News

Your Brain On ... line

by Faith Hickman Brynie

Research into video games, brain-training programs and Internet searching suggests how our digital technology alters brain networks.

A Decade After the Decade of the Brain

A Decade After the Decade of the Brain

by Directors of the National Institutes of Health

Cerebrum

In this seven-part series, directors of neuroscience-related institutes at the National Institutes of Health take stock of how brain research has progressed in the past 10 years and provide insight into what the next 10 hold in store.

News

Sounds by Night Can Strengthen Memory by Day

by Elizabeth Norton Lasley

Memory consolidation during sleep is highly specific and can be cued by sound as well as scent, a recent study suggests.

Religion and the Brain

Religion and the Brain

A Debate

by Dimitrios Kapogiannis, M.D., Jordan Grafman, Ph.D., and Andrew B. Newberg, M.D.

Cerebrum

Two scientists suggest that religious experiences arise from brain networks that evolved for other purposes. A psychiatrist counters that the brain may be a medium for religious experience without necessarily generating it.

News

Probing the Mysteries of Neuron Growth and Rebirth

by Carl Sherman

Scientists find molecular clues to how neurons differentiate, how they lose the ability to regenerate and how they form into the networks that drive the brain.

News

Seeking the Origins of Abstract Knowledge

by Tom Valeo

Research with infants has convinced psychologist and Dana grantee Elizabeth Spelke that everyone is born with some skill in arithmetic and geometry.

News

Erasing Fear Memories Without Drugs

by Jim Schnabel

New treatments for anxiety and other disorders might result from the discovery that activating someone’s “fear memory” opens a brief window during which the memory can easily be weakened or erased.

Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia in Minority Populations
Q&A

Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia in Minority Populations

Interview with Patrick A. Griffith, M.D.

Dr. Griffith, a researcher and professor at Morehouse School of Medicine, describes the risk factors that may contribute to the high rate of dementia among African-Americans and other ethnic minorities in the United States and the barriers to providing earlier diagnosis and treatment to these groups.

Gene Therapy Offers Hope for Rare Retinal Condition
News

Gene Therapy Offers Hope for Rare Retinal Condition

by Kayt Sukel

Twelve children and adults with a rare degenerative eye disease showed remarkable and lasting improvement after an experimental treatment. Researchers say their strategy shows promise for treating several other eye disorders.

News

Brain Activity May Help Forecast Most Effective Antidepressant Medication

by Kayt Sukel

Recording fine-grained electrical activity seems to predict a person’s responsiveness to one common drug, in an early trial.

The Veteran Neurologist
Books

The Veteran Neurologist

Q&A with Walter Bradley

Walter G. Bradley, author of the new Dana Press book Treating the Brain, explains why he thinks everyone should read his book, why finding the right doctor is essential and how the Internet is changing the doctor-patient relationship.

See also

News

Major Cause of ‘Tone Deafness’ Found

by Jim Schnabel

The condition known as congenital amusia may be caused when a specific connection between the temporal and frontal lobes of the brain is missing or degraded, according to new research.

Why So Many Seniors Get Swindled

Why So Many Seniors Get Swindled

by Natalie L. Denburg, Ph.D., with Lyndsay Harshman, B.S.

Cerebrum

The elderly often fall victim to scams, but is it more than aged neurons causing the problem? One expert argues that such slips result from gene-based abnormalities in the brain’s emotional processing rather than the normal deterioration that goes with aging. From our online magazine, Cerebrum .

News

How Stress Affects the Brain May Depend on Age

by Kayt Sukel

How our brains react to stress in adulthood may be influenced by if and when we were stressed as children, suggests recent review of research in the area.

Video Games Affect the Brain-for Better and Worse

Video Games Affect the Brain-for Better and Worse

Cerebrum

Headlines about how video games affect the brain range from upbeat to dire. Psychologist Douglas A. Gentile asserts that although violent games in particular can have negative consequences, well-designed games can teach positive skills. He proposes five attributes of video game design that can help explain findings and guide future research.

News

Is ‘Internet Addiction’ a Psychiatric Disorder?

by Brenda Patoine

Some psychiatrists argue that compulsive computer use should be added to the next Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), scheduled for publication in 2012.

Learning, Arts, and the Brain
Research

Learning, Arts, and the Brain

Dana Consortium studies find strong links

For the first time, coordinated, multi-university scientific research brings us closer to answering the question: Are smart people drawn to the arts or does arts training make people smarter?

See also

Latest Books
Treating the Brain: What the Best Doctors Know

Treating the Brain: What the Best Doctors Know

by Walter Bradley

Known by medical students and physicians across the globe as the editor of the leading neurology textbook, Neurology in Clinical Practice, Dr. Walter Bradley now provides a definitive resource for patients, caregivers and other health practitioners.

See also

Try to Remember

Try to Remember

by Paul McHugh

One of our country’s leading authorities on psychiatry tells the unforgettable story of how lives can be destroyed by faddish misdirections of thought and therapeutic practices. His first-hand account begins in the 1990s with his battle against the theory of “repressed sexual memories” and ends with his concern that excessive diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder is today placing many patients in treatments that leave their real mental troubles untouched. A passionate advocate for the contribution of psychotherapy to healing, McHugh reaches out to patients, families, and mental health providers to explain how to work together toward effective diagnosis and treatment to win a contest for mental peace.

See also

The Faces of a New Field

The Faces of a New Field

Jamie Talan, the author of Deep Brain Stimulation chats about the promises of the technology, its ethical implications and the colorful cast of patients and doctors she met while researching the book.

See also

Your Brain on Cubs

Your Brain on Cubs

Inside the Heads of Players and Fans

Edited by Dan Gordon

A group of today’s leading science writers and neuroscientists explore here the ways that our brain functions when we participate in sports as fans, athletes, and coaches, taking baseball as the quintessential sport for all three perspectives.

See also

Wired for Goodness

Wired for Goodness

by Donald W. Pfaff, Ph.D.

A distinguished neuroscientist gives us a science-based hypothesis of why humans across time and geography have such similar notions of right and wrong.

See also

Defining Right and Wrong in Brain Science

Defining Right and Wrong in Brain Science

by Walter Glannon, Ph.D.

August 2007

The fifth volume in The Dana Foundation Series on Neuroethics, this collection marks the five-year anniversary of the first meeting in the field of neuroethics, providing readers with the seminal writings on past, present, and future ethical issues facing neuroscience and society.

Best of the Brain from Scientific American

Best of the Brain from Scientific American

Mind, Matter, and Tomorrow's Brain

July 2007

Top neuroscientist Floyd E. Bloom has selected the most fascinating brain-related articles from Scientific American and Scientific American Mind since 1999 in this collection. Divided into three sections—Mind, Matter, and Tomorrow’s Brain—this compilation takes you to the latest information from the front lines of brain research.

Mind Wars

Mind Wars

Brain Research and National Defense

by Jonathon Moreno

November 2006

A provocative book that reads like an edge-of-your seat investigation into the intertwining worlds of science, technology, and government, Mind wars is the first ever systematic overview of brain research and national security.

Spotlight
Cerebrum 2010: Emerging Ideas in Brain Science

Cerebrum 2010: Emerging Ideas in Brain Science

This fourth annual collection brings together the foremost experts in brain science. Jay Giedd, Michael Posner, Mariale Hardiman, David Kupfer and Paul McHugh present their research – and their take – on such cutting-edge topics as the development of the teen brain, how arts education affects intelligence, the limitations of brain imaging, and how to bring more certainty and flexibility to diagnosis in the next edition of the psychiatric bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).

Dana Alliance Publications

2010 Progress Report on Brain Research

2010 Progress Report on Brain Research

Describes and interprets the important advances in neuroscience of the previous year, contributing to better diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of the numerous diseases that affect the brain.
Q&A: Answering Your Questions About Brain Research

Q&A: Answering Your Questions About Brain Research

A pamphlet that provides the answers to commonly asked questions about the brain and its disorders.
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Brain Connections

Brain Connections

An online guide that lists more than 240 organizations in the United States likely to help those looking for information, referrals, and other guidance in connection with brain-related disorders. Listings provide mailing addresses, toll-free numbers, e-mail and Web site addresses, and identify the primary services each organization provides.
It's Mindboggling!

It's Mindboggling!

Packed with information about the brain in a fun format of games, riddles, and puzzles, this booklet is perfect for middle and high school students.
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Es Increible!

Es Increible!

The Spanish edition of It's Mindboggling! is packed with information about the brain in a fun format of games, riddles, and puzzles. This booklet is perfect for middle and high school students.
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More Mindbogglers!

More Mindbogglers!

An addition to It’s Mindboggling!, this new publication is a closer look at learning and memory, the senses, drug addition, and how the brain and nervous system work...still in a fun format.
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