Brain and mind news and Brain Teasers

Unraveling Mystery Of Brain Aneurysms - Yale researchers have taken the first critical steps in unraveling the mysteries of brain aneurysms, the often fatal rupturing of blood vessels that afflicts 500,000 people worldwide each year and nearly killed Vice President-elect Joseph Biden two decades ago. November 17, 2008

Brain Imaging Shows Who Said What - Scientists from Maastricht University have developed a method to look into the brain of a person and read out who has spoken to him or her and what was said. November 11, 2008

Bullies May Enjoy Seeing Others In Pain - Unusually aggressive youth may actually enjoy inflicting pain on others, research using brain scans at the University of Chicago shows. November 10, 2008

Seeing A Brain As It Learns To See - A brain isn't born fully organized. It builds its abilities through experience, making physical connections between neurons and organizing circuits to store and retrieve information in milliseconds for years afterwards. November 7, 2008

MRI Reveals Relationship Between Depression And Pain - The brains of individuals with major depressive disorder appear to react more strongly when anticipating pain and also display altered functioning of the neural network that modifies pain sensitivity, according to a new report. November 6, 2008

Brain Stimulation Improves Dexterity - Applying electrical stimulation to the scalp and the underlying motor regions of the brain could make you more skilled at delicate tasks. November 4, 2008

Beyond Recognizing Odors, A Single Neuron Controls Reactions - Babies will smile when they catch the scent of vanilla, but a whiff of rotting meat will send them into fits. October 31, 2008

Brain's 'Hate Circuit' Identified - People who view pictures of someone they hate display activity in distinct areas of the brain that, together, may be thought of as a 'hate circuit'. October 30, 2008

Red Enhances Men's Attraction To Women - A groundbreaking study by two University of Rochester psychologists to be published online Oct. 28 by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology adds color - literally and figuratively - to the age-old question of what attracts men to women. October 29, 2008

New Brain Link As Cause Of Schizophrenia - A lack of specific brain receptors has been linked with schizophrenia in new research by scientists at Newcastle University. October 28, 2008

Could Your Initials Influence Where You Choose To Work? - One of the most important decisions that we can make is what company we will work for. There are a number of factors to consider when making this decision, including salary, benefits and work location. October 27, 2008

Brain Mechanism Predicts Ability To Generalize - A new study reveals how the brain can connect discrete but overlapping experiences to provide a rich integrated history that extends far beyond individually experienced events and may help to direct future choices. October 24, 2008

Seeing Red - In The Number 7 - Hypnosis can induce synaesthetic experiences - where one sense triggers the involuntary use of another - according to a new study by UCL (University College London) researchers. October 23, 2008

Do Cell Phones Increase Brain Cancer Risk? - Major research initiatives are needed immediately to assess the possibility that using cellular phones may lead to an increased risk of brain tumors. October 22, 2008

Scientists Create The World's Most Relaxing Room - Psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman has designed and constructed a large-scale multi-media space that aims to calm even the most stressed out of minds. October 21, 2008

People With Autism Make More Rational Decisions - People with autism-related disorders are less likely to make irrational decisions, and are less influenced by gut instincts, according to research funded by the Wellcome Trust. October 17, 2008

Searching The Internet Increases Brain Function - UCLA scientists have found that for computer-savvy middle-aged and older adults, searching the Internet triggers key centers in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning. October 16, 2008

Marijuana Use Takes Toll On Adolescent Brain Function - Brain imaging shows that the brains of teens that use marijuana are working harder than the brains of their peers who abstain from the drug. October 15, 2008

Infants Can Tell Happy Songs From Sad - A new study shows that 5-month-old babies can distinguish an upbeat tune, such as “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, from a lineup of gloomier compositions. October 13, 2008

Learning How Not To Be Afraid - Why do some people have the ability to remain calm and relaxed even in the most stressful situations? October 10, 2008

Traumatic Brain Injury Common Amongst Homeless People - Traumatic brain injury is common amongst homeless people and is associated with poorer health, found a study of more than 900 homeless men and women in Toronto. October 9, 2008

New Fake-Proof Personality Test Created - Psychologists from the University of Toronto have developed a personality inventory that can predict who will excel in academic and creative domains, even when respondents are trying hard to fake their answers. October 8, 2008

Learning To Shape Your Brain Activity - A study in the Oct. 1 issue of the journal Sleep shows that the successful manipulation of sensorimotor rhythm (SMR) amplitude by instrumental SMR conditioning (ISC) improved sleep quality as well as declarative learning. October 6, 2008

Strict Societies May Foster Violent Drinking Cultures - Countries with strict social rules and behavioral etiquette such as the United Kingdom may foster drinking cultures characterized by unruly or bad behavior. October 3, 2008

A Newly Discovered Developmental Brain Disorder - Feeling lost every time you leave your home? You may not be as alone as you think. September 30, 2008

Learning From Mistakes Only Works After Age 12 - Eight-year-old children have a radically different learning strategy from twelve-year-olds and adults. September 29, 2008

Emotional People Likely To Move Away, But Not Likely To Move Often - When meeting someone for the first time, the second question that is usually asked (following “what’s your name?”) is “where do you live?” Until recently, it was not apparent just how revealing that answer may be. September 26, 2008

Understanding The Cycle Of Violence - Researchers have long known that children who grow up in an aggressive or violent household are more likely to become violent or aggressive in future relationships. September 25, 2008

Step Back To Move Forward Emotionally - When you're upset or depressed, should you analyze your feelings to figure out what's wrong? Or should you just forget about it and move on? September 24, 2008

Genetic Link Between Immune And Nerve Systems Found - Duke University Medical Center researchers have discovered genetic links between the nervous system and the immune system in a well-studied worm, and the findings could illuminate new approaches to human therapies. September 23, 2008

New Research On Why People Cheat - The probability of someone cheating during the course of a relationship varies between 40 and 76 percent. September 15, 2008

Immaturity Of The Brain May Cause Schizophrenia - The underdevelopment of a specific region in the brain may lead to schizophrenia in individuals. September 11, 2008

Tracking The Reasons Many Girls Avoid Science And Math - Most parents and many teachers believe that if middle-school and high-school girls show no interest in science or math, there's little anyone can do about it. September 8, 2008

Multitasking Can Be Efficient At Certain Optimal Times - In today's fast-paced world, multitasking has become an increasingly necessary part of our daily routine. September 5, 2008

Illusion Isn't Always Just In The Mind - An illusion that tricks people into believing a rubber hand belongs to them isn’t all in the mind, Oxford University researchers have found. September 3, 2008

Powerful Donor Motivators For Fundraising - People are more likely to donate to pledge drive appeals when fundraisers tap into peoples' desire to help others, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. September 2, 2008

Memory Trick Shows Brain Organization - A simple memory trick has helped show UC Davis researchers how an area of the brain called the perirhinal cortex can contribute to forming memories. September 1, 2008

Subliminal Learning Demonstrated In Human Brain - Although the idea that instrumental learning can occur subconsciously has been around for nearly a century, it had not been unequivocally demonstrated. August 29, 2008

Exploring The Function Of Sleep - Is sleep essential? Ask that question to a sleep-deprived new parent or a student who has just pulled an "all-nighter," and the answer will be a grouchy, "Of course!" August 28, 2008

Monkeys Enjoy Giving To Others - Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, have shown capuchin monkeys, just like humans, find giving to be a satisfying experience. August 26, 2008

Insomnia: Changing Your Bedtime Habits Could Help - Many people sleep better when they are on holiday and wish that they could sleep as well all the time. August 25, 2008

False Memories Affect Behavior - Do you know someone who claims to remember their first day of kindergarten? Or a trip they took as a toddler? August 21, 2008

Why Symmetry Predicts Bodily Attractiveness - A study by Dr William Brown and colleagues in Brunel University’s School of Social Sciences and School of Engineering and Design has revealed an explanation for the correlation between attractiveness and bodily characteristics like height, breast size, long legs, broad shoulders or a curvy figure. August 20, 2008

Mechanism Behind Cocaine Craving Identified - A possible future way to prevent relapses into drug dependence has been discovered by researchers at Linköping University and the German cancer research center DKFZ. The target is the dopamine-producing nerve cells in the midbrain. August 18, 2008

Sleep Selectively Preserves Emotional Memories - As poets, songwriters and authors have described, our memories range from misty water-colored recollections to vividly detailed images of the times of our lives. August 15, 2008

How Babies Understand The World Around Them - New research could provide an insight into the way that babies understand the world around them and their place within it. August 14, 2008

Physical Frailty May Be Linked To Alzheimer's Disease - Physical frailty, which is common in older persons, may be related to Alzheimer's disease pathology, according to a study published in the August 12, 2008, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. August 13, 2008

Complex Decision? Don't Sleep On It - Neither snap judgements nor sleeping on a problem are any better than conscious thinking for making complex decisions, according to new research. August 12, 2008

Whom Do We Fear Or Trust? - A pair of Princeton psychology researchers has developed a computer program that allows scientists to analyze better than ever before what it is about certain human faces that makes them look either trustworthy or fearsome. August 8, 2008

Neurobiologists Discover Individuals Who 'Hear' Movement - Individuals with synesthesia perceive the world in a different way from the rest of us. Because their senses are cross-activated, some synesthetes perceive numbers or letters as having colors or days of the week as possessing personalities. August 7, 2008

Schizophrenia Researchers Welcome New Blood - Researchers from UQ's Queensland Brain Institute are set to conduct a world-first trial into the link between prenatal vitamin D levels and schizophrenia prevalence. August 5, 2008

Brain Tweak Lets Sleep-deprived Flies Stay Sharp - Staying awake slows down our brains, scientists have long recognized. Mental performance is at its peak after sleep but inevitably trends downward throughout the day, and sleep deprivation only worsens these effects. August 4, 2008

Improved Estrogen Reception May Sharpen Fuzzy Memory - Estrogen treatments may sharpen mental performance in women with certain medical conditions. August 1, 2008

Statins May Protect Against Memory Loss - People at high risk for dementia who took cholesterol-lowering statins are half as likely to develop dementia as those who do not take statins, a new study shows. July 31, 2008

The Kids Most Likely To Go Armed - A recent report from Ofted stated that up to one in ten of the most vulnerable youths said carrying a weapon made them feel safer. July 30, 2008

No Gender Differences In Math Performance - We've all heard it. Many of us in fact believe it. Girls just aren't as good at math as boys. But is it true? July 29, 2008

Older People May Need Less Sleep - Along with all the other changes that come with age, healthy older people also lose some capacity for sleep. July 28, 2008

Glia Guide Brain Development In Worms - Again and again, experiments confirmed it. Without glia, neurons die. So scientists who wanted to study in living animals what glia - the most abundant brain cells - do for neurons besides keep them alive were out of luck. But now, a breakthrough. July 25, 2008

Epilepsy Drug May Increase Risk Of Birth Defects - Taking the epilepsy drug topiramate alone or along with other epilepsy drugs during pregnancy may increase the risk of birth defects, according to a study published in the July 22, 2008, issue of Neurology. July 24, 2008

Reflecting On Values Promotes Love, Acceptance - No one enjoys being told that their behavior is harmful to themselves or others. In fact, most people respond defensively when confronted with evidence that their behavior is irrational, irresponsible, or unhealthy. July 23, 2008

Rapid Alzheimer's Improvement With Novel Drug - New research into the treatment of Alzheimer's disease reports improvement in language abilities using a novel immune-based approach. July 22, 2008

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Linked To Brain Activity - Cambridge researchers have discovered that measuring activity in a region of the brain could help to identify people at risk of developing obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). July 21, 2008

Scientists Reduce Alzheimer's-like Plaques In Fly Brain - Neuroscientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) are part of a collaboration that has succeeded in demonstrating that overexpression of an enzyme in the brain can reduce telltale deposits causally linked with Alzheimer's disease. July 17, 2008

Mechanism Behind Mind-body Connection Discovered - Every cell contains a tiny clock called a telomere, which shortens each time the cell divides. Short telomeres are linked to a range of human diseases, including HIV, osteoporosis, heart disease and aging. July 16, 2008

Will Our Future Brains Be Smaller? - The speed at which we react to threatening situations can have life or death implications. July 15, 2008

Brain Cells Related To Fear Identified - The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that in any given year, about 40 million adults (18 or older) will suffer from some form of anxiety disorder, including debilitating conditions such as phobias, panic disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). July 14, 2008

Types Of Genes Necessary For Brain Development Discovered - Researchers from Harvard Medical School and Brandeis University have successfully completed a full-genome RNAi screen in neurons, showing what types of genes are necessary for brain development. July 11, 2008

Japanese Encephalitis Virus Causes 'Double Trouble' To Brain - Japanese encephalitis (JE), commonly known as brain fever, is one of the prevalent mosquito-borne encephalitis in India and entire South East (SE) Asia. July 9, 2008

Woman Aquires New Accent After Stroke - A woman in southern Ontario is one of the first cases in Canada of a rare neurological syndrome in which a person starts speaking with a different accent, McMaster University researchers report in the July issue of the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences. July 8, 2008

'Mind's Eye' Influences Visual Perception - Letting your imagination run away with you may actually influence how you see the world. New research from Vanderbilt University has found that mental imagery - what we see with the "mind's eye" - directly impacts our visual perception. July 7, 2008

Does This Make Me Look Fat? - The peer groups teenage girls identify with determine how they decide to control their own figure. So reports a new study by Dr. Eleanor Mackey from the Children's National Medical Center in Washington DC, and her colleague Dr. Annette La Greca from the University of Miami. July 4, 2008

Men Share Their Creative Work Online More Than Women - A Northwestern University study finds that men are more likely to share their creative work online than women despite the fact that women and men engage in creative activities at essentially equal rates. July 3, 2008

New Map IDs The Core Of The Human Brain - An international team of researchers has created the first complete high-resolution map of how millions of neural fibers in the human cerebral cortex - the outer layer of the brain responsible for higher level thinking - connect and communicate. July 2, 2008

How Does Language Exist In The Brain? - The La Mente Bilingüe research team that doctor Itziar Laka leads in the Faculty of Arts at the University of the Basque Country analyses bilingual processing of language. July 1, 2008

Binge Drinking Due To Copying Behavior - The rise in binge drinking in the young is a "fashion phenomenon" where drinkers are copying their associates' behaviour, new research has shown. June 30, 2008

Neuroscientists Discover A Sense Of Adventure - Wellcome Trust scientists have identified a key region of the brain which encourages us to be adventurous. June 27, 2008

Memory Loss Linked To Poor Diet - Loss of memory with advanced age is a significant problem within most societies, and appears particularly severe in advanced industrialized nations. June 24, 2008

Advance Towards Early Alzheimer's Diagnosis - An Australian research project has found a way to bring forward the detection of early stage Alzheimer’s disease by up to 18 months. June 23, 2008

Homosexual Brain Similar To Opposite Sex's - Swedish researchers have found that some physical attributes of the homosexual brain resemble those found in the opposite sex. June 19, 2008

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