Neuroscience

JAMA- Cell Phones Do Affect Brain Glucose But Effect Is Unknown

A preliminary study in JAMA (JAMA. 2011;305[8]808-814.) has found that 50-minute cell phone use was associated with increased brain glucose metabolism, a marker of brain activity, in the region closest to the phone antenna, but that is not known to have an ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 24 2011 - 9:31am

Can't Dance? Blame GABA, Not ABBA

If you saw the film version of "Mamma Mia!" you may have wondered why some of the actors could act, sing and dance and some, clearly, could not. A new study in Current Biology says that people who are fast to learn a simple sequence of finger mot ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 3 2011 - 5:13pm

Researchers Try To Predict Language Development In Babies Even Before They Can Talk

A new study will see researchers from the University of East London using eye-tracking technology to establish if future language, social and attention weaknesses can be identified in babies as young as six-months.  Being able to predict weaknesses in the ...

Article - Anna Ohlden - Mar 8 2011 - 1:48am

The Origin Of Empathy In...Chickens?

A new study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B says it is the first to demonstrate that birds possess empathy- and they say they have verified it using both behavioral and physiological methods to measure these traits. Using non-invasive physiological m ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 8 2011 - 11:35pm

Bilingualism Is Like A Mental Gymnasium For The Brain

Recent research indicates that bilingual speakers can outperform monolinguals in certain mental abilities, such as editing out irrelevant information and focusing on important information, said Judith Kroll, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Penn Stat ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 17 2011 - 4:00am

Karaoke Reveals A Neurological Basis For Embarrassment

A group of patients withneurodegenerative diseases have helped researchers discover a neurological basis of embarrassment.     The thumb-sized bit of tissue in the right hemisphere of the front part of the brain is called the pregenual anterior cingulate c ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 15 2011 - 9:14am

Is There A Brainwave 'Fingerprint'?

A new study of electroencephalography (EEG) readings published in the Journal of Neuroscience says that despite the major neural overhaul underway during adolescence, most teens maintained a unique and consistent pattern of underlying brain oscillations.   ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 26 2011 - 7:18pm

"Self-Devouring"- The Answer To Neurodegenerative Diseases?

Scientists have identified a biochemical abnormality behind the potentially fatal neurodegenerative Machado-Joseph disease (MJD) and, using several models of the disease, were able to reverse the problem in what may be a crucial step towards a cure for hum ...

Article - Catarina Amorim - May 3 2011 - 2:00am

Noam Chomsky Was Right? We Have Inborn Language Sense, Says Study

Fifty years ago, the philosopher and linguist Noam Chomsky speculated that humans are able to learn language easily as children because knowledge of grammar is 'hardwired' into human brains. In other words, we know some of the fundamental things ...

Article - News Staff - May 16 2011 - 11:38am

Astrocytes Cultivated In The Lab Dish

The astrocyte, most common cell in the human nervous system, is finally getting some respect; researchers have used embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells to cultivate the star-shaped astrocyte. Not just putty in the brain and spinal cord The ability ...

Article - News Staff - May 22 2011 - 5:28pm