Brain/Neuroscience
Motivation to exercise may depend on your genes
At one point or another, we've all wondered: What makes some of us gym rats and some of us couch ...
Pituitary problems decrease production of oxytocin, reduces empathy
Oxytocin is a hormone...[that] has earned the nickname "the love hormone" because we secrete it when we form bonds with our ...
Human hibernation: How it can change the world of medicine
Many films and shows feature human hibernation as a means to help astronauts travel deep into space. While this could ...
Schizophrenics have fewer nerve cells in their brain due to genetic mutation
Stem cells obtained from patients with schizophrenia carry a genetic mutation that alters the ratio of the different type of ...
Moral ‘slippery slope’: Neuroscience reveals how fibbing can spiral out of control
People who tell small, self-serving lies are likely to progress to bigger falsehoods, and over time, the brain appears to ...
Your brain uses different regions to remember something clearly and vividly
In an elegant experiment, a team of neuroscientists led by Jon Simons at the University of Cambridge have shown that ...
CRISPR-Cas9 is hot but it’s not the only way to edit a genome
Despite its growing track record and huge potential, CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing may not be the magic bullet for all applications ...
Should we include robotic limbs and A.I. when talking about evolution?
Scientists have a hard time deciding what Homo Futurus might look like. Will our evolutionary descendants resemble us? Will they be ...
Girls tend to experience softer symptoms of autism than boys
Think autism and an image of an awkward boy typically emerges. The developmental disorder is at least four times more ...
Brain scans reveal how one small fib snowballs into a whopper
A study of what goes on in the brain when someone tells a lie could offer a biological explanation for why untruths often ...
Bipolar disorder’s biological basis, how lithium works as treatment
[O]ver the years, lithium has remained a standby treatment [for bipolar disorder]. “It’s still arguably one of the best medications,” ...
Technology-doubting postmodern academics undermine public acceptance of science
The backlash against modern technology is widespread: Protests against genetic engineering, vaccines, "chemicals," modern agriculture, neuroscience, nuclear power (and almost any ...
Epigenetics and disease: No easy answers
How can epigenetics, the systems that turn genes off and on, help us understand disease? It may take a while ...
Vaccine may soon help patients fight Alzheimer’s (along with some red wine)
Five million people in the US today struggle with Alzheimer’s...and approximately 47 million globally are stricken, this being the most ...
Brain gene may be key to developing medications for Down syndrome
Although it’s clear that Down Syndrome is a genetic disorder caused by the occurrence of an extra chromosome, the exact genes, ...
Jet lag: Airplane oxygen levels could be key to resetting our biological clock
A small shift in the oxygen levels in the air could act as a "reset" button for the biological clock, ...
Brain implants could enhance memory and intelligence
If you could implant a device in your brain to enhance your intelligence, would you do it? [Bryan Johnson, the ...
Shining a literal light on schizophrenia and other brain disorders
Creating an effective treatment for schizophrenia requires a better understanding of its biology, of the genes that cause it. Using ...
Happy and sad memories are genetically controlled
A new study from MIT finds that [positive and negative emotions] are controlled by two populations of neurons that are ...
Neurologists identify how bridge between brain hemispheres forms
Researchers have discovered key steps in the development of the corpus callosum, a cable of neurons connecting the two hemispheres ...
2016 Presidential Race: Clinton, Trump, Stein and Johnson on Biomedical Research
GLP continues its series on the presidential candidate's positions on genetics and biotechnology. Today we assess Trump, Clinton, Johnson, and ...
Patterns found in DNA sequences associated with autism
In the study published in Behavior Genetics, the researchers examined the sequences of more than 650 genes associated with autism ...
Brain implant allows quadriplegic man to feel touch on robotic hand
For the first time, brain stimulation has made it possible for a paralyzed person to experience the sensation of touch ...
How epigenetics, our gut microbiome and the environment interact to change our lives
There appears to be an incredible, largely invisible world, of cellular communication, symbiosis, and chemistry occurring between ‘us’ and the ...
Humans on Mars? NASA must find way to protect us from radiation
Radiation exposure has proven dangerous for Apollo astronauts who traveled to the Moon. But radiation encountered by astronauts flying in ...
Injecting genes directly into brain may treat Alzheimer’s disease
Researchers have prevented the development of Alzheimer’s disease in mice by using a virus to deliver a specific gene into ...
Why do some people seek out fear?
Dr. Katherine Brownlowe, a neuropsychiatrist at Ohio State University, said two parts of the brain are at work when responding ...