Brain research

This light micrograph from the brain of someone who died with Alzheimer's disease shows the plaques and neurofibrillary tangles that are typical of the disease. A glitch that prevents healthy cell structures from transitioning from one phase to the next m

New Clues To ALS And Alzheimer's Disease From Physics

11:19am July 08, 2020

by Jon Hamilton

Structures inside healthy brain cells nimbly move from one state to the next to perform different functions. But in certain degenerative brain diseases, scientists now think, that process gets stuck.

Dr. Nico Dosenbach decided to put his healthy arm in a cast to figure out more about how the brain deals with an immobilized limb.

A Scientist's Pink Cast Leads To Discovery About How The Brain Responds To Disability

3:02pm June 18, 2020

by Jon Hamilton

A neurologist who wanted to know how the brain changes in response to a physical disability put his arm in a pink cast for two weeks to find out.

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Your brain uses the left side to make sense of lyrics and the right side for a song's melody.

How The Brain Teases Apart A Song's Words And Music

4:19pm February 27, 2020

by Jon Hamilton

Brain scans show that when people listen to songs, an area in the left hemisphere decodes speech-like sounds while one on the right processes musical information.

This image from an electron microscope shows a cross-sectional view of an oligodendrocyte (blue) among nerve fibers coated with myelin (dark red). In models of autism spectrum disorder, oligodendrocytes appear to create too much or too little myelin.

Researchers Link Autism To A System That Insulates Brain Wiring

5:45pm February 03, 2020

by Jon Hamilton

Brains affected by autism appear to share a problem with cells that make myelin, the insulating coating surrounding nerve fibers that controls the speed at which the fibers convey electrical signals.

Scientists say pea-size organoids of human brain tissue may offer a way to study the biological beginnings of a wide range of brain conditions, including autism, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Scientists Find Imperfections In 'Minibrains' That Raise Questions For Research

5:27pm January 29, 2020

by Jon Hamilton

Brain organoids grown in the lab look a lot like developing human brains. But a new study finds some important differences that could affect how scientists use them.

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Conceptual illustration of deciduous tree depicting Alzheimer's disease.

Health & Safety

Scientists Reach Out To Minority Communities To Diversify Alzheimer's Studies

9:00pm December 17, 2019

by Jon Hamilton

Black and Hispanic people often don't volunteer for studies of Alzheimer's disease, despite their risks for developing it. Researchers are working to make studies more inclusive, but it's not easy.

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The brain analyzes changes in sound volume to detect syllables and make sense of speech.

The Loudness Of Vowels Helps The Brain Break Down Speech Into Syl-La-Bles

4:35pm November 20, 2019

by Jon Hamilton

Syllables are the building blocks of spoken language. And now a study of brain activity hints at how we extract them from a stream of speech.

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Two fourth-graders rock side to side while doing math equations at Charles Pinckney Elementary School's "Brain Room" in Charleston, S.C., in 2015.

Math Looks The Same In The Brains Of Boys And Girls, Study Finds

8:44am November 08, 2019

by Jon Hamilton

Brain scans of 104 boys and girls doing basic math tasks found no gender differences. The finding adds to the evidence that boys and girls start out with equal ability in math.

After Months In A Dish, Lab-Grown Minibrains Start Making 'Brain Waves'

5:21pm August 29, 2019

by Jon Hamilton

Researchers say clusters of human brain cells grown in the lab can spontaneously generate electrical patterns similar to the brain waves of a 6-month-old fetus.

Pain researchers say men and women respond differently to pain. Understanding the differences in pain perception could lead to better treatments.

Health & Safety

Women May Be More Adept Than Men At Discerning Pain

11:09am August 26, 2019

by Patti Neighmond

Pain researchers say men and women respond differently to pain, and women may "feel more" pain than men. Understanding the differences in pain perception could lead to better treatments.

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