Neuroscience >>

A new study has implications for providing better understanding of neurodegenerative diseases. ...

When tracking a moving object, the two halves of the human brain operate much like runners successfully passing a baton during a relay race, according to a University of Oregon researcher. For a study now online ahead of print in Current Biology, researchers used EEG measurements in healthy young adults to see how information about the movement of an attended object from one brain hemisphere to the...

A newly identified difference between the brains of women and men with multiple sclerosis (MS) may help explain why so many more women than men get the disease, researchers report. In recent years, the diagnosis of MS has increased more rapidly among women, who get the disorder nearly four times more than men. The reasons are unclear, but the new study is the first to associate a sex difference in...

A study has shown that a long-overlooked form of neuron-to-neuron communication called miniature neurotransmission plays an essential role in the development of synapses, the regions where nerve impulses are transmitted and received. The findings, made in fruit flies, raise the possibility that abnormalities in miniature neurotransmission may contribute to neurodevelopmental diseases. ...

Premature menopause is associated with long-term negative effects on cognitive function, suggests a new study. The average age of menopause is around 50 years in the Western World. Premature menopause refers to menopause at or before 40 years of age, this could be due to a bilateral ovariectomy, (surgically induced menopause)or non-surgical loss of ovarian function (sometimes referred to as 'natural'...

People cooperate with each other more when they’ve been holding hot, as opposed to cold, objects. This is the finding of a new study. The Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma (IPD) task, designed to measure levels of cooperation, was completed by 60 students. Before performing the IPD task, participants were asked to hold either hot or cold objects. Analysis showed that individuals who held hot objects cooperated...

Brief musical training can increase the blood flow in the left hemisphere of our brain. This suggests that the areas responsible for music and language share common brain pathways. ...

Researchers report miniature neurotransmission appears to play a key role in synaptic development. ...

New data links the amounts of certain neuropeptides in the brains of killer bees with their behavior both inside and outside the hive. ...

Estimated radiation doses are substantially lower for pediatric CT exams of the brain that used an adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction technique (ASIR) compared to those that did not use ASIR. ...

Previously, hair cells have long been considered the most vulnerable elements in the inner ear, but researchers have now shown that nerve fibers are even more vulnerable to damage. The public health implications of this finding are quite sobering. "All of our federal noise exposure guidelines are based on the assumption that noise-exposures causing only transient threshold elevation are benign. That...

Tom Guynes considers himself a living miracle. He’s been treated for a typically fatal form of fast-spreading cancer, congestive heart failure, and a hernia all in the past two years. So when he suffered a stroke the morning of Nov. 24, 2013, both he and his wife Nan feared the worst. The patient was treated with an endovascular procedure to remove his blood clot through a procedure that involves sucking...

A 20-minute conversation with a social worker has the potential to significantly reduce the functional decline of those diagnosed with a mild traumatic brain injury. More than a million people are treated for mild traumatic brain injuries in U.S. hospitals and emergency rooms each year. Yet few receive appropriate psychological and social follow-up care that can make the difference in whether or not...

Have you ever said to yourself that you would only have a handful of potato chips from the bag then, minutes later, realized you ate the whole thing? A recent study shows that this type of impulsive behavior might not be easily controlled -- and could be a risk factor in the development of food addiction and eating disorders as a result of cellular activities in the part of the brain involved with...

Of all the starry-eyed just-married couples you know, which couples are likely to stay the happiest? A study says chances for bliss are highest when husband and wife both believe in divvying up the household labor equally. But that happiness won't last long if one partner is perceived as not carrying their fair share of the load. ...

Emotions like fear, anger, sadness, and joy enable people to adjust to their environment and react flexibly to stress and strain and are vital for cognitive processes, physiological reactions, and social behavior. The processing of emotions is closely linked to structures  in the brain, i.e. to what is known as the limbic system. Within this system the amygdala  plays a central role – above all it...

Scientists have been linking an increasing range of behaviors and inclinations from monogamy to addiction to animals', including humans', underlying biology. To that growing list, they're adding division of labor -- at least in killer bees. A new report presents new data that link the amounts of certain neuropeptides in these notorious bees' brains with their jobs inside and outside the hive. ...

Theta-band activity in hippocampus after an event seems to be crucial for learning. A study on the topic also proved that the absence of theta facilitated learning a simple task while training during theta had no effect on learning. Hippocampus is a brain structure that has a critical role in mammalian learning. The identification of different hippocampal states is based on the oscillatory properties...

Some children with autism appear to be developing normally when they are very young. They babble or even talk, make eye contact with their parents, and crawl and walk on schedule. Then suddenly, these skills seem to vanish. Described as developmental regression, this loss of language, motor or social skills occurs more often in black and Hispanic children compared to white children, according to a...

A study of concussion patients using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) found that males took longer to recover after concussion than females did. Results of the study show that DTI can be used as a bias-free way to predict concussion outcome. Each year, more than 17 million Americans suffer a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), more commonly known as a concussion, of which approximately 15 percent suffer...