neuroscience

Prion protein can be infectious, spreading from cell to cell in the brain. Here four nerve cells in a mouse illustrate how infectious prion protein moves within cells along neurites — wire-like connections the nerve cells use for communicating with adja

Mad Cow Research Hints At Ways To Halt Alzheimer's, Parkinson's

9:18am March 10, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

Corinne Lasmezas began her career studying a disease that destroys the brains of cattle. Now she's using what she learned to search for drugs that can stop human brain diseases.

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Pain Really Is All In Your Head And Emotion Controls Intensity

2:57pm February 19, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

Humiliation, fear and unpredictability all turn up the volume on pain, research shows. And meditation can turn down pain's intensity, according to scientists who are starting to figure out why.

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Female Libido Pill Fires Up Debate About Women And Sex

8:35am February 19, 2015

by Rob Stein

Is the FDA being sexist or appropriately cautious in requiring stringent evidence that the latest pill works and is safe? Women's advocacy groups aren't sure.

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After the pot-smoking comes the insatiable hunger. Just ask James Franco and Seth Rogen's weed-loving characters in Pineapple Express.

How Marijuana Highjacks Your Brain To Give You The Munchies

12:20pm February 18, 2015

by Angus Chen

Where there's pot, there's often an insatiable hunger. Now researchers have a big clue why: Cannabinoids, the drug in marijuana, appear to flip a neural circuit that normally tells us we're full.

David Linden is a professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and is a former chief editor of the Journal of Neurophysiology. He also wrote The Compass of Pleasure.

Fingertips To Hair Follicles: Why 'Touch' Triggers Pleasure And Pain

4:39pm February 04, 2015

In his latest book, neuroscientist David Linden explains the science of touch. He tells Fresh Air how pain protects, why fingertips are so sensitive and why you can't read Braille with your genitals.

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Dr. Frances Jensen is a professor and chair of the Department of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

Why Teens Are Impulsive, Addiction-Prone And Should Protect Their Brains

1:26pm January 30, 2015

New research shows that teenagers' brains aren't fully insulated, so the signals travel slowly when they need to make decisions. Neuroscientist Frances Jensen, who wrote The Teenage Brain, explains.

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A Blind Woman Gains New Freedom, Click By Click By Click

5:20pm January 26, 2015

by Lulu Miller

Blind since birth, Julee-anne Bell learned to get by better on her own with echolocation, a method explored in this week's Invisibilia. But along the way, she found that independence came with costs.

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By measuring activity in different parts of the brain, neuroscientsts can get a sense of how some people will respond to treatments.

Brain Scans May Help Predict Future Problems, And Solutions

5:55pm January 08, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

Brain imaging can help researchers tell if people are more likely to be able to quit smoking or have trouble with reading. But those tests aren't yet ready for the doctor's office or classroom.

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A Drug Might Heal Spinal Injuries By Sparking Nerve Growth

2:56pm January 04, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

A neurologist's unorthodox thinking led to an experimental drug that allows trapped nerve fibers to grow again. And that growth helps amplify signals that restored movement in laboratory rats.

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From One Man's Damaged Brain, A Treasure Trove Of Research On Memory

6:02pm December 28, 2014

When Kent Cochrane survived a motorcycle accident in 1981, he emerged with types of amnesia so rare that his brain became one of the most studied in history. He died this year at 62.

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