The chopstick: reloaded
The New York Daily News reports on a 14-month old Chinese boy who survived brain surgery to remove a chopstick that accidentally ended up in his brain after entering through the nose. If your jaw has...
View ArticlePatients with no skull are a window on brain activity
I've just clocked a stunning experiment, shortly to be published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, that recorded brain activity from patients who had part of their skull surgically removed for...
View ArticleTwo drugs show best treatment possibility for MS
In massive news for neurology, The New England Journal of Medicine has published three important studies reporting that two new drugs for multiple sclerosis are more effective than existing treatments...
View ArticleWorld changing images
BBC Radio 4 has just concluded a wonderful series on medical imaging that overs everything from the microscope, to ultrasound, to the brain scanner. The series is five 15 minute programmes that tackles...
View ArticleBlue Brain Year One
Film-maker Noah Hutton has just released an excellent 15-minute documentary on the Blue Brain project that captures the team as they work and explains the goals of the ambitious attempt to simulate...
View ArticleOn communicating through the coma-like state
A study just published in the New England Journal of Medicine reports on how a subset of patients diagnosed as being in a coma-like state can be trained to show specific brain activity to answer yes /...
View ArticleEureka brain special and more fighting
The Times has just released its monthly science magazine, Eureka, with a special issue on the brain and all the articles freely available online. There doesn't seem to be a way to link to a whole...
View ArticleWhat is Alcoholism?
Alcoholism is a primary, chronic, progressive disorder that has a predictable course; with inherited, physical, psychological and environmental risk factors; and is fatal if not treated and its...
View ArticleBrain Recovers from Alcohol Damage
Recovering brain Brain Has Remarkable Power to Recover from Alcohol Ravages Excessive alcohol use can literally shrink the brain, impairing memory, learning, and organizational skills. But the brain...
View ArticleHuman brain electrodes capture the twilight zone
Sleep is a nightmare for neuroscientists but a new study using electrodes implanted deep within the brains of people going about their daily lives has revealed that the brain falls asleep from the...
View ArticleAll aboard the baby brain
The March edition of The Psychologist has just appeared online and has two freely available articles: one article investigates whether women really suffer a reduction in mental sharpness during...
View ArticleIn Our Time on the Infant Brain
This morning's edition of BBC Radio 4's brilliant In Our Time was dedicated to the infant brain and has a wide ranging discussion about how ideas about the early development of the child developed into...
View ArticleA man with virtually no serotonin or dopamine
Neuroskeptic covers a fascinating case of a man born with a genetic mutation meaning he had a severe lifelong deficiency of both serotonin and dopamine. The case report concerns a gentleman with...
View ArticleTracking the unborn brain into childhood
A brain scanning technology called MEG is being used to track the function of unborn babies' brains as they grow inside the womb until after they've been born. The full name for MEG is...
View ArticleRoald Dahl's Marvelleous Medicine
Author Roald Dahl was particularly well known for darkly humorous children's books that form a riotous part of almost every childhood in Britain. Less well known is that he also made some significant...
View ArticleRoald Dahl's Marveleous Medicine
Author Roald Dahl was particularly well known for darkly humorous children's books that form a riotous part of almost every childhood in Britain. Less well known is that he also made some significant...
View ArticleRoald Dahl's Marvelous Medicine
Author Roald Dahl was particularly well known for darkly humorous children's books that form a riotous part of almost every childhood in Britain. Less well known is that he also made some significant...
View ArticleRodent brain in sex claim shocker
Those tenacious chaps over at Language Log have followed up Louann Brizendine's claims that men have a 'defend your turf area' by chasing up the references in her ominous new book The Male Brain which...
View ArticleAlzheimer's Disease with Dr. Peter Whitehouse (BSP 68)
Discussion Forum: Join our Facebook Fan Page: Send feedback to gincampbell at mac dot com or leave voice mail at 206-984-0358. (Source: the Brain Science Podcast and Blog with Dr. Ginger Campbell)
View ArticleHacking toy EEGs
Frontier Nerds has an excellent guide to toy EEGs (the commercially available 'mind control' games) and detailed instructions on how to hack the MindFlex to use it as a brain-computer interface. In the...
View ArticleCharlie Rose Brain Series online and complete
The Charlie Rose discussion show has an ongoing series on the brain and all of the episodes are available online where some of world's leading neuroscientists extensively tackle the big questions of...
View ArticleCan I get an amen?
This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate how assumptions about speakers' abilities changed the evoked BOLD response [changes in blood oxygenation indicating neural activity]...
View ArticleKnow the signs of brain hemorrhage!
         A brain hemorrhage is a type of stroke.  It’s caused by an artery in the brain bursting and causing localized bleeding in the surrounding tissues. This bleeding kills brain cells.Â...
View ArticleK-Space Division
This is an amazing summary of a study just published in the latest edition of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. I have no idea what it's about but it helps if you read it in the voice of Dr Spock....
View ArticleIt's hot in here
The Neuroskeptic blog has done a fantastic analysis of the popularity of different areas of the brain among neuroscientists by looking at how many scientific papers have been published on them since...
View ArticleThe Power of Forgiveness
In the 1980s psychologist Everett L. Worthington, Jr. Ph.D., began studying forgiveness while working with troubled couples. On New Year’s Eve, 1995, his mother was murdered. Dr. Worthington then...
View ArticleA scientific foil to your accidental brain injury
Inkling Magazine has a fantastic article detailing unusual objects which have accidentally ended up in the brain and have subsequently made the pages of medical journals as surprising case reports. It...
View ArticleAn unwanted key to a devastating condition
The New York Times has a gripping article and video report about how a family in Colombia may be the key to unlocking the neuroscience of early-onset Alzheimer's disease, one of the most devastating...
View ArticleBrain sand
Taken from the Wikipedia entry on 'brain sand': Corpora arenacea (or brain sand) are calcified structures in the pineal gland and other areas of the brain such as the choroid plexus. Older organisms...
View ArticleMilitary brain interfaces for sci-fi warfare
The latest edition of Neurosurgical Focus has an interesting article on the use of brain-computer interfaces in the military. One part talks about funded US military brain-computer interface projects...
View ArticleDo you know how to react to a seizure?
             Witnessing a seizure can be scary and it is important that you know what to do in case of the event. First, a seizure is normally caused by abnormal electrical discharges...
View ArticleA cortical atlas of ghostly sensations
Frontiers in Neuroscience has an amazing scientific article that has collected all the studies that have recorded what happens when the brain is electrically stimulated in living patients. It's like a...
View ArticlePeering into the mind and brain
Neuroscientist Bradley Voytek discusses how brain damage and neurosurgery can be windows into the functioning of the mind in an engaging TEDxBerkeley talk. As well as being remarkably well-explained,...
View ArticleNeuroplasticity is not a new discovery
We recently discussed how the term 'neuroplasticity' is widely used as if it were a precise scientific concept, when, in fact, it is virtually meaningless on its own. Several commenters suggested that...
View ArticleAlcoholism, a Chronic Disease
Alcoholism is a primary, chronic, progressive disorder that has a predictable course; with inherited, physical, psychological and environmental risk factors; and is fatal if not treated and its...
View ArticleADHD: Is It Genetic?
British scientists announced that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been linked to deleted or duplicated DNA segments (copy number variants), which leads to developmental difference...
View ArticleTake that Nap! It May Boost Your Learning Capacity Among Other Good Things.
Anyone who knows me knows that my favorite pastime is napping. In College, I would come back to my dorm room, and like clockwork, would take a nap. My best friend in England, who got quite a kick out...
View ArticleLove in the Brain
Ahh, what researchers won’t study. Is nothing sacred, even the most spiritual of matters of the heart, such as love? Now research out of Syracuse University by Stephanie Ortigue (that’s her, pictured),...
View ArticleDecline In Stroke Deaths Reinforces âBrain Attackâ Prevention
Stroke killed 2,000 fewer Americans in 2008 (the last year with complete numbers) than it did in 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday in its latest annual Deaths...
View ArticleNew Brain Mechanism Discovered for Anxiety
File this in the folder of new research discoveries that could lead to new, better targeted medications for one of the world’s most common mental concerns — anxiety. According to the National Institute...
View ArticlePhrenology: Examining The Bumps of Your Brain
The next time you say, âso and so should have her head examined,â remember that this was literally done in the 19th century. Phrenology, as it became known, is the study of brain function....
View ArticleThree Râs Of Health And Wellness
Iâd like to talk about how rodents, relationships, and riding relate to overall health and wellness. This idea comes from a nicely-written New York Times piece entitled, “Does Loneliness Reduce the...
View ArticleThe Brain in Love: Infographic
If you have a Valentine’s Day hangover, here’s a little hair of the dog that doesn’t involve stale red frosting or half-eaten chocolates: A recent article published in Scientific American reveals what...
View ArticleDeep Brain Stimulation: Experts Warn About Aggressive Marketing
A paper published in the February issue of Health Affairs – discussed at length in an article in the New York Times – contains the sort of blunt, plain-spoken language you seldom read in academic...
View ArticleA Brain Store to Find the Right Brain Fitness Products
This article shows how Marble: The Brain Store has developed a very interactive retail experience to help consumers find the products that are right for them. Note that we will have a chance to learn...
View ArticleMeditation can Change the Structure of the Brain
Editorâs Note: We are pleased to bring you this artiÂcle by Jason Marsh, thanks to our colÂlabÂoÂraÂtion with the Greater Good MagÂaÂzine. ââââââ- I consider myself something of a...
View ArticlePlaying Music as a Protection Against Dementia
This article explores another relationship between music and dementia: playing a musical instrument, even as an amateur, may protect the brain later on against dementia-related damages. Researchers had...
View ArticleBrain Networks with Olaf Sporns (BSP 74)
Discussion of Brain Imaging, including Diffusion Imaging BSP 56: Interview with Dr. Eve Marder about the use of circuit theory in neuroscience BSP 61: Mapping the Brain (and generating huge amounts of...
View ArticleLumos Labs raises $32.5m: Largest Cognitive/ Brain Fitness Investment so far
Lumos Labs, the company behind lumosity.com, has raised $32.5 million dollars in a Series C round from Menlo Ventures, FirstMark Capital, Harrison Metal and Norwest Venture Partners. In our 2010 market...
View Article6 Productivity Tips That Are like Treadmills for the Mind
The brain determines consciousness, and a long list of attributes which affect oneâs quality of life. Without exception, everything starts with the brain; it is central for everything that we do....
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