 |
 |
 |
The brain is an enigma. Scientists are working to understand how these meager three pounds of matter inside your skull give rise to consciousness, thought, memory, and emotion. Doctors want to know how to keep your brain healthy and fix it when things go wrong, as in depression and autism. Here you will hear Science Update shows on the latest and most fascinating brain research.
|
 |
|
Naked Mole Rat Survival
December 28, 2009
Naked mole rats can survive without oxygen longer than any other mammal.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Running Monkeys
December 23, 2009
Vigorous exercise helps monkeys avoid symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Newborn Accents
November 23, 2009
The sound of a newborn baby’s cry depends on the language its parents spoke while it was in the womb.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Sleep Deprivation
November 11, 2009
Researchers discover how to reverse the cognitive effects of sleep deprivation in mice.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Brain to Brain Interface
October 28, 2009
Scientists have successfully transmitted information from one brain to another.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Reading Brains
October 19, 2009
Scientists can reconstruct what a person has seen by analyzing brain scans.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Scary Kafka Roundup
October 2, 2009
Reading disturbing, surrealistic stories may make you smarter than reading stories with straightforward plots.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Tortured Memories
September 29, 2009
Using torture to extract information from suspects may have the opposite of the intended effect.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Nostril Rivalry
September 24, 2009
Our two nostrils may constantly take turns sending different information to our brain.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Placebo Effect Genes
August 24, 2009
The placebo effect only works for certain people – could this be genetic?
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Staring into Space
July 21, 2009
A listener asks: What are your eyes and brain doing when you stare into space?
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
| |
|
Auditory Synesthesia
July 29, 2009
Some people hear sounds when they see something move.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Tools as Body Parts
July 23, 2009
People perceive tools as extensions of their own bodies.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Alzheimer's & Caffeine
July 22, 2009
Caffeine may stave off and even reverse the underlying cause of Alzheimer's disease.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT |
| |
|
Narcolepsy & The Immune System
June 25, 2009
Researchers discover that narcolepsy is an auto-immune disease that attacks the brain.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Estrogen & Hearing
June 16, 2009
A lack of estrogen may cause hearing loss.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Jet Lag
May 5, 2009
Two areas of the brain go out of synch during jet lag.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT |
|
|
Pre-Mistake Brainwaves
April 15, 2009
Mental illness alters brainwaves during neural processing.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
| |
|
Addiction & Parkinson's
March 30, 2009
Parkinson's disease and addiction overlap in surprising ways.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Brainy Impersonation
December 22, 2008
Professional impressionists use different parts of their brains than amateurs when impersonating famous people.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Sleeping Brains
December 8, 2008
Different parts of the brain fall asleep before others.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Musician Brains
October 27, 2008
Trained musicians use both sides of their brains more effectively than non-musicians.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Brainwaves & Schizophrenia
March 6, 2008
Mental illness alters brainwaves during neural processing.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Brain Geometry
March 3, 2008
When we hallucinate, what we see may actually be the architecture of our own brains.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Cocaine-resistant Mice
January 2, 2008
Mice lacking a single receptor in the brain don’t become dependent on cocaine.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Lead Levels
December 20, 2007
Even at exposures well below federal safety standards, lead can lower IQ.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Baby Robots
November 26, 2007
Researchers have developed a new way for children once left behind by their peers to explore the world around them.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Apes vs. Toddlers
October 3, 2007
Although equivalent in many intellectual tasks, human toddlers are much better than apes in social thinking.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Sex, Drugs and Rock N Roll
September 27, 2007
Listening to our favorite music activates the same region of the brain that is involved in drug addiction.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Placebo Effect
August 15, 2007
Scientists look to the brain to find out why some people respond better to the placebo effect than others.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Art and Brain Damage
July 17, 2007
Brain damage sometimes has a suprisingly positive effect on artists' work.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Beyond IQ
May 23, 2007
There's much more to excelling in school than just having a high IQ.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Brain Sniff Test
May 8, 2007
A simple sniff test may help doctors pick up the scent of debilitating brain diseases.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Future Amnesia
January 31, 2007
Some patients with amnesia not only can't remember the past, but they can't imagine the future.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Whale Brains
January 4, 2007
Whales share a specialized type of brain cell with us.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Money Mentality
December 6, 2006
Thinking about money can encourage both self-reliance and self-centeredness.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Caffeine Withdrawal
October 3, 2006
A listener asks: Why do I get a headache if I go without coffee?
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Forgetting Dreams
September 5, 2006
A listener asks: Why don't we remember our dreams?
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Autism and IQ
March 14, 2006
There's a lot of talk about an autism epidemic these days. But what if autism isn't a disease at all?
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Chronic Déjà Vu
March 1, 2006
Almost everyone's had déjà vu—the feeling that you've experienced something before, even though you haven't. But what if the feeling never let up?
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Body Image
January 4, 2006
People with anorexia and other eating disorders can become dangerously thin but still feel overweight. New research may point to a cause.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Liars' Brains
November 3, 2005
A difference in the brains of pathological liars may be the cause of their strange behavior.
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
Cocaine and Cigarettes
October 27, 2005
One listener asks: What do two very different drugs have in common?
DOWNLOADTRANSCRIPT
|
|
|
|
