Brain/Neuroscience
Is human sexuality determined by testosterone’s effect on the brain?
[Early experiments have shown] that the Y chromosome is essential for the formation of a testis, and it is the ...
Starving brain tumors by blocking enzyme could aid treatment
Cancer tumors, like other living cells, need to consume nutrients and oxygen to sustain themselves. However, as they often live ...
Heroin vaccine could neutralize drug high using body’s immune system
As heroin-related deaths soar in the United States, a group of researchers said they may be one step closer to ...
Modern people making Stone Age tools offers glimpse into evolution of intelligence
The brain networks we rely on for complex tasks were likely evolving around 1.8 million years ago--allowing our ancestors to ...
Life hacking: Gene editing won’t solve all of society’s problems
Science is threatening a new era of “market-based eugenics,” whereby gene editing in combination with in vitro fertilization techniques will ...
Even moderate drinking may damage your brain and memory function
While it’s widely accepted that drinking too much is bad for you, conventional wisdom...says that alcohol can be consumed in ...
Brain registers no fear: How rock climber conquered El Capitan without safety gear
You may have already heard about Alex Honnold, who climbed the mighty El Capitan in Yosemite National Park without any ...
Epileptic seizures could be reduced by boosting micro-gene
[Epileptic] seizures can have genetic causes or can be triggered by different kinds of neural injury. All brains are prone ...
Discovery of 315,000-year old human fossils may rewrite history of our ancestors
[B]ones of the former occupants [of a Moroccan cave called Jebel Irhoud] have been recently unearthed by an international team ...
Horizon ‘organic’ milk under fire for adding factory-produced algae oil to boost nutrition
Inside a South Carolina factory, in industrial vats that stand five stories high, batches of algae are carefully tended, kept ...
Plagued by indecision? Drug may boost confidence, help treat schizophrenia, OCD
Life is full of decisions, and sometimes it’s difficult to know if you’re making the right one. But a drug ...
Building a face ‘bit by bit’: Human recognition by monkeys
A monkey’s brain builds a picture of a human face somewhat like a Mr. Potato Head — piecing it together ...
Can plant seeds ‘decide’ when to germinate?
Botanical orthodoxy holds that plant germination is a purely mechanistic process, driven entirely by external stimuli. The plant seed itself ...
Can zapping our brains with electricity boost learning?
A new study sheds light on why transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) -- now being tried by do-it-yourselfers -- doesn't ...
Back to life: Can controversial stem cell treatment revive brain-dead patients?
For any given medical problem, it seems, there’s a research team trying to use stem cells to find a solution...But ...
Bell Curve redux: Is the science of intelligence too taboo to research?
A new study identified genes linked to intelligence while a recent interview of political scientist Charles Murray, co-author of The ...
He/She: Brains of men and women hard-wired different because of hormones, genes
[In the past, studying sex-based differences in the brain] was not a universally popular idea. The neuroscience community had largely ...
How to resist health scares: Review of Geoffrey Kabat’s ‘Getting Risk Right’
Public health regulations, particularly as regards to chemicals, are often driven by precautionary fears stirred by sloppy reporting sparked by ...
Video: Genetically modified pollinating cyborg dragonfly drone takes flight
[Editor's note: As has been previously reported, these dragonflies could be used for artificial pollination.] A new experiment bypasses the ...
Parkinson’s target of China’s first clinical trial using embryonic stem cells
In the next few months, surgeons in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou will carefully drill through the skulls of people ...
Is ADHD actually a sleep disorder?
Could ADHD [be] a type of sleep disorder? After all, the brain pathways involved in paying attention have also been ...
Question of intelligence: How much can we attribute to our genes?
A new study offers evidence that intelligence is primarily affected by our genes. But that doesn't mean education, healthy living ...
Careful, your brain may begin to eat itself if you don’t get enough sleep
Burning the midnight oil may well burn out your brain. The brain cells that destroy and digest worn-out cells and ...
Human ‘tree rings’? Neuroimaging predicts life span and brain age
In recent years, scientists have plumbed the molecular depths of the body and surfaced with tell-tale biomarkers of aging, some ...
More women suffer from Alzheimer’s and shoulder caregiving
Women make up nearly two-thirds of the more than 5 million Americans with Alzheimer’s disease. A woman in her 60's is ...
Flower power: Decoded sunflower genome could unlock increased oil, stress tolerance
Take that, sunflowers. The convoluted genetic code that has thwarted scientists for so long has finally been cracked. Scientists published ...
What role might genes play in ‘creating’ terrorists?
As more terrorism sweeps across the globe, scientists begin to look at a biological basis for organized violent behavior ...