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A team of Johns Hopkins neuroscientists has worked out how some newly discovered light sensors in the eye detect light and communicate with the brain. The report appears online this week in Nature. These light sensors are a small number of nerve cells in the retina that contain melanopsin molecules. Unlike conventional light-sensing cells in the retina—rods and cones—melanopsin-containing cells are not used for seeing images; instead, they monitor light levels to adjust the body's clock and control constriction of the pupils in the eye, among other functions.

From Times Online January 1, 2009 Let students take drugs to boost brainpower, says leading academic Alexandra Frean, Education Editor Students should be allowed to take “smart drugs”, such as Ritalin, to help boost their academic performance, a leading academic has suggested. John Harris, professor of bioethics and director of the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation at the University of Manchester, said the government and medical profession should “seriously consider” making cognition-enhancing drugs available to students without prescription, or allowing them to be prescribed for non-therapeutic purposes, such as studying. Students have long used drugs to boost their study...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Diabetes can slow the brain, causing trouble with two types of mental processing in adults of all ages, Canadian researchers reported on Wednesday. Healthy adults did significantly better than diabetics on two tests of mental functioning -- executive functioning and speed of response, the team at the University of Alberta found. "Speed and executive functioning are thought to be among the major components of cognitive health," Roger Dixon, who worked on the study, said in a statement. Executive functioning includes the ability to focus, work with new information to solve problems and to give thoughtful answers to...

A new study shows that sugar may not be so sweet for the brain – and may lead to memory problems.

NEW YORK – Maintaining blood sugar levels, even in the absence of disease, may be an important strategy for preserving cognitive health, suggests a study published by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC). The study appeared in the December issue of Annals of Neurology.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--For risk-takers and impulsive people, New Year's resolutions often include being more careful, spending more frugally and cutting back on dangerous behavior, such as drug use. But new research from Vanderbilt finds that these individuals--labeled as novelty seekers by psychologists--face an uphill battle in keeping their New Year's resolutions due to the way their brains process dopamine. The research reveals that novelty seekers have less of a particular type of dopamine receptor, which may lead them to seek out novel and exciting experiences--such as spending lavishly, taking risks and partying like there's no tomorrow.

MAYWOOD, Ill. -- Moderate drinkers often have lower risks of Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive loss, according to researchers who reviewed 44 studies.

As a combat engineer in Iraq, Jeremy was supposed to find roadside bombs. They found him instead. Within 72 hours of each other, two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) went off within 15 feet of this father in his late 20s. The first set of blast waves, a moving wall of highly compressed air that emanates from an explosion, knocked him out briefly. The second left him dazed for about 30 minutes and produced ringing in his ears that disappeared within a week. These detonations did not visibly injure Jeremy (not his real name)—but he was never the same.

Improving blood flow to brain is a preventive strategy CHICAGO --- A slow, chronic starvation of the brain as we age appears to be one of the major triggers of a biochemical process that causes some forms of Alzheimer's disease. A new study from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine has found when the brain doesn't get enough sugar glucose -- as might occur when cardiovascular disease restricts blood flow in arteries to the brain -- a process is launched that ultimately produces the sticky clumps of protein that appear to be a cause of Alzheimer's. Robert Vassar, lead author,...

What makes us feel spiritual? It could be the quieting of a small area in our brains, a new study suggests. The area in question — the right parietal lobe — is responsible for defining "Me," said researcher Brick Johnstone of Missouri University. It generates self-criticism, he said, and guides us through physical and social terrains by constantly updating our self-knowledge: my hand, my cocktail, my witty conversation skills, my new love interest ... People with less active Me-Definers are more likely to lead spiritual lives, reports the study in the current issue of the journal Zygon.

A slow starvation of the brain over time is one of the major triggers of the biochemistry that causes some forms of Alzheimer's, according to a new study that is helping to crack the mystery of the disease's origins.

ScienceDaily (Dec. 24, 2008) — The brain acts as a computer to both store information and process that information. In a computer, separate devices perform these roles; while a hard disk stores information, the central processing unit (CPU) does the processing. But the brain is thought to perform both these functions in the same cells – neurons – leading researchers to ask if distinct molecules within the brain cells serve these different functions. In a discovery that may one day lead to the ability to erase debilitating painful memories and addictions from the brain, researchers at SUNY Downstate Medical Center...

Researchers at the University of Rochester have shown that the human brain—once thought to be a seriously flawed decision maker—is actually hard-wired to allow us to make the best decisions possible with the information we are given. The findings are published in today's issue of the journal Neuron.

New research by a Rice University psychologist clearly identifies the parts of the brain involved in the process of choosing appropriate words during speech. The study, published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could help researchers better understand the speech problems that stroke patients experience.

All that chocolate might actually help finish the bumper Christmas crossword over the seasonal period. According to Oxford researchers working with colleagues in Norway, chocolate, wine and tea enhance cognitive performance.

ScienceDaily (Dec. 20, 2008) — It turns out there's a scientific reason why older people tend to see the past through rose-colored glasses. Medical researchers have identified brain activity that causes older adults to remember fewer negative events than their younger counterparts. Neuroscientists from Duke University Medical Center have discovered that older people use their brains differently than younger people when it comes to storing memories, particularly those associated with negative emotions.

Adding another reason for people to watch their blood pressure, a new study from North Carolina State University shows that increased blood pressure in older adults is directly related to decreased cognitive functioning, particularly among seniors with already high blood pressure. This means that stressful situations may make it more difficult for some seniors to think clearly.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – All spiritual experiences are based in the brain. That statement is truer than ever before, according to a University of Missouri neuropsychologist. An MU study has data to support a neuropsychological model that proposes spiritual experiences associated with selflessness are related to decreased activity in the right parietal lobe of the brain. The study is one of the first to use individuals with traumatic brain injury to determine this connection. Researchers say the implication of this connection means people in many disciplines, including peace studies, health care or religion can learn different ways to attain selflessness, to...

Bye Bye, Beringia Anthropology and Archaeology of The Americas by Bill Jones One might think that Archeology sites throughout the World have produced many datable human remains. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ancient human remains have so rarely been found that these singular findings could not be connected to others to form chronologies about human evolution. The scarcity of human remains to be analyzed has prevented the sciences of Anthropology and Archaeology from forming conclusions about the cultural levels of ancient humans. We try to measure the culture of a people in terms of the totality of their...

The existence of a brain where no other soft tissues have survived is extremely rare, according to Sonia O'Connor, an archaeological researcher at the University of Bradford in northern England who helped authenticate the discovery. "This brain is particularly exciting because it is very well preserved, even though it is the oldest recorded find of this type in the U.K., and one of the earliest worldwide," she said. The old brain is unlikely to yield new neurological insights because human brains aren't thought to have changed much over the past 2,000 years, according to Chris Gosden, a professor of archaeology...

Researchers from Japan’s ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories have developed new brain analysis technology that can reconstruct the images inside a person’s mind and display them on a computer monitor, it was announced on December 11. According to the researchers, further development of the technology may soon make it possible to view other people’s dreams while they sleep. The scientists were able to reconstruct various images viewed by a person by analyzing changes in their cerebral blood flow. Using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine, the researchers first mapped the blood flow changes that occurred in the cerebral visual cortex...

Archaeologists have found the remains of what could be Britain's oldest surviving human brain. The team, excavating a York University site, discovered a skull containing a yellow substance which scans showed to be shrunken, but brain-shaped. Brains consist of fatty tissue which microbes in the soil would absorb, so neurologists believe the find could be some kind of fossilised brain. The skull was found in an area first farmed more than 2,000 years ago. More tests will now be done to establish what it is actually made of. The team from York Archaeological Trust had been commissioned by the university...

A Japanese research team has revealed it had created a technology that could eventually display on a computer screen what people have on their minds, such as dreams. Researchers at the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories succeeded in processing and displaying images directly from the human brain, they said in a study unveiled ahead of publication in the US magazine Neuron. While the team for now has managed to reproduce only simple images from the brain, they said the technology could eventually be used to figure out dreams and other secrets inside people's minds. "It was the first time in the...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2008 – The Air Force’s only traumatic brain injury center, at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, is diagnosing and treating predominantly Army patients with a focus on improving their chances of a full recovery. The center began as an ad-hoc clinic in February 2007 to treat redeploying soldiers at neighboring Fort Richardson, Air Force Maj. (Dr.) Peter Osterbauer, chief of neurology services for the 3rd Medical Group, told American Forces Press Service. The Army mobilized a team of 13 medical specialists to help the Air Force screen and treat the 25th Infantry Division’s 1st Stryker Brigade soldiers...

Men tend to perform better than women at tasks that require rotating an object mentally, studies have indicated. Now, developmental psychologists at Pitzer College and UCLA have discovered that this type of spatial skill is present in infancy and can be found in boys as young as 5 months old. While women tend to be stronger verbally than men, many studies have shown that adult men have an advantage in the ability to imagine complex objects visually and to mentally rotate them. Does this advantage go back to infancy? "We found the answer is yes," said Scott P. Johnson, a...

NEW YORK – Healthy people should have the right to boost their brains with pills, like those prescribed for hyperactive kids or memory-impaired older folks, several scientists contend in a provocative commentary. College students are already illegally taking prescription stimulants like Ritalin to help them study, and demand for such drugs is likely to grow elsewhere, they say."We should welcome new methods of improving our brain function," and doing it with pills is no more morally objectionable than eating right or getting a good night's sleep, these experts wrote in an opinion piece published online Sunday by the journal Nature.The...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers using closed-circuit televisions to create an illusion have made volunteers virtually swap bodies, even making women believe they were in a man's body and vice-versa. [Snip] The illusion only goes so far. The researchers said they could not fool their volunteers into thinking they were a box, for example.

ScienceDaily (Dec. 6, 2008) — University of California, Berkeley, researchers have shown for the first time that the brains of low-income children function differently from the brains of high-income kids. In a study recently accepted for publication in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, scientists at UC Berkeley's Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute and the School of Public Health report that normal 9- and 10-year-olds differing only in socioeconomic status have detectable differences in the response of their prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that is critical for problem solving and creativity. Brain function was measured by means of an electroencephalograph...

The brains of children from low-income families process information differently to those of their wealthier counterparts, US research suggests. Normal nine and 10-year-olds from rich and poor backgrounds had differing electrical activity in a part of the brain linked to problem solving. The Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience study was described as a "wake-up call" about the impact of deprivation. A UK researcher said it could shed light on early brain development. The 26 children in the study, conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, were measured using an electroencephalograph (EEG), which measured activity in the "prefrontal cortex" of the brain....

BRAIN POWER - People who are completely paralyzed due to illness or trauma are getting help communicating with a new technology that connects their brains to a computer. In the future, brain computer interface, or BCI, may restore movement to paralyzed people and allow amputees to move bionic limbs. Scott Pelley reports. Denise Schrier Cetta is the producer.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 29 (HealthDay News) -- British researchers say they've identified a "hate circuit" in the brain. This hate circuit shares part of the brain associated with aggression, but is distinct from areas related to emotions such as fear, threat, and danger, said researchers Professor Semir Zeki and John Romaya, of University College London's laboratory of neurobiology. The study was published online Oct. 29 in the journal PLoS One. "Hate is often considered to be an evil passion that should, in a better world, be tamed, controlled, and eradicated," Zeki said in a journal news release. "Yet to the biologist,...

WASHINGTON -- So intense have the Republicans' suspicions of their Democratic rivals become in the last weeks of this presidential race that they now are accusing the delightful Democratic vice presidential candidate, Sen. Joe Biden, of withholding the results of his brain scans from his recently released medical records. Their charge is false. The results of those brain scans are spread across several pages of the senator's records for all to see. Admittedly, those pages appear to be blank, but what did the Republicans expect? Have they not been listening to the great man's solemnities on the campaign trail? In...

Internet use 'good for the brain' Areas activated by reading a book in the brain of an experienced web user For middle aged and older people at least, using the internet helps boost brain power, research suggests. A University of California Los Angeles team found searching the web stimulates centres in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning. The researchers say this might even help to counter-act the age-related physiological changes that cause the brain to slow down. The study features in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. A simple, everyday task like searching the web appears to...

Researchers in the US found that contrary to the popular view that having children reduces a woman's brainpower, having children actually improves her lifelong mental agility and protects her brain against the neurodegenerative diseases of old age. The research was carried out by Dr Craig Kinsley, professor of neuroscience at the University of Richmond, Virginia, and colleagues, and will be presented at the Society for Neuroscience 2008 conference which is to take place from 15 to 19 November in Washington DC. Kinsley said that while a woman may experience an apparent loss of brain function while she is pregnant, this...

SEATTLE -- Science is becoming a more important part of catching a killer or terrorist and keeping the innocent out of jail. A Seattle neuroscientist is leading the way with technology based on a simple fact: your brain can't lie. An odd looking headband, flashing words on a computer screen, and a couple clicks of a mouse could be the secret to putting a murderer behind bars. "It's a game changer in the field of global security," said Dr. Larry Farwell, Chairman of Brain Fingerprinting Labs who developed "brain fingerprinting" - a lie detector test for the 21st century. While...

What's an aneurysm? What happens is a blood vessel becomes like a bulge, and that's due to a weakening of the wall of the blood vessel itself. The ones that we're most concerned about are occurring in the arteries. They can occur in arteries that feed the brain and they can occur in arteries in the body, as well. [In the case of brain aneurysms] the concern is that eventually that bulge will burst. And when it does burst, it leads to bleeding in one of the spaces of the brain called the subarachnoid space—the area [under the skull] that...

ADELAIDE, Australia, September 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Researchers within the University of Adelaide's new Centre for Stem Cell Research are aiming by the end of this year to show repair in stroke-damaged brains using stem cells taken from adult teeth. The world-leading research using dental pulp stem cells from extracted human teeth and stroke-affected rat brain tissue will be outlined as part of the launch of the Centre for Stem Cell Research. The focus of the new Centre will be on turning novel basic research into potential life-saving treatments and cures for serious conditions and diseases. The Centre will draw...

Eating veggies shrinks the brain 14 Sep 2008 MELBOURNE: Scientists have discovered that going veggie could be bad for your brain-with those on a meat-free diet six times more likely to suffer brain shrinkage. Vegans and vegetarians are the most likely to be deficient because the best sources of the vitamin are meat, particularly liver, milk and fish. Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause anaemia and inflammation of the nervous system. Yeast extracts are one of the few vegetarian foods which provide good levels of the vitamin. The link was discovered by Oxford University scientists who used memory tests, physical...

MELBOURNE: Scientists have discovered that going veggie could be bad for your brain-with those on a meat-free diet six times more likely to suffer brain shrinkage. Vegans and vegetarians are the most likely to be deficient because the best sources of the vitamin are meat, particularly liver, milk and fish. Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause anaemia and inflammation of the nervous system. Yeast extracts are one of the few vegetarian foods which provide good levels of the vitamin. The link was discovered by Oxford University scientists who used memory tests, physical checks and brain scans to examine 107 people...

MELBOURNE: Scientists have discovered that going veggie could be bad for your brain-with those on a meat-free diet six times more likely to suffer brain shrinkage. Vegans and vegetarians are the most likely to be deficient because the best sources of the vitamin are meat, particularly liver, milk and fish. Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause anaemia and inflammation of the nervous system. Yeast extracts are one of the few vegetarian foods which provide good levels of the vitamin. The link was discovered by Oxford University scientists who used memory tests, physical checks and brain scans to examine 107 people...

Once again, the remarkable run of neurological disease in prominent political figures has come to the forefront. The potentially fatal consequences of a ruptured brain aneurysm were recently underscored by the untimely and wholly unexpected death of Congresswomen Stephanie Tubbs Jones. Fortunately, for the newly-named Democratic vice-presidential nominee, his prognosis is excellent but, once again, because of the gravity and importance of the position he is aspiring to obtain, special circumstances supervene.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The main reason I am writing this column is that many people have asked me how I first realized I was suffering from a brain tumor and what I have done about it. But I also want to relate the reaction to my disease, mostly compassionate, that belies Washington's reputation. . . . . . When Zelda said to call 911, I again resisted, but she again prevailed. I promptly suffered another seizure in the ambulance, the second of three seizures that day. I gained admittance to the high-quality Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, which has...

LIFE OF THE MIND Daydream achiever A wandering mind can do important work, scientists are learning - and may even be essential By Jonah Lehrer | August 31, 2008 ON A SUNDAY morning in 1974, Arthur Fry sat in the front pews of a Presbyterian church in north St. Paul, Minn. An engineer at 3M, Fry was also a singer in the church choir. He had gotten into the habit of inserting little scraps of paper into his choir book, so that he could quickly find the right hymns during the service. The problem, however, was that the papers would...

ScientificAmerican.com called Savitz to get more information on brain aneurysms, like the one that precipitated the death of Tubbs Jones. An edited transcript of the conversation follows. What's an aneurysm? What happens is a blood vessel becomes like a bulge, and that's due to a weakening of the wall of the blood vessel itself. The ones that we're most concerned about are occurring in the arteries. They can occur in arteries that feed the brain and they can occur in arteries in the body, as well. [In the case of brain aneurysms] the concern is that eventually that bulge will...

A ruptured aneurysm is the cause of death for a Columbus Swat Officer who died Wednesday. The Columbus Division of Police said Tim Haley collapsed after complaining of a headache during a training exercise. Haley's death comes a week after the same medical condition claimed the life of Ohio Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones. "Brain aneurysms are fairly common in the general population, but they're sort of a dilemma for us in medicine because if they rupture they're very bad--but many of them do not rupture," Dr. Ron Budzik said. Budzik is a Neuro-Interventional Radiologist at Riverside Hospital. "Up to 50...

"The potentially fatal consequences of a ruptured brain aneurysm were recently underscored by the untimely and wholly unexpected death of Congresswomen Stephanie Tubbs Jones. Fortunately, for the newly-named Democratic vice-presidential nominee, his prognosis is excellent but, once again, because of the gravity and importance of the position he is aspiring to obtain, special circumstances supervene."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) issued the following statement Friday on Sen. John McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate: "The selection of a vice presidential candidate is one of the most significant and telling decisions a presidential candidate can make. John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin raises serious questions about his judgment. Why, when the country is fighting two wars, facing an uncertain economy and an energy crisis, did Senator McCain make the choice that he did?

LONDON (Reuters) - Magpies can recognize themselves in a mirror, highlighting the mental skills of some birds and confounding the notion that self-awareness is the exclusive preserve of humans and a few higher mammals. It had been thought only chimpanzees, dolphins and elephants shared the human ability to recognize their own bodies in a mirror. But German scientists reported on Tuesday that magpies -- a species with a brain structure very different from mammals -- could also identify themselves. "It shows that the line leading to humans is not as special as many thought," lead researcher Helmut Prior of the...

The human brain could become a battlefield in future wars, a new report predicts, including 'pharmacological land mines' and drones directed by mind control Rapid advances in neuroscience could have a dramatic impact on national security and the way in which future wars are fought, US intelligence officials have been told. In a report commissioned by the Defense Intelligence Agency, leading scientists were asked to examine how a greater understanding of the brain over the next 20 years is likely to drive the development of new medicines and technologies. They found several areas in which progress could have a profound...

University of Reading scientists have developed a robot controlled by a biological brain formed from cultured neurons. And this is a world's premiere. Other research teams have tried to control robots with 'brains,' but there was always a computer in the loop. This new project is the first one to examine 'how memories manifest themselves in the brain, and how a brain stores specific pieces of data.' As life expectancy is increasing in most countries, this new research could provide insights into how the brain works and help aging people. In fact, the main goal of this project is to...