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Brain research

NPR
Shots - Health News
Scientists have analyzed a huge number of brain scans to learn more about how the brain develops, from infancy all the way until the end of life.

Scans reveal the brain's early growth, late decline and surprising variability

Apr 07, 2022
A study of more than 120,000 brain scans shows rapid growth before age 2 and accelerating decline after age 50. The results may one day help pick up abnormalities in the developing brain.
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NPR
Shots - Health News

This form of memory loss is common — but most Americans don't know about it

Mar 18, 2022
Mild cognitive impairment, a common brain condition, can be an early sign of Alzheimer's disease. But most people don't know the symptoms. And some may mistake it for normal aging.
NPR
Shots - Health News
Following a traumatic brain injury, veteran Michael Schneider found that art and music therapy helped him manage his epilepsy and PTSD. Schneider explains that by playing music, he can prevent a seizure.

Art and music therapy seem to help with brain disorders. Scientists want to know why

Feb 19, 2022
Arts therapies appear to ease brain disorders from Parkinson's to PTSD. Now, artists and scientists have launched an effort to understand how these treatments change the brain.
NPR
Shots - Health News
A glass is filled in with water on April 27, 2014 in Paris. Scientists studying what makes us thirsty have found the body checks in on our water consumption in several different ways.

Thirsty? Here's how your brain answers that question

Jan 27, 2022
Scientists have shown that the brain uses multiple checkpoints to make sure we get enough water, but not too much
NPR
Shots - Health News
A newborn lies in the maternity ward of the Lens hospital, northern France. A study of crying mice could help explain some building blocks of human infant cries and adult speech.

What crying baby mice could teach us about human speech

Jan 07, 2022
Scientists have found a cluster of rhythmic brain cells in newborn mice that may explain why spoken languages around the world share a common tempo.
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NPR
Shots - Health News
Shell neurons (green) project to the breathing center and core neurons (red) project to the pain/emotion center. Brain scientists have found the two are linked, shedding new light on opioid overdoses

A brain circuit linking pain and breathing may offer a path to prevent opioid deaths

Dec 22, 2021
Opioids can kill because they reduce breathing along with pain. Now brain scientists have made a discovery that could lead to potent pain drugs that don't affect breathing.
NPR
Shots - Health News

In 'Dopamine Nation,' Overabundance Keeps Us Craving More

Aug 25, 2021
Psychiatrist Anna Lembke's new book explores the brain's connection between pleasure and pain. It also helps explain addictions — not just to drugs and alcohol, but also to food, sex and smartphones.
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NPR
Shots - Health News
A man who is paralyzed was able to type with 95% accuracy by imagining that he was handwriting letters on a sheet of paper, a team reported in the journal <em>Nature</em>.

Man Who Is Paralyzed Communicates By Imagining Handwriting

May 12, 2021
By decoding the brain signals involved in handwriting, researchers have allowed a man who is paralyzed to transform his thoughts into words on a computer screen.
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NPR
Shots - Health News
Scientists once compared the abilities of humans versus canines in tracking a trail of chocolate essential oil laid down in an open field. Though the humans weren't nearly as proficient as the dogs, they did get better with practice.

Will My Sense Of Smell Ever Return? Olfactory Insights From COVID And Beyond

May 08, 2021
COVID-19 has renewed interest in a key way humans perceive the world. A reporter who hasn't been able to tell the scent of a rose from a sweaty gym shoe for decades takes heart in the latest science.
NPR
Shots - Health News
<em>Keep Sharp,</em> by Sanjay Gupta

To 'Keep Sharp' This Year, Keep Learning, Advises Neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta

Jan 04, 2021
CNN's chief medical correspondent says it's never too late to develop new brain pathways. Even small changes, like switching up the hand you use to hold your fork, can help optimize brain health.
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NPR
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Learning to ride a bike can lead to memorable tumbles. It's the brain's "time cells," scientists now say, that help organize and seal those experiences in our minds.

Why Some Memories Seem Like Movies: 'Time Cells' Discovered In Human Brains

Oct 29, 2020
Scientists have identified special cells in the human brain that organize movie-like memories, helping us to relive important experiences and events.
NPR
Shots - Health News
Brain cells that monitor liquid, mineral and salt levels in the body influence what types of drinks we crave when thirsty.

Water Or A Sports Drink? These Brain Cells May Decide Which One We Crave

Oct 14, 2020
Scientists have identified specialized brain cells that create two distinct kinds of thirst. Some cells respond to a need for water alone, while others produce a craving for water and salt.
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NPR
Shots - Health News
Patients with a fast-progressing form of ALS who got daily doses of an experimental two-drug combination called AMX0035 scored higher on a standard measure of function than patients who didn't get the drug.

Drug Combination Slows Progression Of ALS And Could Mark 'New Era' In Treatment

Sep 02, 2020
Scientists say new drugs are on the way for patients with ALS. The latest is a two-drug combo that appears to slow the progression of the fatal nerve disease with a modest but meaningful benefit.
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NPR
Shots - Health News
This light micrograph from the brain of someone who died with Alzheimer's disease shows the plaques and neurofibrillary tangles that are typical of the disease. A glitch that prevents healthy cell structures from transitioning from one phase to the next

New Clues To ALS And Alzheimer's Disease From Physics

Jul 08, 2020
Structures inside healthy brain cells nimbly move from one state to the next to perform different functions. But in certain degenerative brain diseases, scientists now think, that process gets stuck.
NPR
Shots - Health News
Dr. Nico Dosenbach decided to put his healthy arm in a cast to figure out more about how the brain deals with an immobilized limb.

A Scientist's Pink Cast Leads To Discovery About How The Brain Responds To Disability

Jun 18, 2020
A neurologist who wanted to know how the brain changes in response to a physical disability put his arm in a pink cast for two weeks to find out.
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NPR
Shots - Health News
Your brain uses the left side to make sense of lyrics and the right side for a song's melody.

How The Brain Teases Apart A Song's Words And Music

Feb 27, 2020
Brain scans show that when people listen to songs, an area in the left hemisphere decodes speech-like sounds while one on the right processes musical information.
NPR
Shots - Health News
This image from an electron microscope shows a cross-sectional view of an oligodendrocyte (blue) among nerve fibers coated with myelin (dark red). In models of autism spectrum disorder, oligodendrocytes appear to create too much or too little myelin.

Researchers Link Autism To A System That Insulates Brain Wiring

Feb 03, 2020
Brains affected by autism appear to share a problem with cells that make myelin, the insulating coating surrounding nerve fibers that controls the speed at which the fibers convey electrical signals.
NPR
Shots - Health News
Scientists say pea-size organoids of human brain tissue may offer a way to study the biological beginnings of a wide range of brain conditions, including autism, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Scientists Find Imperfections In 'Minibrains' That Raise Questions For Research

Jan 29, 2020
Brain organoids grown in the lab look a lot like developing human brains. But a new study finds some important differences that could affect how scientists use them.
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NPR
Shots - Health News

Scientists Reach Out To Minority Communities To Diversify Alzheimer's Studies

Dec 17, 2019
Black and Hispanic people often don't volunteer for studies of Alzheimer's disease, despite their risks for developing it. Researchers are working to make studies more inclusive, but it's not easy.
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NPR
Shots - Health News
The brain analyzes changes in sound volume to detect syllables and make sense of speech.

The Loudness Of Vowels Helps The Brain Break Down Speech Into Syl-La-Bles

Nov 20, 2019
Syllables are the building blocks of spoken language. And now a study of brain activity hints at how we extract them from a stream of speech.
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NPR
Shots - Health News
Two fourth-graders rock side to side while doing math equations at Charles Pinckney Elementary School's "Brain Room" in Charleston, S.C., in 2015.

Math Looks The Same In The Brains Of Boys And Girls, Study Finds

Nov 08, 2019
Brain scans of 104 boys and girls doing basic math tasks found no gender differences. The finding adds to the evidence that boys and girls start out with equal ability in math.
NPR
Shots - Health News
Scientists say pea-size organoids of human brain tissue may offer a way to study the biological beginnings of a wide range of brain conditions, including autism, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

After Months In A Dish, Lab-Grown Minibrains Start Making 'Brain Waves'

Aug 29, 2019
Researchers say clusters of human brain cells grown in the lab can spontaneously generate electrical patterns similar to the brain waves of a 6-month-old fetus.
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NPR
Shots - Health News

Women May Be More Adept Than Men At Discerning Pain

Aug 26, 2019
Pain researchers say men and women respond differently to pain, and women may "feel more" pain than men. Understanding the differences in pain perception could lead to better treatments.
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NPR
Shots - Health News
University of Utah doctoral student Jacob George, left, and associate professor Greg Clark examine the LUKE arm that they use for their experiments. A man who lost his lower arm in an electrical accident was able to experience some sense of touch and fin

Improved Prosthetic Hand Has A Lighter Touch And Easy Grip

Jul 24, 2019
There's still much research to be done before the device is routinely useful. But one man was able to use it to gently grasp his wife's hand and feel her touch — an emotional moment, he says.
NPR
Shots - Health News
Different parts of the brain aren't always in the same stage of sleep at the same time, notes neurologist and author Guy Leschziner. When this happens, an individual might order a pizza or go out for a drive — while technically still being fast asleep.

From Insomnia To Sexsomnia, Unlocking The 'Secret World' Of Sleep

Jul 23, 2019
Neurologist Guy Leschziner, author of The Nocturnal Brain, says the brain can be in different sleep stages at once — which explains why people sometimes walk, eat and even have sex when sleeping.
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