Brain News and Research

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The human brain is the center of the human nervous system and is a highly complex organ. Enclosed in the cranium, it has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times as large as the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size.

Study shows that breast cancer can be prevented with better contraception choices

Hormonal contraceptives, e.g. the pill, the patch, and the vaginal ring, contain synthetic hormones that prevent pregnancy by either stopping ovulation, changing the cervical mucus to stop sperm from passing through the cervix and finding an egg, or changing the womb's lining to prevent a fertilized egg from being implanted in it.

29 May 2021

Blood oxygen levels may explain why memory loss is an early symptom of Alzheimer's disease

In a world first, scientists from the University of Sussex have recorded blood oxygen levels in the hippocampus and provided experimental proof for why the area, commonly referred to as 'the brain's memory center', is vulnerable to damage and degeneration, a precursor to Alzheimer's disease.

29 May 2021

Excessive night-time screen use linked to short-sightedness, poor sleep quality

People affected by short-sightedness are familiar with the frustration of only being able to clearly see objects up close, but not a far distance.

29 May 2021

Fish oil supplementation during pregnancy leads to improved memory in children

Children born to mothers who took fish oil in their pregnancies have been shown to have faster problem-solving skills and better attention focus at age 10, according to findings from a study presented today at the 6th World Congress of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition.

29 May 2021

Study sheds new light on human brain development

University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers have shed new light on how our brains develop, revealing that the very last step in cell division is crucial for the brain to reach its proper size and function.

29 May 2021

White lies may not be so innocent after all – study reveals selfish motives behind white lies using functional MRI brain scans

A recent study published in The Journal of Neuroscience found that people who told a white lie had selfish motives for telling that lie.

28 May 2021

Lactate has antidepressant effect in mice, shows study

Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Neuroscientists from Synapsy - the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research into Mental Illness - based at Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and Lausanne University (UNIL) have recently demonstrated that lactate, a molecule produced by the body during exercise, has an antidepressant effect in mice.

28 May 2021

UC Riverside expert receives NIH grant to pursue research on moderate concussive brain injury

Viji Santhakumar, an associate professor of molecular, cell and systems biology at the University of California, Riverside, has received funding from the National Institute of Neurological Disaster and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health to further pursue research on moderate concussive brain injury, which results from car accidents or sports-related concussions.

28 May 2021

Neuromorphic chip detects complex biosignals in real time

Current neural network algorithms produce impressive results that help solve an incredible number of problems. However, the electronic devices used to run these algorithms still require too much processing power.

28 May 2021

Scientists investigate sex-targeted drug delivery for traumatic brain injuries

New research has determined that the window of opportunity to provide possible treatments for patients suffering from traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) differs depending on whether the patient is male or female.

28 May 2021

Researchers use new technique to visualize brain tissue noninvasively

The way the human brain works remains, to a great extent, a topic of controversy. One reason is our limited ability to study neuronal processes at the level of single cells and capillaries across the entire living brain without employing highly invasive surgical methods. This limitation is now on the brink of change.

28 May 2021

Poor sleep increases risk of long-term cognitive decline in Hispanics/Latinos

Poor sleep impacts the risk of long-term cognitive decline in Hispanic/Latino middle aged and older adults differently than it does in non-Hispanic adults, according to research led by University of Miami Miller School of Medicine neurology faculty and the largest long-term study of U.S. Hispanic/Latinos to date.

28 May 2021

Study may help devise new therapies, improve quality of life for Parkinson's patients

A new discovery by University of Guelph researchers may ultimately help in devising new therapies and improving quality of life for people with Parkinson's disease.

27 May 2021

Researchers use anesthetics to study reemerging consciousness, cognitive function after anesthesia

Millions of surgical procedures performed each year would not be possible without the aid of general anesthesia, the miraculous medical ability to turn off consciousness in a reversible and controllable way.

27 May 2021

Adults with obsessive compulsive disorder face higher risk of ischemic stroke

Adults who have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) were more than three times as likely to have an ischemic stroke later in life compared to adults who do not have OCD, according to new research published today in Stroke, a journal of the American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart Association.

27 May 2021

Enough to wreck their rest: $10,322 for a sleep study

José Mendoza's snoring was bad — but the silence when he stopped breathing was even worse for his wife, Nancy.

27 May 2021

OCD linked to higher stroke risk in later life

New findings indicate that the risk of developing ischemic strokes is increased in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

27 May 2021

Vagus nerve stimulation may be a potential adjunct therapy for COVID-19

COVID-19 was initially described as lung inflammation, or pneumonia, in older adults. However, we now know that SARS-CoV-2 infections can cause a wide range of symptoms in people of all ages, ranging from no symptoms at all to systemic inflammation and even death.

27 May 2021

Researchers discover new brain circuit that may help fight obesity

Like a good story, feeding has a beginning, a middle and an end. It begins with appetite prompting the search for food, continues with eating the food and it ends when satiation hits and the consumption of food is stopped.

27 May 2021

Light-controlled on/off switch helps control biological clock in cultured cells, explanted tissue

The biological clock is present in almost all cells of an organism. As more and more evidence emerges that clocks in certain organs could be out of sync, there is a need to investigate and reset these clocks locally.

27 May 2021