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Neuroscience news

Genetics

Why the human brain matures slower than its primate relatives

The human brain is a fascinating and complex organ that supports numerous sophisticated behaviors and abilities that are observed in no other animal species. For centuries, scientists have been trying to understand what is ...

Neuroscience

Alzheimer's disease can be reversed in animal models to achieve full neurological recovery

For over a century, Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been considered irreversible. Consequently, research has focused on disease prevention or slowing, rather than recovery. Despite billions of dollars spent on decades of research, ...

HIV & AIDS

Brain chemistry can reactivate or suppress dormant HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections are still fairly common and an estimated 40 million people worldwide are currently living with this condition. The HIV virus attacks the body's immune system and thus makes those ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Humans could have as many as 33 senses

Stuck in front of our screens all day, we often ignore our senses beyond sound and vision. And yet they are always at work. When we're more alert, we feel the rough and smooth surfaces of objects, the stiffness in our shoulders, ...

Neuroscience

To flexibly organize thought, the brain makes use of space

Our thoughts are specified by our knowledge and plans, yet our cognition can also be fast and flexible in handling new information. How does the well-controlled and yet highly nimble nature of cognition emerge from the brain's ...

Neuroscience

How age affects recovery from spinal cord injury

A study published in Neurology looks at how age may affect recovery for people with spinal cord injuries. "With population growth and improvements in medicine, the number of people diagnosed with spinal cord injury is increasing ...

Neuroscience

Why there's always room for dessert—an anatomist explains

You push back from the table after Christmas lunch, full from an excellent feast. You really couldn't manage another bite—except, perhaps, a little bit of pudding. Somehow, no matter how much you've eaten, there always ...

Oncology & Cancer

How brain tumor cells influence neurons and vice versa

Gliomas are cancers that originate directly in the brain, instead of spreading to the brain from other parts of the body. These cancers cannot be cured with conventional cancer treatments, as they spread into healthy brain ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Exploring why some people tend to persistently make bad choices

When people learn that surrounding visuals and sounds may signify specific choice outcomes, these cues can become guides for decision making. For people with compulsive disorders, addictions, or anxiety, the associations ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Brain injuries linked with potential risk of suicide

Adults who experience a head injury face a substantially higher risk of attempting suicide compared to those without such injuries, according to the findings from a new UK-based study.

Psychology & Psychiatry

Brain pathway may fuel both aggression and self-harm

Aggression and self-harm often co-occur in individuals with a history of early-life trauma—a connection that has largely been documented by self-reporting in research and clinical settings. Adding to this connection, individuals ...

Neuroscience

Blood markers linked to post-concussion symptoms in teens

Levels of certain biomarkers in the blood are associated with symptom severity during recovery from concussion in adolescents—with some significant differences between male and female patients, reports a study in the Journal ...

Neuroscience

Social interactions help to form lasting memories, study finds

Researchers from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine), have uncovered a previously overlooked role of the hippocampus in shaping memory, revealing how social interactions can ...

Neuroscience

Q&A: How sports-related concussions affect reaction times

When playing sports, it's important to remember: Brains don't have seat belts. When rapid acceleration or deceleration of the brain inside the skull occurs with a blow to the head, a concussion happens, which in some cases ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

New book sheds light on human and machine intelligence

A single brain cell cannot think by itself, but when it's connected with millions of other cells, that network is capable of everything from deciding what's for dinner to contemplating the origins of the universe.