Brain Mysteries

Aerobic activity may keep the brain young (7/2/2009)

In a UNC study, to be published July 9 in the American Journal of Neuroradiology, physically active elderly people showed healthier cerebral blood vessels than those who are not active. ...> Full Article

Brain section multitasks, handling phonetics and decision-making (7/2/2009)

Scientists from Brown University and the University of Cincinnati found that a portion of the brain that handles decision-making also helps decipher different sounds. Details are in the July issue of the journal Psychological Science. ...> Full Article

Site for alcohol's action in the brain discovered (7/1/2009)

Alcohol's inebriating effects are familiar to everyone. But the molecular details of alcohol's impact on brain activity remain a mystery. A new study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies brings us closer to understanding how alcohol alters the way brain cells work. ...> Full Article

Does quantum mechanics show a connection between the human mind and the cosmos? (6/30/2009)

'Quantum Gods' analyzes purported link between physics and cosmic consciousness ...> Full Article

Brain plasticity: Changes and resets in homeostasis (6/29/2009)

In an article published in the June 25 edition of the journal Neuron, researchers at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, have found that synaptic plasticity, long implicated as a device for "change" in the brain, may also be essential for stability. ...> Full Article

Researchers identify parallel mechanism monkeys and humans use to recognize faces (6/29/2009)

This study with rhesus monkeys suggests the human ability to distinguish faces is 30+ million years old ...> Full Article

Remembering what to remember and what to forget (6/28/2009)

People with mild Alzheimer's have trouble focusing on what's most important ...> Full Article

In 'reading' a gaze, what we believe changes what we see (6/27/2009)

In primates including ourselves, the ability to register where others are looking is key in social circles. And, according to a new report published online on June 25 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, the way our brains process gaze-direction is much more sophisticated than a simple eyes-right vs. eyes-left. ...> Full Article

Mouse model provides clues to human language development (6/26/2009)

Scientists of the German Mouse Clinic at Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen have made a major contribution to understanding human language development. Using a comprehensive screening method, they studied a mouse model carrying a "humanized version" of a key gene associated with human language. ...> Full Article

Ability to literally imagine oneself in another's shoes may be tied to empathy (6/25/2009)

New research from Vanderbilt University indicates the way our brain handles how we move through space -- including being able to imagine literally stepping into someone else's shoes -- may be related to how and why we experience empathy toward others. ...> Full Article

Morning people and night owls show different brain function: University of Alberta study (6/24/2009)

Are you a "morning person" or a "night owl?"Scientists at the University of Alberta have found that there are significant differences in the way our brains function depending on whether we're early risers or night owls. ...> Full Article

Brain represents tools as temporary body parts, study confirms (6/23/2009)

Researchers have what they say is the first direct proof of a very old idea: that when we use a tool -- even for just a few minutes -- it changes the way our brain represents the size of our body. In other words, the tool becomes a part of what is known in psychology as our body schema, according to a report published in the June 23 issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. ...> Full Article

Scientists capture the first image of memories being made (6/22/2009)

The ability to learn and to establish new memories is essential to our daily existence and identity; enabling us to navigate through the world. A new study by researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University and University of California, Los Angeles, has captured an image for the first time of a mechanism, specifically protein translation, which underlies long-term memory formation. ...> Full Article

Neural noise created during binocular rivalry (6/21/2009)

Neural "noise" may cause you to miss important changes in your environment when you are concentrating on something else, new research indicates. ...> Full Article

Researchers visualize formation of a new synapse (6/20/2009)

'Movie' shows dynamics of molecule implicated in autism ...> Full Article