brain

Stories 261 - 280 | << Prev   Next >>

It's Your Brain's Fault Your Family Drives You Nuts

(Newser) - If you ended your holiday visit home with frayed nerves, blame your brain, not your brother's snoring, Discovery reports. Family members prompt activity in a different part of the brain from friends and strangers, a new study shows. Researchers used MRIs to look at subjects' brains while they viewed photos...

Baby Born With Extra Foot ... in Brain

Foot, other partly formed appendages may have been from twin that grew within

(Newser) - Surgery to remove a brain tumor from a 3-day-old Colorado boy turned up something “borderline unheard-of,” his doctors say: a foot. When the pediatric neurosurgeon operated Oct. 3 on Sam Esquibel, he saw a small foot, other half-formed appendages, and even intestines in the baby’s head, reports...

Scientists Find 2,000-Year-Old Brain in Britain

Experts ask if head was severed by sacrifice or ritual burial

(Newser) - British archaeologists have unearthed an ancient skull carrying a startling surprise—an unusually well-preserved brain. Scientists said today that the mass of gray matter was more than 2,000 years old, making it the oldest ever discovered in Britain, the AP reports. One expert unconnected with the find called it...

Dementia Patients Often Can't Detect Sarcasm

New tests could help with diagnoses

(Newser) - People suffering from dementia often can't pick up on sarcasm, a finding that could help with diagnoses and in improving patients' relations with caregivers, AFP reports. Australian researchers say patients under age 65 suffering from frontotemporal dementia, the second most common form of the disorder, were unable to detect sarcastic...

Japanese Scientists Can Read Your Mind

They find a way to extract images directly from the brain

(Newser) - The Thought Police could eventually exist in reality, if they can just figure out how to harness new technology developed by Japanese researchers, the Daily Yomuri reports. The team managed to re-create images that people were looking at—using only subjects' recorded brain activity. This is the first successful display...

Researchers Push 'Brain Steroids' for All

Future drugs could boost job, classroom performance

(Newser) - Healthy adults should be able to take brain-boosting drugs for a competitive advantage at work or on an exam, researchers say in a provocative paper. Seven authors say ethical questions about cognitive-enhancement pills are both warranted and imminent, and that such medicinal aid is no less moral than caffeine consumption,...

Science Probes 'Senior Moments'

Researchers discover why an aging brain is prone to distraction

(Newser) - Science has found clues to why older people tend to lose their train of thought so easily: Slower internal brain communications are behind those misplaced names, words, keys, and other “senior moments,” the Wall Street Journal reports. A 200-millisecond difference in an older person’s ability to quickly...

Left-Handed Men Earn More: Study
Left-Handed
Men Earn
More: Study
Nov 29, 2008 4:27 AM CST

Left-Handed Men Earn More: Study

Southpaws struggle in school but surpass righties at work

(Newser) - Left-handed men earn an average of 5% more than right-handed men, two British and Irish studies have discovered. The studies found that southpaw males tended to do worse in school—possibly because of trouble adapting to a right-handed world—but were more successful as adults. Female lefties, however, did worse...

Jacko Needed $350K 'Mind Guru'

Bahraini prince paid consultant to help juice singer's creative process

(Newser) - The sheikh who is suing Michael Jackson says he spent nearly $350,000 on a brain guru for the star, the New York Daily News reports. Mind-mapping and motivational guru Tony Buzan spent one week with the King of Pop in an effort to unlock his creativity, thus allowing him...

Warning Labels Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

Prescription labels, doctor's cues can trigger symptoms

(Newser) - Ignorance truly is bliss when it comes to prescription drugs. The side effects listed on warning labels have a self-fulfilling quality, researchers tell the Wall Street Journal. People sensitive to this "nocebo effect" should think twice before reading that their pills can cause nausea, vomiting, irritability, or difficulty concentrating....

It's a Fine Line Between Love, Hate in the Brain

But hate appears to be a more calculating, rational emotion

(Newser) - Areas of the brain involved in hatred are also activated by love, a study suggests. Researchers took images of brain activity when subjects looked at a photo of someone they despised, ABC News reports. While not identical, the pattern of brain activation those images triggered involved some of the same...

Scientists Wipe Mouse Memories

Treatment selectively erased memories of electric shocks

(Newser) - Scientists have succeeded in blanking selected memories from the brains of mice, Reuters reports. After brain protein levels were manipulated, the mice lost the memory of an electric shock but didn't forget anything else. The researchers said it was doubtful that it would be possible—or desirable—to do the...

Even Moderate Drinking May Shrink Your Brain

Study links alcohol to brain shrinkage

(Newser) - That nightly glass of wine may be good for the heart, but apparently not for the brain. Researchers say that those who imbibe, even in moderate amounts, end up with slightly smaller brains, Health.com reports. The finding surprised scientists, who were seeking evidence that alcohol actually prevented such shrinkage....

Multitasking Can Melt Your Brain

Scientists warn of dangers of doing too much at once

(Newser) - Multitasking isn’t as productive as you may think—in fact, our brains just can’t handle it. Scientists say working on many tasks at once slows all of them down, NPR reports. “No matter how good you have become at multitasking, you’re still going to suffer hits...

Autism-Reversing Drugs Show Promise

MIT scientists stumbled onto workaround for misfiring brain system

(Newser) - MIT scientists have discovered one of the mechanisms of Fragile X Syndrome, one cause of autism, and are developing drugs to treat it, NPR reports. The disorder, triggered by a genetic mutation, interferes with the normal links between brain cells, making those networks something like a car without a brakes....

'Social Siberia' Isn't Just a Metaphor

Icy behavior cools body temperatures: study

(Newser) - Icy stares and chilly receptions can leave you feeling—well, cold. Metaphors about social behavior, like "warm welcome" and "cold shoulder," seem to relate to physical reality, new research finds. People who had experienced and recalled social rejection perceived a 5-degree temperature drop in the lab and...

Low B12 Levels Tied to Brain Shrinkage, Memory Loss

Many adults deficient in crucial nutrient

(Newser) - Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause memory loss, particularly in the elderly, reports the BBC. People short on the nutrient were 6 times more likely than individuals with normal levels to experience brain shrinkage, which is strongly linked to dementia, a new study shows. Forty percent of people are believed to...

Busy Brain May Mean Big Belly
 Busy Brain May Mean Big Belly 
Sep 5, 2008 12:50 PM CDT

Busy Brain May Mean Big Belly

(Newser) - Does thinking make us fat? Researchers say that intellectual activity just might cause us to pig out, LiveScience reports. Volunteers who performed a series of problem-solving tasks in a study consumed almost 30% more calories afterward than those who just sat around and took it easy. One theory: The body...

Brain Doesn't Remember Events—It Relives Them

Study records evidence supporting long-suspected memory pathway

(Newser) - Scientists for the first time have observed how brain cells drum up a memory, and the findings buttress the notion that our minds don't so much remember events as relive them. When recalling short film clips they had seen, patients' brains repeated the same pattern of neuron activity they experienced...

Children Can Count Without Numbers
Children Can Count Without Numbers
Aug 19, 2008 8:30 AM CDT

Children Can Count Without Numbers

Study suggests that kids have innate math abilities

(Newser) - A study sure to fan a fiery disagreement among developmental psychologists has found that children can count objects even if their language lacks words for the numbers involved. Researchers found that Australian Aboriginal children, who know words for only a few small numbers, did just as well as English-speaking children...

Stories 261 - 280 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser