Brain

Researchers at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona have developed an electronic tongue which can identify different types of cava wines, thanks to a combination of sensor systems and advanced mathematical procedures. The device automatically produces classifications similar to those of a sommelier.

Tel Aviv — For years, teachers have been complaining about large class sizes, an old-fashioned learning environment and a lack of support for students with different learning styles. Now Dovi Weiss, a Ph.D. student from Tel Aviv University's Jaime and Joan Constantiner School of Education and the Chief Pedagogical Officer of the Israeli company Time To Know, has developed a new digital teaching platform integrating technology, a digital curriculum, real-time class participation, and instant educator empowerment — and it's already revolutionizing classrooms in New York and Texas.

Yale University researchers can't tell you where you left your car keys- but they can tell you why you can't find them.

A new study published July 27 in the journal Nature shows the neural networks in the brains of the middle-aged and elderly have weaker connections and fire less robustly than in youthful ones, Intriguingly, the research suggests that this condition is reversible.

In humans, inherited mutations in a gene called HPRT1 lead to very specific self-destructive behavior. Boys with Lesch-Nyhan disease experience uncontrollable urges to bite their fingers, slam their arms into doorways and otherwise harm themselves.

Puzzlingly, mice with mutations in the same gene don't behave differently than normal mice. Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have identified a gene related to HPRT1, present in humans but not in mice that helps explain this discrepancy.

The results were published this week by the journal PLoS One.

Brains shrink in humans, potentially causing a number of health problems and mental illnesses as people age, but do they shrink to the same extent in the closest living relatives to humans--the chimpanzees?

New research says no, making the extreme amount of brain shrinkage resulting from normal aging in humans unique.

Children and adolescents who use mobile phones are not at a statistically significant increased risk of brain cancer compared to their peers who do not use mobile phones, according to a study published July 27 in the Journal of The National Cancer Institute.

STANFORD, Calif. — Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine have been able to switch on, and then switch off, social-behavior deficits in mice that resemble those seen in people with autism and schizophrenia, thanks to a technology that allows scientists to precisely manipulate nerve activity in the brain. In synchrony with this experimentally induced socially aberrant behavior, the mice exhibited a brain-wave pattern called gamma oscillation that has been associated with autism and schizophrenia in humans, the researchers say.

TORONTO, July 27, 2011 – A new study by York University researchers finds that practicing yoga reduces the physical and psychological symptoms of chronic pain in women with fibromyalgia.

The study is the first to look at the effects of yoga on cortisol levels in women with fibromyalgia. The condition, which predominantly affects women, is characterized by chronic pain and fatigue; common symptoms include muscle stiffness, sleep disturbances, gastrointestinal discomfort, anxiety and depression.

New research may help to explain why the location of postnatal neural stem cells in the brain determines the type of new neurons that are generated. The research, published by Cell Press in the July 28 issue of the journal Neuron, demonstrates that a signaling pathway which plays a key role in development also actively regulates the fate of neural stem cells in the adult brain. Manipulation of this signaling pathway redirected the fate of adult stem cells, a finding that may impact the design of future strategies for creating stem cell therapies.

"Working memory" is what we have to keep track of things moment to moment: driving on a highway and focusing on the vehicles around us, then forgetting them as we move on; remembering all the names at the dinner party while conversing with one person about her job.

Most psychologists explain working memory with a "controlled attention" model: one flexible system that directs the brain's focus to stimuli and tasks that are important and suppressing the rest. The capacity of working memory, they say, is limited by our ability to attend to only one thing at a time.

People who are socially skilled – who are adept at metaphorically putting themselves in someone else's shoes – are also more proficient when it comes to spatial skills, according to a new study led by a Johns Hopkins University psychologist.

The study, published online in today's Journal of Experimental Psychology, found that the more socially accomplished a person is, the easier it is for him or her to assume another person's perspective (literally) on the world.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Having consistently good teachers in elementary school appears to be as important for student achievement as small class sizes, according to new research by a Michigan State University education scholar.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – "Brain cap" technology being developed at the University of Maryland allows users to turn their thoughts into motion. Associate Professor of Kinesiology José 'Pepe' L. Contreras-Vidal and his team have created a non-invasive, sensor-lined cap with neural interface software that soon could be used to control computers, robotic prosthetic limbs, motorized wheelchairs and even digital avatars.

PASADENA, Calif.—You're trying to decide what to eat for dinner. Should it be the chicken and broccoli? The super-sized fast-food burger? Skip it entirely and just get some Rocky Road?

Boston, MA – Research from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) uses a new imaging technique, arterial spin labeling, to show the areas of the brain that are activated when patients with low back pain have a worsening of their usual, chronic pain. This research is published in the August issue of the journal Anesthesiology.