball into a hole to get a reward, stretching what was thought possible for ...
Autism, other brain disorders linked to network of 91 genes
Gene discovery research is uncovering similarities and differences underlying a variety of disorders affecting the developing brain, including autism, attention ...
Cell atlas: 37 trillion cells in the human body will be catalogued in ambitious effort
The objective is to construct the first comprehensive “cell atlas,” or map of human cells, a technological marvel that should ...
