Neuroscience

Brain Evolution And Music: Playing Activates Genes In Humans And Songbirds

Music perception is well preserved in human evolution but the specific biological determinants of music practice are largely unknown. A study of professional musicians found enhanced activity of genes involved in dopaminergic neurotransmission, motor beha ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 27 2015 - 9:19am

Learning In Action: 'Lightning Bolts' In The Brain Imaged

Researchers have captured images of the underlying biological activity within brain cells and their tree-like extensions, or dendrites, in mice that show how their brains sort, store and make sense out of information during learning.  In a new study, neuro ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 30 2015 - 11:19am

Surprise Them And Babies Learn Better

If you want babies to learn faster, forget those "Baby Einstein" videos and defy their expectations a little. A new study has found  that babies learn new things by leveraging the core information they are born with. When something surprises a b ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 2 2015 - 1:00pm

Caffeine May Treat Or Even Prevent Alzheimer's Disease

A new study suggests a possible role for caffeine treatment Alzheimer's disease (AD) treatment, by showing a link between caffeine and reductions in the beta amyloid plaque accumulation characteristic of Alzheimer's disease. The latest evidence ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 3 2015 - 9:19am

The Brain Belly Connection In Weight Regulation

The little voice inside your head telling you to eat that whole bag of Doritos is actually a cluster of about 10,000 specialized brain cells. But there may be help in eating just one- the discovery of tiny 'triggers' inside those cells that give ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 2 2015 - 1:35pm

Mitochondria Mutation Linked To Human Parkinson's Disease For First Time

A new study using stem cells derived from patients who have  Parkinson's disease (PD) has confirmed for the first time what scientists have long suspected- that the most common mutation linked to both sporadic and familial Parkinson's disease (PD ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 2 2015 - 1:11pm

Adaptive Nature Of Human Memory- How Mundane Events Become Strong Memories

Human beings are information seekers. We are constantly taking in details – big and small – from our environment. But the majority of the stuff we encounter in a given day we rarely need to remember. For instance, what are the chances that you need to rem ...

Article - The Conversation - Apr 4 2015 - 7:30am

Parkinson's Disease Halted By Neurons Derived From Stem Cells Treated With A Stomach Cancer Drug

Researchers have taken a step toward using the implantation of stem cell-generated neurons as a treatment for Parkinson's disease.  Parkinson's, which affect as many 10 million people in the world, is linked to a depletion of dopamine-producing ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 8 2015 - 9:41am

The Relationship Between Autism And Epilepsy

1 to 1.5 percent of the global population has epilepsy, about 50 million people, but various epidemiological data indicate that between 20 to 35 percent of children with autism have epilepsy. If there are neurobiological causes of this comorbidity, they ar ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 6 2015 - 5:34pm

Darkness: It Does A Body Good

Today most people do not get enough sleep. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has called insufficient sleep an epidemic. While we are finally paying attention to the importance of sleep, the need for dark is still mostly ignored. That’s ...

Article - The Conversation - Apr 6 2015 - 9:00pm