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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.

Neuroscience

Botox-like substance brings relief to Ukrainian war amputees

Botulinum toxin injections provide greater short-term relief for phantom limb pain than standard medical and surgical care among Ukrainian war amputees, reports a new study led by Northwestern Medicine and Ukrainian physicians.

Neuroscience

Infant brain patterns linked to future reading issues

Delays in language and reading development are common, and learning disorders such as dyslexia can significantly affect a child's educational path and later opportunities. The earlier support is given, the easier it is for ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Stimulating the senses soothes the mind, research confirms

While the expression "touch grass" is most often used as a meme to teasingly tell fellow internet users to log off and venture outside, there is research-backed evidence that reconnecting with sensory experiences only found ...

Neuroscience

How menopause restructures a woman's brain

Many women during menopause complain about brain fog, which includes symptoms like forgetfulness, trouble concentrating, and mental fatigue, often due to fluctuating hormone levels. A literature review was conducted to examine ...

Neuroscience

How multiple sclerosis harms a brain long before symptoms appear

By the time patients start seeking care for multiple sclerosis (MS), the disease has already been damaging their brains for years. But until recently, scientists didn't understand which brain cells were being targeted or ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

New study maps how we simultaneously process different words

Trains move through the world's subway stations in a consistent pattern: arriving, stopping, and moving to the next stop—and repeated by other trains throughout the day. A new study by a team of New York University psychology ...

Neuroscience

Minimally invasive surgery may improve outcomes in severe stroke

Minimally invasive endoscopic surgery may be an effective and safe treatment for patients with intracerebral hemorrhage, the most severe type of stroke, according to results from a recent clinical trial published in JAMA ...

Neuroscience

Burden of pain significantly higher in Parkinson's patients

A major QIMR Berghofer-led study has found that Australians living with Parkinson's disease are nearly three times more likely to suffer from chronic pain compared to the general community, with two-thirds of patients experiencing ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Exploring how storytelling strategies shape memories

Does the way a person hears about an event shape their recollection of it later? In a new JNeurosci paper, Signy Sheldon and colleagues, from McGill University, explored whether different storytelling strategies affect how ...