Brain

Could it be that a driver choosing to stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk has something to do with the pedestrian's race?

A multi-university research team involving University of Arizona transportation planning expert Arlie Adkins applied that question to the yielding behavior of motorists at crosswalks to examine potential racial bias. And, with a new $30,000 grant from the National Institute for Transportation and Community, the researchers have begun investigating the influence of gender-based bias on drivers' stopping behavior.

Researchers have discovered details of the abnormal molecular signals and biological events that drive a high-risk form of the childhood cancer neuroblastoma. They aim to use these findings to develop more effective targeted treatments.

They stay up late into the evening, average less than 6.5 hours of sleep and rarely nap.

College students during final exams? Working moms? Hard-charging executives? Think again, says a UCLA-led team of researchers who studied sleeping patterns among traditional peoples whose lifestyles closely resemble those of our evolutionary ancestors.

The authors of the original proposal for the Brain Activity Map (BAM) Project, which inspired the White House's BRAIN Initiative, issued today a position statement in Neuron proposing the creation of a national network of neurotechnology centers. These "brain observatories" would enhance and accelerate the BRAIN Initiative by leveraging the success and creativity of individual laboratories to develop novel neurotechnologies.

Stanford engineers have created a plastic "skin" that can detect how hard it is being pressed and generate an electric signal to deliver this sensory input directly to a living brain cell.

Regulation of a family of brain proteins known as bromodomain and extra-terminal domain containing transcription regulators (BETs) plays a key role in normal cognition and behavior, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published advanced online on September 21 and in print October 19 in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.

America's colleges and universities need to transform not only how but what they teach in introductory science courses, a group of scholars from Michigan State University argues in Science magazine.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Working in mice, researchers at Duke University have discovered a potential new class of drugs that may prevent the development of temporal lobe epilepsy, one of the most common and devastating forms of epilepsy.

Temporal lobe epilepsy is particularly debilitating because it strikes the areas of the brain responsible for memory and mood. As a result, patients have impaired awareness during their seizures. These individuals cannot drive a car because of the risks of harming themselves or others, and are limited in the career options they can pursue.

Two kids climb into an empty shopping cart and launch themselves down a hill.

If you're an adult, you can imagine what happens next; if you're 6 and trying to impress your little brother, not so much.

What do you think Mom and Dad say when the showoff ends up in the emergency room? You guessed it:

New research finds people with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) --such as those incurred from violent accidents or combat -- are more prone to misjudge when faced with situations involving dispute or requiring discipline.

Brain tumor tissue can be hard to distinguish from normal brain during surgery. Neurosurgeons use their best judgment in the operating room but often must guess exactly where the edges of the tumor are while removing it.

Even the state-of-the-art imaging equipment in today's OR still doesn't make the process much easier. But a new laser-based microscopic technologymay help surgeons see the difference between tumor tissue and normal brain in real-time.

At the flip of a switch, University of California, Berkeley, neuroscientists can send a sleeping mouse into dreamland.

The researchers inserted an optogenetic switch into a group of nerve cells located in the ancient part of the brain called the medulla, allowing them to activate or inactivate the neurons with laser light.

New Haven, Conn. -Most patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has metastasized to the brain have a dire prognosis. But Yale researchers have identified a subset of those patients with a rare genetic mutation who are living significantly longer than patients without the mutation.

The findings were published this month in the Journal of Clinical Oncology and will be presented Monday, Oct. 19 at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology.

WENATCHEE, Wash. - A Washington State University researcher has found that yoga can help fathers in jail be better dads.

A study by WSU Extension educator Jennifer Crawford found that yoga, which can improve physical and mental health, may also help incarcerated fathers improve their parenting skills.

"We would have a class on a specific topic, like child development or setting limits," Crawford said. "That would last about an hour, then a yoga instructor would come in and give a guided yoga class."

Montreal, October 15, 2015 - Scientists at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and Duke University have made a breakthrough that advances our understanding of how the brain detects and prevents dehydration. They have identified the structure of a key protein located in the brain, which is involved in body hydration and that could control temperature.