Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

Review: How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden

by Silvia A. Bunge, Ph.D.

Epilepsy’s Big Fat Answer

by John M. Freeman, M.D.

Epilepsy and seizures affect nearly 3 million Americans of all ages. While drugs work for some, others find them ineffective. What seems to work just as well, if not better, especially in children, is the ketogenic diet, a relatively unknown, high-fat diet. The author, John M. Freeman, M.D., one of the nation’s leading advocates for its use, writes about the evolution of the diet and its struggle for acceptance. 

Hit Parade: The Future of the Sports Concussion Crisis

by Chris Nowinski

A postmortem brain study provides new and troubling evidence about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a long-term degenerative and incurable brain disease caused by repeated hits to the head. An author of the study, Chris Nowinski, a former college football player and professional wrestler, writes about how a concussion put him on the path of dedicating his life to making others aware of the dangers of CTE and toward developing a treatment.

The Evolution of Risk-Taking

by Lee Alan Dugatkin

Cognitive Impairment in Multiple Sclerosis

A Forgotten Disability Remembered

Kristen Rahn, Ph.D., Barbara Slusher, M.B.A., and Adam Kaplin, M.D., Ph.D.

Physicians first noted the presence of cognitive impairment in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) more than 160 years ago, yet it took clinicians until 2001 to codify a standard test to measure cognitive function. We now know that cognitive impairment occurs in up to 65 percent of people with MS and usually lessens their ability to remember previously learned information. So far, trials of drugs formulated to treat cognitive impairment have failed, but the authors remain optimistic that new approaches to diagnosis and drug development could lead to effective therapies in the future.

The Cognitive Benefits of Being Bilingual

by Viorica Marian, PhD and Anthony Shook

Today, more of the world’s population is bilingual or multilingual than monolingual. In addition to facilitating cross-cultural communication, this trend also positively affects cognitive abilities. Researchers have shown that the bilingual brain can have better attention and task-switching capacities than the monolingual brain, thanks to its developed ability to inhibit one language while using another. In addition, bilingualism has positive effects at both ends of the age spectrum: Bilingual children as young as seven months can better adjust to environmental changes, while bilingual seniors can experience less cognitive decline.

Play, Stress, and the Learning Brain

by Sam Wang, Ph.D. and Sandra Aamodt, Ph.D.

In this article, adapted from Dr. Sam Wang and Dr. Sandra Aamodt’s book Welcome to Your Child’s Brain: How the Mind Grows from Conception to College (Bloomsbury USA, 2011; OneWorld Publications, 2011), the authors explore how play enhances brain development in children. As Wang and Aamodt describe, play activates the brain’s reward circuitry but not negative stress responses, which can facilitate attention and action. Through play, children practice social interaction and build skills and interests to draw upon in the years to come.

Re-opening Windows

Manipulating Critical Periods for Brain Development

by Takao K. Hensch, Ph.D., and Parizad M. Bilimoria, Ph.D.

Repairing the Injured Brain

Why Proper Rehabilitation Is Essential to Recovering Function

by Mark J. Ashley, Sc.D.

Recovery from a brain injury is a slow process with no obvious end point—a practical dilemma for patients, caregivers, and medical professionals. While research continues to advance the field to determine optimal interventions, front-line providers have found that certain rehabilitation environments and procedures encourage a stronger recovery than others. But even as specialized facilities make strides, many people face barriers to adequate care.

In a complementary article, Marcela Pekna, M.D., Ph.D., and Milos Pekny, M.D., Ph.D., explain what happens within the brain after injury and how scientists’ growing awareness of the brain’s capacity for repair could lead to better treatment options.

Are You Responsible for Your Hormones?

Review: The Moral Molecule: The Source of Love and Prosperity

by Loretta M. Flanagan-Cato, Ph.D.

A Future Without Chronic Pain

Neuroscience and Clinical Research

by David Borsook, M.D., Ph.D.

Biomarkers and the Future of Treatment for Depression

by Marisa Toups, M.D., and Madhukar H. Trivedi, M.D.

A Family Tree Filled with Mental Illness

Review: A Lethal Inheritance: A Mother Uncovers the Science Behind Three Generations of Mental Illness by Victoria Costello

by Dean F. MacKinnon, M.D.

Dr. Dean F. MacKinnon, of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, finds this book “to be a valuable contribution to the general literature about real people, their real experiences with mental illness and psychiatric care, and the knowledge we have accumulated about all of it.”

The Role of Stress in Brain Development

The Gestational Environment’s Long-Term Effects on the Brain

by Claudia Buss, Ph.D., Sonja Entringer, Ph.D., James M. Swanson, Ph.D., and Pathik D. Wadhwa, M.D., Ph.D.

A New Approach to Rheumatoid Arthritis

Treating Inflammation with Computerized Nerve Stimulation

by Ulf Andersson, M.D., Ph.D., and Kevin J. Tracey, M.D.

Musical Creativity and the Brain

by Mónica López-González, Ph.D., and Charles J. Limb, M.D.

Suicide and the United States Army

Perspectives from the Former Psychiatry Consultant to the Army Surgeon General

by COL (Ret) Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, M.D., M.P.H.

Social Neuroscience

How a Multidisciplinary Field Is Uncovering the Biology of Human Interactions

by John T. Cacioppo, Ph.D., and Stephanie Ortigue, Ph.D.

Optogenetics

Using Light to Control the Brain

by Edward S. Boyden, Ph.D.

More Mysterious Than We Suppose

Review: Making Sense of People: Decoding the Mysteries of Personality

by Jerome Kagan, Ph.D.

Jerome Kagan, Ph.D., writes that Making Sense of People "fails to tell readers what they have to do in order to attain the prize they hoped they would command—decoding the personalities of themselves and others—when they began reading the book."