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.

New light-based method to capture the epicenter of neural activity in the brain

Researchers from Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia and University of Salento, both in Lecce, Italy, and Harvard Medical School in Boston have developed a new light-based method to capture and pinpoint the epicenter of neural activity in the brain.

19 Nov 2019

New collaboration aims to advance early childhood development

Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital announced today that it has partnered with the Bezos Family Foundation and Vroom, the Foundation's early learning program.

19 Nov 2019

Study shows how a potent psychedelic changes our waking brain waves

Scientists have peered inside the brain to show how taking DMT affects human consciousness by significantly altering the brain's electrical activity.

19 Nov 2019

For newborns with hearing loss, screening opens window to a world of sound

Four-year-old Betty Schottler starts each morning with the same six sounds: [m], [ah], [oo], [ee], [sh], and [s].

19 Nov 2019

Researchers develop new technology to inhibit the development of Alzheimer's disease

Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and their partners at Bar Ilan University have developed new technology to inhibit the development of Alzheimer's disease.

18 Nov 2019

Virtual 'moonwalk' causes distortions in spatial memory

In order to remember where important events happened, or how to get from A to B, our brains form mental "maps" of our environment. An important component of these mental maps are the so-called grid cells.

18 Nov 2019

Measles heralds state of emergency in Samoa

All students in Samoa should stay at home, because all schools are closed – this message may bring joy to juvenile hearts but not to those of parents and other adults, who know this is because of the destruction caused by the deadly measles epidemic that is spreading across the Pacific islands.

18 Nov 2019

Treatment for coronary heart disease is just as good as stents or bypass

After 4 whole decades of thinking that invasive treatment (stenting or bypass surgery) for a local block in an artery due to cardiovascular (CV) disease could extend life and preserve heart health in patients who also had advanced kidney disease, the world just turned upside down.

18 Nov 2019

New drug combo may improve pancreatic cancer therapy

A new study by scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute have discovered a combination of two cancer-fighting drugs that successfully worked on pancreatic tumor in mice, shrinking them significantly, and paving the way for a speedy clinical trial designed to test their efficacy in humans.

18 Nov 2019

Self-destructive mitochondria may set the stage for neurodegeneration in ALS

Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered a new phenomenon in the brain that could explain the development of early stages of neurodegeneration seen in diseases such as ALS, which affects voluntary muscle movement such as walking and talking.

18 Nov 2019

Teenage drinking increases risk of anxiety and alcohol problems in adulthood

A recent study suggests that teenage drinking may predispose a person to anxiety and alcohol abuse in later life.

18 Nov 2019

High-fat maternal diet can cause life-long changes in the fetal brain

A study team at MedUni Vienna’s Center for Brain Research has found that high-fat maternal diets can cause life-long changes in the brain of the unborn offspring.

18 Nov 2019

Dementia risk perception vis-a-vis actual action among Americans

A study has shown that one in two Americans between age 50 and 64 years is aware of the risk of development of dementia with age but only 5 percent are actually visiting their healthcare providers to seek preventive and therapeutic attention.

17 Nov 2019

UCLA Health pulmonologist describes the signs and symptoms of lung cancer

Nikki Moreno, a 42-year-old mother of two, was not expecting to hear she had advanced lung cancer when she ended up in the emergency room at the UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica, last October. She hadn't been feeling well for over a year but didn't think too much of her symptoms.

15 Nov 2019

Study shows link between inflammation and mental sluggishness

Scientists at the University of Birmingham in collaboration with the University of Amsterdam have uncovered a possible explanation for the mental sluggishness that often accompanies illness.

15 Nov 2019

Study provides new insights into potential outcomes of Zika virus infection

Using a relevant animal model (pigs), University of Saskatchewan researchers have shown that mild Zika virus infection in fetuses can cause abnormal brain development in apparently healthy young animals.

15 Nov 2019

Report investigates impact of smoking, alcohol on cerebellum and related cognitive function

There is consistent evidence that having an alcohol use disorder is associated with abnormalities in the cerebellum, a structure attached to the bottom of the brain that is involved in coordinating posture and balance but also in supporting some cognitive functions.

15 Nov 2019