neuroscience

Treatment From Brain Tissue May Have Spread Alzheimer's Protein

4:07pm September 10, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

Eight people who received growth hormone treatments made from human brains died decades later from a rare disease. Some also had brain damage similar to that seen in Alzheimer's, autopsies reveal.

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How Sound Shaped The Evolution Of Your Brain

4:06pm September 10, 2015

by Bill McQuay

Sound gets into our brains and processed so quickly that it shapes all other perceptions, says neuroscientist Seth Horowitz. "You hear anywhere from 20 to 100 times faster than you see."

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Can playing the Project Evo game really improve the brain's ability to deal with distractions? Its manufacturer thinks so.

'Play This Video Game And Call Me In The Morning'

4:57pm August 18, 2015

by April Dembosky

Developers at Akili are working on a game they hope might one day be prescribed to treat mental health conditions like ADHD and depression. But first, they must get past the FDA.

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The experiment used a fake photo of actor Clint Eastwood and Pisa's leaning tower to test how the brain links person and place.

How Your Brain Remembers Where You Parked The Car

2:28pm August 18, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

When people saw photos that linked a famous person with a famous place, it changed the behavior of certain neurons in their brains. And it changed their memories, too.

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When it comes to nature versus nurture, brain scientists think both matter.

Smart Teenage Brains May Get Some Extra Learning Time

9:25am August 10, 2015

by Shankar Vedantam

It used to be that neuroscientists thought smart people were all alike. But now they think that some very smart people retain the ability to learn rapidly, like a child, well into adolescence.

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Anil Ananthaswamy is a consultant for New Scientist Magazine.

A Sense Of Self: What Happens When Your Brain Says You Don't Exist

8:49am July 30, 2015

In his new book, The Man Who Wasn't There, Anil Ananthaswamy examines the ways people think of themselves — and how those perceptions can be distorted by certain brain conditions.

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A nanosecond pulsed laser beam starts the photoacoustic imaging process.

A Scientist Deploys Light And Sound To Reveal The Brain

3:51pm July 29, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

Try to look inside the brain, and you're not going to get very far. But photoacoustic imaging may be a solution for the shortcomings of conventional imaging. It uses lasers to make the brain sing.

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The BRAIN Initiative aims to accelerate basic research.

BRAIN Initiative Bets On Wearable Scanners, Laser-Controlled Cells

1:53pm July 24, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

A wearable PET scanner and lasers that could control individual brain circuits are among the projects funded by a $46 million federal effort to accelerate research on the human brain.

Health & Safety

For Kids With Tourette's, At-Home Training Could Help

4:42pm July 23, 2015

by Jessie Rack

Psychologists are working on an online training program that draws on principles of in-person behavioral therapy to help patients with Tourette syndrome manage their tics.

Women with mild cognitive impairment, which can be a precursor to Alzheimer's, tend to decline faster than men.

Women's Brains Appear More Vulnerable To Alzheimer's Than Men's

6:05am July 23, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

Researchers at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference say there's growing evidence that women are more likely than men of the same age to develop Alzheimer's disease.

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