Free Republic

What's mine is mine: Brain scans reveal what's behind the aversion to loss of possessions Did you ever wonder why it is so difficult to part with your stuff? A new study reveals fascinating insights into the specific neuropsychological mechanisms that are linked with the potential loss of possessions. The research, published by Cell Press in the June 12 issue of the journal Neuron, has important implications for both neuroscience and economics and may even explain why you are reluctant to sell your iPod. People tend to prefer the items they own when compared to similar items that they do...

Face scans for air passengers a step nearer By Tim Hall Last Updated: 2:47am GMT 07/12/2006 Passengers at Heathrow had their fingerprints taken for the first time yesterday, in tests which could lead to routine biometric scanning at Britain's airports. A high-tech scanner was unveiled by the Government and eventually all passengers could be required to have iris and face scans. Initially, passengers are being invited to have their fingerprints scanned in return for skipping boarding queues. If the scheme, known as miSense, proves succesful, it could be rolled out across the UK. Yesterday Liam Byrne, the immigration minister, said...

Scientists say they have been able to monitor people's thoughts via scans of their brains.Teams at University College London and University of California in LA could tell what images people were looking at or what sounds they were listening to. The US team say their study proves brain scans do relate to brain cell electrical activity. The UK team say such research might help paralysed people communicate, using a "thought-reading" computer. In their Current Biology study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, people were shown two different images at the same time - a red stripy pattern in front of...

People having a scan that involves radioisotopes should be warned that they could set off security radiation alarms in airports for up to 30 days after the procedure, state the authors of a case report in this week's issue of THE LANCET. Richard Underwood (Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK) and colleagues are calling for patients to be issued with an information card after diagnostic or therapeutic procedures involving radioisotopes as standard practice. Over 18 million diagnostic and therapeutic procedures involving radioisotopes are carried out each year. Radioisotopes in scans such as those involving the thyroid gland, bone, and blood flow...

For a brief moment, Dr. Thomas Giannulli, a Seattle internist, thought he was getting in at the start of an exciting new area of medicine. He was opening a company to offer CT scans to the public - no doctor's referral necessary. The scans, he said, could find diseases like cancer or heart disease early, long before there were symptoms. And, for the scan centers, there was money to be made. The demand for the scans - of the chest, of the abdomen, of the whole body - was so great that when Dr. Giannulli opened his center in 2001,...