http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Obesity is on a rampage, with the World Health Organization pegging the numbers at more than 300 million worldwide, with a billion more overweight. With obesity comes the increased risk for cardiovascular disease, Type II diabetes, and hypertension. http://www.physorg.com/news170419418.html Medicine & Health Tue, 25 Aug 2009 11:44:31 EST news170419418 With a vast majority of the world speaking more than one language, it is no wonder that psychologists are interested in its effect on cognitive functioning. For instance, how does the human brain switch between languages? Are we able to seamlessly activate one language and disregard knowledge of other languages completely? http://www.physorg.com/news169814826.html Medicine & Health Tue, 18 Aug 2009 11:47:40 EST news169814826 the ability to think about the minds and mental states of others -is essential for human beings. In the last decade, a group of regions has been discovered in the human brain that are specifically used for social cognition. A new study in the July/August 2009 issue of the journal Child Development investigates these brain regions for the first time in human children. The study has implications for children with autism. http://www.physorg.com/news166867075.html Medicine & Health Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:30:01 EST news166867075 For Mark Changizi, it`s all in the eyes. http://www.physorg.com/news165847500.html Medicine & Health Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:45:34 EST news165847500 (PhysOrg.com) -- Although the tiny roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans has only 302 neurons in its entire nervous system, studies of this simple animal have significantly advanced our understanding of human brain function because it shares many genes and neurochemical signaling molecules with humans. Now MIT researchers have found novel C. elegans neurochemical receptors, the discovery of which could lead to new therapeutic targets for psychiatric disorders if similar receptors are found in humans. http://www.physorg.com/news165763757.html Chemistry Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:29:41 EST news165763757 Increasing population density, rather than boosts in human brain power, appears to have catalysed the emergence of modern human behaviour, according to a new study by UCL (University College London) scientists published in the journal Science. High population density leads to greater exchange of ideas and skills and prevents the loss of new innovations. It is this skill maintenance, combined with a greater probability of useful innovations, that led to modern human behaviour appearing at different times in different parts of the world. http://www.physorg.com/news163344562.html Other Sciences Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:29:59 EST news163344562 "You are what you eat." Can these pithy words explain the evolution of the human species? http://www.physorg.com/news163089378.html Other Sciences Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:36:56 EST news163089378 (PhysOrg.com) -- Recognising objects and groups of objects is something we humans take for granted. For computers, this is far from straightforward. A European project has come up with novel solutions to this conundrum. http://www.physorg.com/news163082204.html Technology Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:37:24 EST news163082204 Researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have shown that past experience really does help when we have to make complex decisions based on uncertain or confusing information. They show that learning from experience actually changes the circuitry in our brains so that we can quickly categorise what we are seeing and make a decision or carry out appropriate actions. The research is published today (13 May) in Neuron. http://www.physorg.com/news161439430.html Medicine & Health Wed, 13 May 2009 13:20:30 EST news161439430 (PhysOrg.com) -- The human brain stores some kinds of memories for a lifetime. But when our eyes are open and looking at things, our gray matter also creates temporary memories that help us process complex tasks during the few seconds these visual memories exist. For decades, scientists have held that such short-term memories don`t suddenly disappear, but grow gradually more imprecise over the course of several seconds. http://www.physorg.com/news160162970.html Medicine & Health Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:43:40 EST news160162970 Lithium has been established for more than 50 years as one of the most effective treatments for bipolar mood disorder. http://www.physorg.com/news159516371.html Medicine & Health Tue, 21 Apr 2009 07:06:32 EST news159516371 From spilling a cup of coffee to failing to notice a stop sign, everyone makes an occasional error due to lack of attention. Now a team led by a researcher at the University of California, Davis, in collaboration with the Donders Institute in the Netherlands, has found a distinct electric signature in the brain which predicts that such an error is about to be made. http://www.physorg.com/news157037253.html Medicine & Health Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:29:22 EST news157037253 A type of brain cell that was long overlooked by researchers embodies one of very few ways in which the human brain differs fundamentally from that of a mouse or rat, according to researchers who published their findings as the cover story in the March 11 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. http://www.physorg.com/news157036357.html Medicine & Health Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:13:09 EST news157036357 (PhysOrg.com) -- Most people can easily tell the difference between reality and fantasy. We know that characters in novels and movies are fictitious, and we also understand that historical figures - even if we`ve never met them personally - were real people. As obvious as this distinction may seem, however, scientists know very little about the specific brain mechanisms that are responsible for our ability to distinguish between real and fictional events. http://www.physorg.com/news157029052.html Medicine & Health Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:11:39 EST news157029052 Cambridge-based researchers provide new evidence that the human brain lives "on the edge of chaos", at a critical transition point between randomness and order. The study, published March 20 in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology, provides experimental data on an idea previously fraught with theoretical speculation. http://www.physorg.com/news156767725.html Medicine & Health Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:36:21 EST news156767725 (PhysOrg.com) -- How does the human brain run itself without any software? Find that out, say European researchers, and a whole new field of neural computing will open up. A prototype 'brain on a chip' is already working. http://www.physorg.com/news156440026.html Technology Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:34:56 EST news156440026 The human brain's sensitivity to unexpected outcomes plays a fundamental role in the ability to adapt and learn new behaviors, according to a new study by a team of psychologists and neuroscientists from the University of Pennsylvania. http://www.physorg.com/news156171835.html Medicine & Health Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:05:09 EST news156171835 (PhysOrg.com) -- It may sound like something out of a science fiction movie - but bad memories can be erased in mice and this finding sheds light into how memories are normally encoded and stored in the brain. In a study published in the March 13 issue of the journal Science, researchers at the University of Toronto and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) have established a link between specific neurons and a given memory. http://www.physorg.com/news156012310.html Medicine & Health Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:00:01 EST news156012310 (Physorg.com) -- A Brown University study of stroke victims has produced evidence that the frontal lobe of the human brain controls decision-making along a continuum from abstract to concrete, from front to back. http://www.physorg.com/news155210763.html Medicine & Health Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:06:46 EST news155210763 A case report published in this week's issue of the open-access general medical journal, PLoS Medicine, describes a rare side effect of human fetal stem cell therapy. Ninette Amariglio and Gideon Rechavi from the Sheba Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel, and colleagues report the case of a boy with a rare genetic disease, Ataxia Telangiectasia, who underwent human fetal stem cell therapy at an unrelated clinic in Moscow and who, four years after the therapy began, was shown to have abnormal growths in his brain and spinal cord. http://www.physorg.com/news154161352.html Medicine & Health Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:36:21 EST news154161352 (PhysOrg.com) -- That irresistible craving for a cheeseburger has its roots in the dramatic growth of the human brain and body that resulted from environmental changes some 2 million years ago. http://www.physorg.com/news153674736.html Biology Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:26:15 EST news153674736 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have shown for the first time that the active training of the working memory brings about visible changes in the number of dopamine receptors in the human brain. The study, which is published in the prestigious scientific journal Science, was conducted with the help of PET scanning and provides deeper insight into the complex interplay between cognition and the brain's biological structure. http://www.physorg.com/news153149048.html Medicine & Health Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:24:48 EST news153149048 Like Russell Crowe's character in A Beautiful Mind, life is often difficult for the 2.4 million Americans with schizophrenia. A late or incorrect diagnosis and the lack of effective treatment options can destroy a sufferer's quality of life. http://www.physorg.com/news152975145.html Medicine & Health Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:06:21 EST news152975145 Slices of living human brain tissue are helping scientists learn which drugs can block the waves of death that engulf and engorge brain cells following a stroke. http://www.physorg.com/news151760910.html Medicine & Health Wed, 21 Jan 2009 11:48:56 EST news151760910 A study by UC Davis researchers appearing in the journal Science reports the discovery of a new mechanism of attention in the human brain. Previous studies in animals implicated changes in the state of a portion of the brainstem, called the locus ceruleus (LC), in shifts from distractible to attentive states. http://www.physorg.com/news148562922.html Medicine & Health Mon, 15 Dec 2008 11:28:42 EST news148562922 Walter J. Lukiw, PhD, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Ophthalmology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, is the lead author of a paper identifying, for the first time, a specific function of a fragment of ribonucleic acid (RNA), once thought to be no more than a byproduct, in regulating inflammation and the development of Alzheimer's disease. http://www.physorg.com/news145861392.html Medicine & Health Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:03:12 EST news145861392 New research at the University of Haifa identified a specific protein essential for the process of long term memory consolidation. This is the latest of several discoveries that are leading us towards a better understanding of one of the most complex processes in nature - the process of memory creation and consolidation in the human brain. This latest research was published recently in the prestigious journal Nature Neuroscience. http://www.physorg.com/news140173258.html Medicine & Health Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:00:58 EST news140173258 Just one night without sleep can increase the amount of the chemical dopamine in the human brain, according to new imaging research in the August 20 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. Because drugs that increase dopamine, like amphetamines, promote wakefulness, the findings offer a potential mechanism explaining how the brain helps people stay awake despite the urge to sleep. However, the study also shows that the increase in dopamine cannot compensate for the cognitive deficits caused by sleep deprivation. http://www.physorg.com/news138384671.html Medicine & Health Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:11:11 EST news138384671 Metabolic changes responsible for the evolution of our unique cognitive abilities indicate that the brain may have been pushed to the limit of its capabilities. Research published today in BioMed Central's open access journal Genome Biology adds weight to the theory that schizophrenia is a costly by-product of human brain evolution. http://www.physorg.com/news137129722.html Biology Tue, 05 Aug 2008 04:35:22 EST news137129722 An international team of researchers has created the first complete high-resolution map of how millions of neural fibers in the human cerebral cortex -- the outer layer of the brain responsible for higher level thinking -- connect and communicate. Their groundbreaking work identified a single network core, or hub, that may be key to the workings of both hemispheres of the brain. http://www.physorg.com/news134106650.html Medicine & Health Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:50:50 EST news134106650