Latest Brain Stories

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online Two US neuroscientists have discovered new cells are added to a person’s brain when they go through puberty – a biological change designed to better equip growing boys and girls for the rigors of becoming adults. Previously, experts had believed the human brain maintained a set number of cells from birth through old age, but then studies demonstrated that new brain cells were formed in adults. Initially, it was believed those...

WASHINGTON, March 3, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Researchers supported by The ALS Association have discovered how mutations in new amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) genes cause not only ALS but also other diseases of the brain, muscle and bone. The results also shed light on the disease pathways of ALS due to other genes and may set the stage for development of new treatments to interrupt these processes. The study was published in the journal Nature. ALS, also known as Lou...

Alan McStravick for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online In an article written earlier this month for redOrbit, this writer highlighted work being done in the Nicolelis laboratory headed by professor of neurobiology Miguel Nicolelis at Duke University School of Medicine. His previous research reported on the ability to enable a rat to “touch” infrared light through the use of a cortical stimulation technique. For the second time this month, the Nicolelis team has released an equally...

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online Making a left-hand turn at a busy intersection while talking on a hands-free cellphone could be the “most dangerous” thing we do on the road due to the high level of brain activation involved, according to a new Canadian study. Researchers tested healthy young drivers operating a novel driving simulator equipped with a steering wheel, brake pedal and accelerator inside a high-powered functional MRI. This methodology went...

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online The discovery of a neural pathway in the brain of an insect that has been linked to pleasure eating could shed new light on the impulsive consumption of food by men and women, claim researchers from one US university. As part of their study, University of Georgia (UGA) associate professor of cellular biology Ping Shen and colleagues presented fruit fly larvae that had already been fed with appetizing smells. In turn, those...

Brown University A team of neuroengineers based at Brown University has developed a fully implantable and rechargeable wireless brain sensor capable of relaying real-time broadband signals from up to 100 neurons in freely moving subjects. Several copies of the novel low-power device, described in the Journal of Neural Engineering, have been performing well in animal models for more than year, a first in the brain-computer interface field. Brain-computer interfaces could help people with...

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online In a study that could have implications for organ transplant procedures, two scientists from Tufts University found that eyes placed on the backs of tadpoles were still capable of vision despite having no direct neural connection to the brain. "A primary goal in medicine is to one day be able to restore the function of damaged or missing sensory structures through the use of biological or artificial replacement components,” said...

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online New research involving songbirds may help explain how the human brain is organized to govern skilled performance, a finding that could lead to new ways of understanding human speech production and other complex behaviors. The researchers found that whenever a bird sings, some of the neurons in its brain prepare to make the next sounds while others are synchronized with the current notes. This coordination of physical actions and...

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Researchers from Indiana University have found that rats have a capacity for “source memory,” a finding that could have implications for both future animal studies and the treatment of human memory disorders. According to the IU team’s report in Current Biology, a rat is capable of remembering how it got a certain food reward. "Researchers can now study in animals what was once thought an exclusively human domain," said...

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online Infants who are born up to three months premature are capable of recognizing different syllables in human speech patterns, according to new research published in the latest edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). According to Mark Prigg of the Daily Mail, the study discovered that the human brain is capable of discerning between different spoken sounds earlier than scientists had previously...