Brain Mysteries
How does San Francisco Giants slugger Pablo Sandoval swat a 95 mph fastball, or tennis icon Venus Williams see the oncoming ball, let alone return her sister Serena's 120 mph serves? For the first time, vision scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have pinpointed how the brain tracks fast-moving objects.
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 | Children with autism see simple movement twice as quickly as other children their age, and this hypersensitivity to motion may provide clues to a fundamental cause of the developmental disorder, according to a new study. ...> Full Article |
In a new discovery reported in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Brown University and Lifespan researchers show that in the brain cells of rats, obesity impedes the production of a hormone that curbs appetite and inspires calorie burning. The root cause appears to be a breakdown in the protein-processing mechanism of the cells. In the lab, the researchers showed they could fix the breakdown with drugs.
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 | Epilepsy that does not respond to drugs can be halted in adult mice by transplanting a specific type of cell into the brain, UC San Francisco researchers have discovered, raising hope that a similar treatment might work in severe forms of human epilepsy. ...> Full Article |
As schools around the country look for ways to reduce violence and bullying, they may want to consider encouraging students to participate in team sports, according to a study to be presented Sunday, May 5, at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Washington, DC.
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Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most effective acute treatment for severe major depression. However, even with newer forms of ECT, there remains a significant risk of adverse cognitive effects, particularly memory problems.
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 | Consumers are a lot more predictable than they seem. This is the main discovery of an international scientific study, in which the Universidad Carlos III of Madrid has participated, which reveals how to predict people's shopping patterns. ...> Full Article |
Regular exercise is touted as an antidote for many ills, including stress, depression and obesity. Physical activity also may help decrease violent behavior among adolescent girls, according to new research to be presented Monday, May 6, at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Washington, DC.
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Women who engage in "fat talk" -- the self-disparaging remarks girls and women make in relation to eating, exercise or their bodies -- are less liked by their peers, a new study from the University of Notre Dame finds.
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 | Research results imply that dieting characterized by meal skipping and fasting would be less successful than weight loss efforts characterized by intake of low energy dense healthy foods. ...> Full Article |
UCLA Researchers have gained new insights into how our brains form maps of our environment. They found that special cells can note either a fixed location, or the distance a mammal travels, depending on the cues it gets from the environment.
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 | Many animals, including humans, harbor ingrained biases to actively obtain rewards and to remain inactive to avoid punishment. Sometimes, however those biases can steer us wrong. A new study finds that theta brainwave activity in the prefrontal cortex predicts how well people can overcome these biases when they are unwanted. ...> Full Article |
How do organisms evolve into individuals that are distinguished from others by their own personal brain structure and behavior? Scientists in Dresden, Berlin, Münster, and Saarbrücken have now taken a decisive step towards clarifying this question. Using mice as an animal model, they were able to show that individual experiences influence the development of new neurons, leading to measurable changes in the brain. The results of this study are published in Science on May 10th.
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 | National Institutes of Health researchers used the popular anti-wrinkle agent Botox to discover a new and important role for a group of molecules that nerve cells use to quickly send messages. This novel role for the molecules, called SNARES, may be a missing piece that scientists have been searching for to fully understand how brain cells communicate under normal and disease conditions. ...> Full Article |
 | A new study led by University of North Carolina School of Medicine researchers is the first to identify a genetic risk factor for persistent pain after traumatic events such as motor vehicle collision and sexual assault. The study also contributes further evidence that persistent pain after stressful events has a specific biological basis. ...> Full Article |
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