SONG: Listening
SONG: “Listening” [Download] . ARTIST: grant. SOURCE: Scientific American, 13 July 21, “The Neuroscience of Taking Turns in a Conversation,” as used in the post […]
neurology
The neurology of conversations, or how our brains know when it’s our turn to speak.
Scientific American turns to chatty songbirds to figure out how it is that our brains process cues telling us when to talk and when to […]
Magic mushrooms make lasting changes to the brain (and that’s a good thing).
Technology Networks reports on new Yale University research that apparently explains why psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, has a long-lasting antidepressant effect. The […]
Picture your hand writing a message, and this brain-implant computer will type it.
I’ll just copy the Science News headline here and say “Brain implants turn imagined handwriting into text on a screen“: A 65-year-old man had two […]
Sugar – as in sweet sodas – disrupts kids’ brain development.
Translational Psychiatry has some research that should be making a bigger splash. It indicates that feeding kids more sugar affects the development of their brains […]
Brain-cell clusters can mimic a newborn’s brain.
Science magazine looks at a mini-brain in a mini-jar – a cluster of stem cells coaxed into forming an “organoid,” a clump of cells that […]
A pacemaker for your brain.
Discover surveys the state of the research into deep-brain stimulation (DBS), using electrical implants to treat conditions from Parkinson’s to chronic pain, OCD, depression and […]
Shrews can shrink and regrow their brains.
The Scientist magazine investigates what’s going on inside the skulls of the tiniest terrestrial mammals. Etruscan shrews, it turns out, cope with winter’s demands by […]
Tiny robots stitch nerves together
Science News has a report on nanoneurosurgery, using super-small, magnetically controlled machines to encourage separated neuron fibers to make new connections: Engineers Eunhee Kim and […]
They’ve mapped the part of a bird’s brain that gives them consciousness like ours.
Science magazine shares an anatomical survey of birds’ brains that reveals details of the brain section that appears to function like our cerebral cortex – […]
The rhythm of an out-of-body experience.
Nature looks at dissociative states, and the specific rhythm in a single layer of neurons that can make everything around you seem unreal: The neurological […]
Puberty can erase childhood trauma’s brain effects
Science News has some optimistic news about the long-term neurological effects of childhood trauma. We know that they can create lasting physical changes inside the […]
Social isolation damages this brain circuit in kids. And we can fix it with light.
Science Daily has a Mt. Sinai School of Medicine study that isolates a specific cluster of brain cells that regulate social behavior – and that […]
Dancing is better than repetitive exercise for keeping elderly brains fit.
PLOS ONE has an interesting look at brain plasticity – that is, your ability to learn new things, change the way you do things, and […]
Smell makes music inside our brains. Each aroma, a different melody.
Scientific American organizes some notes on the neurology of scent, with experiments that show the brain distinguishes between similar scents in the same way we […]