Brain
Alzheimer’s link to herpes disputed in new study
Around 30 years ago, researchers in the UK discovered DNA strands of herpes simplex virus 1 in postmortem brain samples of Alzheimer’s ...
Viewpoint: To understand human consciousness, we need a revolutionary way of thinking about it
A science of consciousness is coming ...
Brain organoids becoming ‘more human’, forcing researchers to grapple with ethical concerns
Though no bigger than a pea, organoids hold enormous promise for improving our understanding of the brain: They can replicate ...
Psychosomatic disorders not ‘all in the mind’: Brain-body connection bolstered by new research
Placebo effects, exercise highs, getting sick when you’re stressed out—the popular press and the scientific literature alike are replete with ...
People with autism more likely to experience headaches and epilepsy
People with autism have more brain-related health problems, such as headaches and epilepsy, than typical people do, according to a ...
Autism may not ‘hardwired by genetics’, with severity shaped by early life experiences, claims researchers in yet unpublished study
A child’s environment exerts a strong influence on the severity of her autism, according to a study of 78 pairs ...
We’ve mapped a fly brain down ‘to the very last neuron’. That’s a big deal for human brain research
[A]s director of Janelia Research Campus, part of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, [Gerry Rubin has] spent the last 12 ...
Zika virus could offer new way to attack deadly brain cancers
New research has revealed that the Zika virus breaks into brain cells by using a special molecular key, and scientists ...
Brain building block glutamate could be key to treating Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, depression
Glutamate is often called the “major excitatory neurotransmitter” within the brain. It is the brain’s “go” signal. [Neuroscientist David] Baker ...
The psychology of risk: ‘Psychopathic traits regularly found in successful people’
One problem with research on psychopathy is that it largely only deals with criminals. [Psychiatrist Randi] Rosenqvist believes it would ...
‘Mini-computers’ found in our neurons could be key to developing more powerful AI networks
With just their input cables, human neurons can perform difficult logic calculations previously only seen in entire neural networks. To ...
Growing tiny brains for research: Should we ‘frantically panic’ that something might go awry?
As mini-brains become more advanced, some researchers are worried they'll develop consciousness ...
Can we add ‘cooking’ to the list of things that drove human evolution?
Theories about the driving forces of evolutionary differentiation that separated us from our ape relatives are not lacking. Toolmaking, predisposition to ...
Age isn’t the thing that saps our memories: ‘Experiencing new things is the best way to keep the mind young’
Twenty-year-olds don’t think, “Oh dear, this must be early-onset Alzheimer’s.” They think, “I’ve got a lot on my plate right ...
Are we getting closer to understanding how our brains make memories?
How do memories work? That has been a burning question for over a century, since Richard Semon introduced the term ...
Can synthetic biology help deliver an AI brain as smart as the real thing?
To create artificial general intelligence, we need to study the brain ...
Neuroscience had a ‘transformative’ decade, giving us brain-computer interfaces, new research tools
I rarely use the words transformative or breakthrough for neuroscience findings. The brain is complex, noisy, chaotic, and often unpredictable ...
Protein tangles may help predict where and how Alzheimer’s will strike the brain
Tangles of a protein found inside the brain cells of people with Alzheimer’s disease can be used to predict future ...
Infographic: How exercise gives your brain a boost
Why does exercise affect the brain at all? Physical activity improves the function of many organ systems in the body, ...
Video: Neuroscientist Sergiu Pasca on his pioneering efforts to grow brain organoids from stem cells
When [Stanford University brain researcher Sergiu] Pasca started his own lab at the university in 2014, he continued working on ...
Infographic: These blood biomarkers could be critical to diagnosing, treating Alzheimer’s
Researchers are investigating a host of molecules found in the blood that could reveal pathological processes in the brain. Here ...
How far can we enhance the brain before human identity is lost?
Facebook recently announced it had acquired CTRL-Labs, a U.S. start-up working on wearable tech that allows people to control digital devices ...
Pursuit of ‘speech prosthetic’ for people who’ve lost the ability to talk could be boosted by this discovery
One [area of the brain is called] the “hand knob,” which, as the name suggests, is a knobby region of ...
Lab-grown mini brains ‘perilously close’ to consciousness?
Neuroscientists at more than a hundred laboratories around the world are now cultivating small brains from human cells in glass ...
Promise of treating Alzheimer’s with sensory stimulation: ‘Everybody can do it at home’
At SfN 2019, we interviewed Li-Huei Tsai, director of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory in the Department of ...
Rise of perfectionism and its toll on our mental health
Once an issue that affected a select few, perfectionism is now a growing cultural phenomenon, fueled by modern parenting and ...
ASMR: Being triggered by ‘ordinary sounds and sights’ may be more than pseudoscience
What do the sounds of whispering, crinkling paper, and tapping fingernails have in common? What about the sight of soft ...
