Neuroscience news

The court will now call its expert witness: the brain

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

10 hours ago | not rated yet | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Will advances in neuroscience make the justice system more accurate and unbiased? Or could brain-based testing wrongly condemn some and trample the civil liberties of others? The new field ...

Waking up memories while you sleep

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Nov 19, 2009 | 4.2 / 5 (9) | 2

They were in a deep sleep, yet sounds, such as a teakettle whistle and a cat's meow, somehow penetrated their slumber. The 25 sounds presented during the nap were reminders of earlier spatial learning, though the Northwestern ...

Drug studied as possible treatment for spinal injuries

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Nov 19, 2009 | 5 / 5 (2) | 0

Researchers have shown how an experimental drug might restore the function of nerves damaged in spinal cord injuries by preventing short circuits caused when tiny "potassium channels" in the fibers are exposed.

Investigational neurostimulation device aims to reduce stroke damage

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Nov 17, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Stroke researchers at the Methodist Neurological Institute in Houston are the only ones in Texas to offer a novel device that might extend the acute stroke treatment window from three hours to 24.

Study: Can meditation sharpen our attention?

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Nov 13, 2009 | 4 / 5 (10) | 5

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggests that people can train their minds to stay focused.

Brain injured athletes may benefit from hypothermia research

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Nov 13, 2009 | 3 / 5 (2) | 0

NFL players and other athletes who suffer serious or multiple concussions may benefit from ground-breaking research being conducted by scientists at Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center. ...

Fatty acids clue for Alzheimer's

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Nov 13, 2009 | 2.6 / 5 (8) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The amount of fatty acids in the brain varies between healthy people and those with Alzheimer's according to new research from the University of Bristol, UK, supported by the Alzheimer's Research ...

Dreams may have an important physiological function

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Nov 12, 2009 | 3.9 / 5 (27) | 12

(PhysOrg.com) -- Dreams have long been assumed to have psychological functions such as consolidating emotional memories and processing experiences or problems, but according to a Harvard psychiatrist and sleep ...

Dopamine enhances expectation of pleasure in humans

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Nov 12, 2009 | 4.2 / 5 (10) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Enhancing the effects of the brain chemical dopamine influences how people make life choices by affecting expectations of pleasure, according to new research from the UCL Institute of Neurology.

Early life stress has effects at the molecular level

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Nov 12, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (11) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study of mice suggests that stress and trauma in early life can have an impact on the genes and result in behavioral problems later in life.

Gene knockout may cheer up mice

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Nov 12, 2009 | 3 / 5 (2) | 0

Removing the PKCI/HINT1 gene from mice has an anti-depressant-like and anxiolytic-like effect. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Neuroscience applied a battery of behavioral tests to the PKCI/HINT1 knocko ...

New brain findings on dyslexic children

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Nov 11, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (10) | 0

The vast majority of school-aged children can focus on the voice of a teacher amid the cacophony of the typical classroom thanks to a brain that automatically focuses on relevant, predictable and repeating auditory information, ...

Novel mouse gene reduces major pathologies associated with Alzheimer's disease

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Nov 11, 2009 | 3.8 / 5 (4) | 0

A new study reveals that a previously undiscovered mouse gene reduces the two major pathological perturbations commonly associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The research, published by Cell Press in the November 12 issue ...

Study identifies new way to biopsy brain tumors in real time

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Nov 11, 2009 | 1 / 5 (1) | 0

A new miniature, hand-held microscope may allow more precise removal of brain tumors and an easier recognition of tumor locations during surgery.

The Link Between Birdsong And Human Language

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Nov 10, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (7) | 0

Scientists studying how Bengalese finches use sets of syllables to communicate are a step closer to understanding how humans develop and use vocabulary. After studying the neural networks in finch brains, ...

Scientists decipher the formation of lasting memories

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Nov 10, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (2) | 0

Researchers Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have discovered a mechanism that controls the brain's ability to create lasting memories. In experiments on genetically manipulated mice, they ...

Words, gestures are translated by same brain regions, says new research

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Nov 09, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (5) | 0

Your ability to make sense of Groucho's words and Harpo's pantomimes in an old Marx Brothers movie takes place in the same regions of your brain, says new research funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication ...

Theory about long and short-term memory questioned

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Nov 09, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (6) | 0

The long-held theory that our brains use different mechanisms for forming long-term and short-term memories has been challenged by new research from UCL, published today in PNAS.