Topic: Brain Science

May 21, 2013 Aging Color Vision - Our eyes’ ability to detect color deteriorates with age, but our brains compensate.
May 17, 2013 Electric Math - Electrical stimulation to the brain can improve math performance.
May 9, 2013 Protective Hearing Loss - Temporary hearing loss protects the ear against long-term damage.
May 7, 2013 Numeral Hotspot - Scientists have discovered the area of the brain dedicated to recognizing numerals.
April 24, 2013 Zapping Cocaine Addiction - Lasers can eliminate cocaine addiction in rats, pointing to new therapies for humans.
April 22, 2013 Sound & Memory - Playing soundwaves synchronized with a person's own deep sleep rhythms may improve short-term memory.
April 17, 2013 Brainy Athletes - Olympic-level athletes have some enhanced cognitive abilities.
April 4, 2013 Highly Observant Robots - New robots are learning how to handle objects by watching humans.
April 2, 2013 Down Syndrome Protein - Deficiency in a key protein may strongly contribute to cognitive impairments in Down Syndrome.
March 29, 2013 Podcast for 29 March 2013 - EARLY HEALTH - A molecule that could make it possible to jumpstart the newborn immune system. Why too many brain cells could be a bad thing. And, could humidity affect flu transmission? Also: The effects of sleep deprivation on your genes.
March 26, 2013 Sleep & Gene Expression - Just one week of sleep deprivation alters the expression of at least 711 different genes.
March 21, 2013 Mental Housekeeping - Cells that eat up defective brain cells may also target healthy cells during development.
March 15, 2013 New Genetics Roundup - Scientists discover shared genetic markers for five common psychiatric disorders.
March 11, 2013 Half-Asleep Seals - Fur seals sleep with one half of their brain at a time.
February 16, 2013 Podcast for 16 February 2013 - 2013 AAAS ANNUAL MEETING, BOSTON, MA - Researchers are discussing how to treat psychological problems in chimpanzees, and why childbirth is such an ordeal in humans but not in apes. Also: scientific detectives have solved an art mystery. And researchers have unveiled ultrathin, wireless sensors that can monitor your brain activity.
February 15, 2013 Ape Psychopathology – 2013 AAAS Annual Meeting Coverage - Chimpanzees in captivity sometimes suffer from simian versions of psychiatric disorders.
February 5, 2013 Lightning & Migraine - Migraine headaches are associated with lightning storms.
January 31, 2013 Parkinson’s Test - A salivary gland biopsy may finally make it possible to definitively diagnose Parkinson's Disease in living patients.
January 29, 2013 Making Room for Memories - Children are better at forming long-term memories than adults for a surprising reason.
January 22, 2013 Parkinson’s & Creativity - Side effects of meds for Parkinson's disease may include bursts of creativity.
January 21, 2013 Newborn Language - Newborn babies have a preference for their mother's language over foreign languages.
January 7, 2013 Your Brain on Fructose - A brain imaging study supports growing evidence linking fructose to weight gain.
November 30, 2012 Podcast for 30 November 2012 - CHILD DEVELOPMENT - Are kids naturally stingy? Why children's self-control could depend on the adults around them. And why math anxiety "hurts". Also: What monsters from Dungeons & Dragons can tell us about the importance of eyes.
Sleepy Roundup - Researchers think they’re found the cause of hypersomnia, a condition which causes people to feel constantly sedated.
November 20, 2012 Listening to Football Helmets - Measuring the acoustical signatures of colliding football helmets could help improve helmet safety.
November 13, 2012 Eyes vs. Faces - Monsters from the role playing game “Dungeons & Dragons” help reveal what’s most important to us.
November 9, 2012 Podcast for 9 November 2012 - SURVIVAL - Why female Komodo dragons die young, a whale that sounded like a person, and algae that flee their predators. Also: how the brain's insulation differs between us and chimpanzees, and why that insulation is so important to social development.
November 7, 2012 Forgetting Bad Memories - The brain has two very different mechanisms for erasing bad memories.
October 15, 2012 Reversible Bee Brains - When worker bees and nurse bees switch roles, their brains get a genetic re-boot.
October 2, 2012 Socially Deprived Brains - Neglect keeps young brains from developing adequate insulation.
September 27, 2012 Blocking Alzheimer’s - A new mouse model for Alzheimer's treatment gets striking results.
September 14, 2012 Happiness Roundup - Researchers identify a gene that may influence women’s contentment with their lives.
September 13, 2012 Teen Brains on Pot - Smoking marijuana regularly as a teenager may be associated with cognitive decline later in life.
September 11, 2012 Human vs. Chimp Brains - DNA modifications in chimp brains may help protect them from cancer.
September 7, 2012 Podcast for 7 September 2012 - MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS - A new drug that could block heroin addiction, how mice could speed up AIDS research, and why we're more prone to cancer than our closest living relatives. Also: the two brain chemicals behind sleep paralysis.
September 5, 2012 Addiction Blocker - A drug called (+)-naloxone blocks the brain’s addiction to heroin and other opiates.
August 15, 2012 Sleep Paralysis - Two brain chemicals keep us from acting our our dreams.
July 26, 2012 Robotic Gait - Engineers have developed a two-legged robot with a more lifelike walking gait.
July 25, 2012 Social Poker - Neuroscientists used poker games and MRI scans to separate social from purely strategic decision making.
July 23, 2012 Parroting Genes - Birds and people have similar genes for learning and producing vocalizations.
June 29, 2012 Podcast for 29 June 2012 - BRAINS & BEHAVIOR - How the brain quickly overcomes arachnophobia. Why psychopaths' brains are different. And how the stress of great-grandparents is visited upon their great-grandchildren. Also: paralyzed rats walk again, and a robotic arm controlled by thoughts.
June 25, 2012 Sleep & Junk Food - A lack of sleep makes the brain crave junk food.
June 20, 2012 Spinal Cord Comeback - Researchers are using novel methods to make paralyzed rats walk again.
June 18, 2012 Mutiny on the Migraine - Descendants of “The Mutiny on the Bounty” are providing new clues to the genetics of migraine headaches.
June 11, 2012 Overcoming Arachnophobia - Peoples’ brain activity changes permanently when they overcome a phobia.
June 8, 2012 Podcast for 8 June 2012 - The link between touch and hearing. And, why bilinguals hear better in noisy environments. Also: new brain research could illuminate why we’re willing to share so much personal information on social networking sites. And, how much money would it take for you to give someone an electric shock? The answer may surprise you.
June 7, 2012 Thought-Controlled Robot - Two patients with near-total paralysis have learned to control a robotic arm with their thoughts.
June 6, 2012 Inheriting Anxiety - The great-grandchildren of rats given a fungicide were more stressed-out and anxious than other rats.
June 4, 2012 Psychopaths’ Brains - Specific brain abnormalities distinguish true psychopaths from other violent criminals.
May 30, 2012 Bilingual Hearing - Does speaking a second language change the way your brain works?