Humans

Neuroscientist Takashi Kitamura works in the lab of Nobel laureate Susumu Tonegawa at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One of their recent projects helped identify a brain circuit involved in processing the "where" and "when" of memory. "Ocean

30,000 Brain Researchers Meld Minds At Science's Hottest Hangout

11:49am October 23, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

Once an obscure hub of specialists, the yearly gathering of the Society for Neuroscience now draws some of the biggest and brightest from other fields too, seeking answers to brain and body secrets.

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Science

Do E-Signatures Change How People Think Of Documents?

5:43am October 22, 2015

by Shankar Vedantam

New research finds that e-signatures can potentially make people behave in more dishonest ways. It turns out people are less willing to lie and cheat when they handwrite and sign their full names instead of using an e-signature, computer generated user code or other form of identity verification.

A woman's health history and tolerance for different kinds of risks should have a legitimate role in determining the timing of when she starts and stops getting screening mammograms, some leading doctors say.

Why Is Mammogram Advice Still Such A Tangle? Ask Your Doctor

4:43pm October 21, 2015

by Patti Neighmond

Leading physicians' groups don't agree about when and how often women with an average risk for breast cancer should get a screening mammogram. But your history can help guide you and your doctor.

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A shuttle bus exits a secure gate at Napa State Hospital after a media tour in 2011.

5 Years After A Murder, Calif. Hospital Still Struggles With Violence

7:57pm October 20, 2015

by Scott Shafer

Napa State Hospital in California added safeguards to protect workers after a psychiatric technician was murdered in 2010. But violence remains a part of daily life at the facility.

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Science

Do We Have Less Sympathy For People Facing Things We've Overcome?

7:54pm October 20, 2015

Who's going to be more empathetic to a problem you're confronting — someone who has never been through it, or someone who has been through it themselves? Our intuitive answer to this question is often wrong.

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Study Suggests Talk Therapy Eases Symptoms Of Schizophrenia

7:52pm October 20, 2015

NPR's Ari Shapiro interviews Nina R. Schooler, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at SUNY Downstate, about the study she co-authored regarding early treatment of schizophrenia.

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New Guidelines Reflect Knowledge On Positives, Risks Of Mammograms

5:36pm October 20, 2015

NPR's Audie Cornish talks with Kenny Lin, associate professor of family medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine, about what the new mammogram guidelines mean on an individual level.

If humans went up against the rest of the animal kingdom in most physical challenges, they wouldn't do that well.

Here's How You Can Outrun A Horse

12:01pm October 20, 2015

by Adam Cole

Humans are pathetic at athletic feats compared to animals. We get outrun by ostriches and outswum by penguins. But human physiology makes us aces at one sport: endurance running. Sorry, horse.

Gulping down coffee to stay awake at night delays the body's natural surge of the sleep hormone melatonin.

Caffeine At Night Resets Your Inner Clock

6:10am October 20, 2015

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Late-night coffee, tea or cola does more than keep you up, scientists say. The amount of caffeine in a double espresso can delay the internal clock in cells throughout your body by about 40 minutes.

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Researchers have used MRI scanners to learn that preemies are born with weak connections in some critical brain networks.

Weak Brain Connections May Link Premature Birth And Later Disorders

9:31pm October 19, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

Brain scans found abnormally weak connections in the brains of premature infants may make them more prone to develop autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other emotional disorders.

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