Brain

Boston, MA - Researchers have identified a potential molecular mechanism through which lead, a pervasive environmental toxin, may harm neural stem cells and neurodevelopment in children. The study, from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, suggests that lead exposure can lead to oxidative stress -- a process that can change cell behavior and has been linked with health problems -- among certain proteins within neural stem cells.

A fire alarm sounds.

An announcement comes over the office public address system: "A fire has been reported in the building. This is not a drill. Please move to the nearest stairwell and exit the building."

As your colleagues leave their desks, you loosen the wheel locks on your wheelchair and wonder, "Will I be able to get out of the building?"

MADISON, Wis. -- Interfering with your vision makes it harder to describe what you know about the appearance of even common objects, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

This connection between visual knowledge and visual perception challenges widely held theories that visual information about the world -- that alligators are green and have long tails, for example -- is stored abstractly, as a list of facts, divorced from the visual experience of seeing an alligator.

Brooklyn, NY - More than half of children with epilepsy outgrow their seizures, yet the mechanism underlying this remission is unknown.

Now, research led by SUNY Downstate Medical Center shows that, at the onset of puberty, the emergence of a novel inhibitory brain receptor, α4βδ (alpha four beta delta), reduces seizure-like activity in a mouse model of epilepsy.

At long last, researchers have zeroed in on the neurons that act as the brain's internal thermostat. Their discovery may be harnessed for therapeutic control of body temperature in conditions where it's beneficial for temperature to be reduced, such as recovery after trauma. Core body temperature, critical for survival, is normally maintained by the body within a narrow range around 37° Celsius.

All neurons in our brain are wired via a micron-sized connection unit called synapse, and each synapse contains a layer of densely-packed, protein rich compartment called postsynaptic density (PSD), which is responsible for brain signal processing and transmission. Mutations of genes encoding PSD proteins are major causes of psychiatric disorders including autisms, schizophrenia, and intellectual disabilities (ID). While the existence of PSDs has been known to scientists for 60 years, how PSDs form and change in response to brain activities are poorly understood.

Many people suffer from anxiety and fears, and a common treatment for these problems is exposure therapy. In a new study published in Current Biology, researchers at Uppsala University have shown how the effect of exposure therapy can be improved by disrupting the recreation of fear-memories in people with arachnophobia.

LA JOLLA--When you reach for that pan of brownies, a ball-shaped brain structure called the striatum is critical for controlling your movement toward the reward. A healthy striatum also helps you stop yourself when you've had enough.

But when the striatum doesn't function properly, it can lead to disorders such as Parkinson's disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder or addiction.

An international team of computer science researchers has identified serious security vulnerabilities in the iOS - the operating system used in Apple's iPhone and iPad devices. The vulnerabilities make a variety of attacks possible.

"There's been a lot of research done on Android's operating systems, so we wanted to take a closer look at Apple's iOS," says William Enck, an associate professor of computer science at North Carolina State University and co-author of a paper describing the work. "Our goal was to identify any potential problems before they became real-world problems."

Clinical trials and translational medicine have certainly given people hope and rapid pathways to cures for some of mankind's most troublesome diseases, but now is not the time to overlook the power of basic research, says UC Santa Barbara neuroscientist Kenneth S. Kosik.

A study published today in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine offers the most in-depth assessment yet of the safety and effectiveness of a high-tech alternative to brain surgery to treat the uncontrollable shaking caused by the most common movement disorder. And the news is very good.

On March 15, 2016, Lee Sodol, an 18-time world champion of the ancient Chinese board game of Go, was defeated by AlphaGo, a computer program. The event is one of the most historic in the field of artificial intelligence since Deep Blue bested chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov in the late 1990s. The difference is that AlphaGo may represent an even bigger turning point in AI research. As outlined in a recently published paper, AlphaGo and programs like it possess the computational architecture to handle complex problems that lie well beyond the game table.

Social media can disseminate critical information as well as unite disaster victims during their recovery efforts, suggests a study published in Frontiers in Communication.

After natural disasters communities rely heavily on local governments to provide the necessary resources and information to respond to such disasters, but these approaches are not well equipped to meeting individual needs.

"Who broke Grandma's favorite vase?" As you listen to a chorus of "I don't know" and "Not me," how will you determine the culprit? Conventional wisdom says, divide and conquer, but what does scientific research show us about questioning a group of people at one time? Unfortunately, very little.

EAST LANSING, Mich. --- Contrary to popular belief, older adults enjoy emailing, instant messaging, Facebook and other forms of social technology. Not only that, but such online networking appears to reduce seniors' loneliness and even improve their health.

A new study by Michigan State University researcher William Chopik finds that social technology use among older adults is linked to better self-rated health and fewer chronic illnesses and depressive symptoms. The findings are published online in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking.