Neuroscience

Sleep Apnea Causes More Brain Damage In Women

Women suffering from sleep apnea have a higher degree of brain damage than men with the disorder, according to a study conducted by researchers at the UCLA School of Nursing.   Obstructive sleep apnea is a serious disorder that occurs when a person's ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 4 2012 - 12:30pm

First Measurements Made Of Key Thalamus And Prefrontal Cortex Brain Links

Inside the brains of mice and men alike, a relatively big football-shaped region called the thalamus acts like a switchboard, providing the prefrontal cortex, the part that does abstract thinking and decision-making, with most of its information. The thal ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 5 2012 - 9:18pm

Transgenic,Transparent Zebrafish Shows Alzheimer's At Work In Brains

Scientists trying to investigate mechanisms at work in Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases have a new tool. A transgenic variety of zebrafish, which is transparent in the early stages of its life, called the "MitoFish" enables ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 5 2012 - 12:01pm

Your Brain's Many Maps: Self-Location In Multiple Mind Modules

Rather than just a single sense of location, the brain has a number of "modules" dedicated to self-location. Each module contains its own internal GPS-like mapping system that keeps track of movement, and has other characteristics that also dist ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 10 2012 - 5:01am

TMHS: The Protein In The Ear Vital For Converting Sound Into Brain Signals

If you want to go on a quest for solving the mysteries of deafness, discovering the genetic machinery in the inner ear that responds to sound waves and converts them into electrical impulses, the language of the brain, is your holy grail. Scientists at Th ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 9 2012 - 12:00pm

BDNF: His And Hers Mammary Gland Nerve Growth

Testosterone has control over the gender-specific absence or presence of mammary gland nerves that sense the amount of milk available in breast milk ducts, according to a new paper which says that the hormones do the job by altering the availability of a ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 9 2012 - 5:30am

Sense Of Touch Uses Vibrations, Just Like Hearing

Sliman Bensmaia, PhD, assistant professor of organismal biology aat the University of Chicago, studies the neural basis of tactile perception-  how our hands convey this information to the brain. In a new study, he and colleagues found that the timing and ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 11 2012 - 5:52pm

Cognitive Map: How The Brain Organizes Everything We See

Our eyes are the window to the world, but making sense of the thousands of images that flood us each day is squarely in the purview of the brain- and now researchers say they have created the first interactive map of how the brain organizes these grouping ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 28 2012 - 1:50am

Brain Imaging Shows Cannabis Only Brings Subjective Pain Relief

Brain imaging shows us what is happening during events and stimuli but it can't tell us much about how or why. Regardless, conclusion are often drawn and the poles of cultural debates are always jumping on the latest study to affirm their beliefs. No ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 21 2012 - 12:10pm

Fat Influences Brain Cells

Two molecules, cholic acid and 24,25-EC, play an important role in the survival and production of nerve cells in the brain, including nerve cells that produce dopamine, according to a new study.   Receptors known as "liver X receptors", or LXR, ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 23 2012 - 6:28pm