May 20, 2013Research suggests that non-invasive techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation might enhance sporting performance. This has not been confirmed yet, however, and even if it is, it would probably be considered as unacceptable as taking performance-enhancing drugs. May 13, 2013More than 1 million Americans are legally blind and another 10% cannot detect light. With increased mean lifespan, the frequency of age-related eye disease will double in the next 30 years. A significant percentage of the non-treatable blindness stems from loss of photoreceptors (the rods and cones). Once photoreceptors are lost, restoring useful vision to blind patients has been impossible. May 07, 2013Researchers hope that the ‘5:2 diet’ and other eating-restriction techniques can prevent age-related neurodegeneration and extend the working life of the brain Apr 29, 2013For some people, trying LSD or Ecstasy (MDMA) can leave a legacy of chronic visual hallucinations. Apr 25, 2013Researchers are discovering medicines and methods that could enhance, dampen, or erase memories. At the recent BNA Festival of Neuroscience, ethicists and scientists considered the implications of modifying the mental record during a process called memory reconsolidation. Apr 23, 2013At a recent New York Academy of Sciences meeting, researchers presented data suggesting that targeting glutamate in the brain could help people who don’t respond to current therapies. Apr 19, 2013There is an age-old adage that nature and nurture combine to control all aspects of an individual’s functioning, including risk for disease. Research over the past decade, in a still relatively new field called epigenetics, has provided a sophisticated understanding of how this occurs. Apr 18, 2013The brain can regain language abilities even years after a stroke—and training the toughest language tasks, not the easiest, first may be the best recovery strategy. Apr 15, 2013Researchers and device-makers seek to quickly put their discoveries to use in a way that patients will prefer. “You can have the best technology but if the patient doesn’t want to use it or wear it, it all ends there.” Apr 08, 2013The path to disease in the brain may not be the same for all, or even many, of the people diagnosed with such disorders as schizophrenia or autism. And now researchers have found that the same pathways may underlie very different disorders. Apr 04, 2013The movie Men in Black ends with a sequence where Tommy Lee Jones’ character is reported in the popular press to have awakened miraculously after 20 years in a coma. Although clinicians traditionally have scoffed at such reports, such cases do make the news now and again, and raise the question of whether and how that can happen. Recent advances provide some answers, and suggest some treatments that might promote such an outcome. Mar 28, 2013Researchers find people who can not anticipate fear because of a rare disease can still experience it in real-time. This suggests a more-complex role for the amygdala and other fear-sensing circuits. Mar 21, 2013Researchers are starting to explore links between genetic variation and a how a person responds to certain psychiatric therapies. Perhaps someday your doctor will say, "There's an X probablility you'll respond to this therapy." Mar 18, 2013High-pressure doses of rich oxygen can improve brain function in injured animals, but early research is mixed in humans. Is it the pressure? The extra oxygen? Or simply a placebo effect? Feb 25, 2013A statin-like pill that moderately reduces amyloid beta production in the brain might be the best way to prevent Alzheimer’s. Researchers are still trying to develop one that works and is safe. Feb 20, 2013Researchers are starting to build theories of what makes us self-aware based on research in unconsciousness, including anesthesia and recovery from coma. Feb 14, 2013In early research, scientists find that some brain "changes" thought to be due to progress of disease in cases like gene-specific Alzheimer's in adults are already present in newborns. Feb 11, 2013In a recent study, nearly one-quarter of people convicted of compulsive shoplifting said they had attempted suicide, a rate 6–24 times higher than other groups of people. Little is known, and less is agreed-upon, about the disorder, and treatments are only now emerging. Feb 07, 2013Researchers are defining the fine line between distraction and interruption—and it's a matter of seconds. Jan 29, 2013Imaging and other techniques are helping researchers distinguish effects of a range of meditative practices on the brain. |