Numbers up for dopamine myth
I've just read an elegant study on the neuroscience of gambling that wonderfully illustrates why the dopamine equals pleasure myth, so often thrown around by the media, is too tired to be useful. I...
View ArticleTall people have slower nerves, sensory lag
Frontal Cortex has alerted me to an interesting NPR radio segment on the fact that taller people have longer nerves and so will have slight sensory lag in comparison to shorter people. It prompted me...
View ArticleBrain plasticity and criminal behavior; part 5
If you have just discovered this topic, go back to Part 1 (April 3), Part 2 (April 5), Part 3 (April 7) and Part 4 (April 24); whereupon you shall be fully qualified to advance to Part 5. Before I...
View ArticleAll smoke and mirror neurons?
New Scientist has a tantalising snippet reporting on a shortly to be released and potentially important new study challenging the idea of 'mirror neurons'. Mirror neurons fire both when we perform an...
View ArticleMad honey
I've just discovered there's a form of neurotoxic honey, genuinely known as "mad honey", created by bees taking nectar from the beautiful rhododendron ponticum flower, pictured on the right. The nectar...
View ArticleThe possible causes of 'space headache'
A new study has surveyed 17 astronauts to see what sort of headaches they experienced while on space missions. Headaches were much more frequent than on earth and didn't fit a known type, suggesting...
View ArticleWant a Bigger, Stronger Brain? Start Meditating.
Midweek Mental Greening “In meditation, effort must be applied in a direction opposite to what we are used to. Our ‘effort’ must be to relax ever more deeply. We must ultimately release the tension...
View ArticleBrain plasticity monitored and induced by magnetic stimulation
I had the pleasure of spending a day last week talking with a world authority on brain plasticity issues, Harvard professor Alvaro Pascual-Leone. Dr. Pascual-Leone has employed a special tool in many...
View ArticleTinnitus. A special example of a failure mode for your plastic brain.
Millions of individuals (2% of humankind) are plagued by continuous sounds generated in their skulls, not coming from the real world. Because these ringing or roaring sounds are inescapable and because...
View ArticleLike tears in the rain
Forbes magazine has an excellent special issue that is rammed full of diverse and interesting articles on artificial intelligence. It's a large collection of short articles that covers everything from...
View ArticleThe straight dopamine theory could be up in smoke
There is now growing evidence that cannabis use causes a small but reliable increase in the chance of developing psychosis. Traditionally, this was explained by the drug increasing dopamine levels in...
View ArticleA neurobiology of the disordered mind
Newsweek has a short but smart essay by neuroscientist Eric Kandel who riffs on some of the latest developments that have pushed forward our understanding of the neurobiology of mental disorder. Kandel...
View ArticleA touch from a phantom third arm
A 64 year old woman developed a phantom third arm after a stroke, but unusually, the patient was able to see and feel the illusory limb. A study just published online in the journal Annals of Neurology...
View Article80% genetic, 20% polyester
Over the last couple of days, there's been a great deal of coverage of three new studies on the genetics of schizophrenia. While the coverage has actually been pretty good, almost all the news stories...
View ArticleWithout a brain
According to press reports Michael Jackson will be buried without his brain because it is still 'hardening'. Although this may seem unusual, the 'hardening' process is actually a standard part of any...
View ArticleVisual training to retain driving competence â and your independence!
Today, Posit Science announced the release of a new Web-based visual training tool, DriveSharp, specifically designed to improve the performance abilities of adult automobile drivers to a degree that...
View ArticleChocolate for the brain
Last month, over 350 medical professionals, computer experts and entrepreneurs gathered for the fifth annual Games for Health Conference in Boston and discussed out topics such as how computer games...
View ArticleIn the trenches
The Boston Globe has a short but interesting article on cerebral folding - the science of why the brain is wrinkled up like a damp walnut. The wrinkled surface of the brain folds into 'ridges' known as...
View ArticleA nose for trouble
A selection of objects described in the medical literature that have ended up in the brain via the nose: A chopstick. A ball-point pen. A flying wire fragment. A plastic stick. A snooker cue. A...
View ArticleSulci against the head bangers
One of the mysteries of the human brain concerns why the surface is wrinkled into 'ridges' and 'trenches'. We covered some of the theories a couple of weeks ago but a new study in the Journal of...
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