Neuroscience

Internal, Environmental Triggers May Explain Teenage Behavior

University of Pittsburgh researchers say they have taken a significant step toward unraveling the brain activity that drives adolescents to engage in impulsive, self-indulgent, or self-destructive behavior. Published in the current edition of Behavioral Ne ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 22 2010 - 1:24pm

Researchers find a protective pathway that delays Huntington's symptoms

A Canadian research team has identified an early-life protective compensation in brain cells that have the Huntingtin gene mutation that may lead to drug treatments for Huntington's disease (HD).   Stephen Ferguson and Fabiola Ribeiro of Robarts Rese ...

Blog Post - Anonymous - Feb 23 2010 - 1:46pm

Synthetic Magnesium Enhances Memory, Prevents Its Impairment

New research from Tel Aviv University and MIT suggests that magnesium, a key nutrient for the functioning of memory, may be even more critical than previously thought. The multi-center experiment focused on a new magnesium supplement, magnesium-L-theronate ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 23 2010 - 1:40pm

Childhood Abuse May Result In Structural Brain Changes

New research using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) shows that abuse or emotional neglect during childhood combined with genetic factors can result in structural brain changes, rendering some individuals more vulnerable to  depression. The study results ap ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 25 2010 - 6:54pm

Increasing Neurogenesis May Combat Drug Addiction

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center say that increasing the normally occurring process of making nerve cells might prevent addiction. The conclusion is based on a rodent study demonstrating that blocking new growth of specific brain nerve cells i ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 26 2010 - 12:55pm

Is Science A Belief? Is Religion A Science? Recent Research

“Is religion a science?” This may seem an odd question with which to start, but this is the very first question Aquinas asks in his monumental Summa Theologica. “Among the philosophical sciences one is speculative the other practical [natural philosophy], ...

Article - Richard Mankiewicz - Feb 27 2010 - 1:51pm

Brain Crash, Brain Reboot, Jill Bolte Taylor and Self Transcendence

I have recently watched Jill Bolte Taylor's interview at TED. Taylor is a neoroanatomist who specializes in the post-mortem examination of the human brain. In 1996 she experienced a stroke and was able to keep lucid enough for long enough to be able t ...

Blog Post - Richard Mankiewicz - Feb 27 2010 - 5:54am

3-D Hand Motions Inspire Portable Prosthetic Devices

Researchers have successfully reconstructed 3-D hand motions from brain signals recorded in a non-invasive way, according to a study in The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings could help improve existing EEG-based systems designed to allow movement-impai ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 8 2010 - 7:03pm

NeuroLaw: Are fMRI Scans Good Lie Detectors?

I recently wrote about research on people's beliefs using fMRI technology to see how different parts of the brain were activated. Near the end of their paper, the researchers commented that such results could be useful as a lie detection technique. Th ...

Blog Post - Richard Mankiewicz - Mar 3 2010 - 3:26am

'Neuromarketing' Could Help Advertisers Read Our Minds

Marketing experts may be able to test a product's appeal while it is still being designed thanks to advanced tools used to see the human brain at work, according to researchers from Duke and Emory Universities. So-called "neuromarketing" tak ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 4 2010 - 12:40pm