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brain research

Research articles and news stories tagged with brain research

·April 6, 2023·5 min read

Studying Consciousness Without Affecting It

Researchers found a way to assess consciousness without external stimulation, using a little-used approach where volunteers squeeze a force sensor with their hand when they breathe in and release it when they breathe out, resulting in more precise and sensitive measurements that may help improve treatment for insomnia and coma reversal.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 6, 2023·3 min read

Beige Fat Could Hold Key to Age-Related Metabolism Change

Stimulating the production of white adipose tissue, or beige fat, helps to reverse a slowing metabolism. The findings could help ward off age-related weight gain and prevent metabolism disorders.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 6, 2023·4 min read

How Environment Influences Physical Activity

Study investigates the influence of social and built environments on people's physical activity levels.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 6, 2023·4 min read

How Our Brain Makes New Decisions

Researchers have identified a mechanism within the brain that underlies when we apply stored knowledge to novel decision-making situations.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 6, 2023·5 min read

Hear, Hear! How Music and Sound Soothes and Connects Us

Researchers explore how sounds and music have the power to soothe, energize, and connect us to one another.

This shows an older lady taking her temperature

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·April 6, 2023·4 min read

The Cold Truth: Frequent Common Colds Linked to Alzheimer’s Risk

Suffering from frequent colds and flu may impact brain aging, accelerate cognitive decline, and could increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. In mice, intermittent experiences of moderate inflammation, such as that caused by the flu or common cold, caused impaired cognition and disrupted neural communication.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 6, 2023·2 min read

Sleep Disturbances Prevalent in Long COVID

41% of Long-COVID patients suffer from moderate-to-severe sleep disruptions, a new study reports.

This shows a woman standing alone in a crowd

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 5, 2023·3 min read

Lonely People’s Divergent Thought Processes May Contribute to Feeling Alone in a Crowded Room

Lonely people's neural responses differ from their less lonely peers, suggesting lonely people may see the world differently from those around them, even if they have a large social network, and this may contribute to feeling lonely.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 5, 2023·3 min read

The Social Consequences of Using AI in Conversations

When using AI-enabled chat tools, people have more effective conversations, perceive each other more positively, and use more positive language.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 5, 2023·3 min read

How to Prevent a High-Fat Diet From Throwing Metabolism Out of Whack

Eliminating SAPS3 from the genome of mice allowed the AMPK protein complex to activate and maintain normal energy balance, even with high-fat meals. This discovery could pave the way for developing a new approach to metabolic disorders such as obesity, diabetes, and fatty liver disease.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Pain

·April 5, 2023·4 min read

Pain Out of Control

Brain areas associated with pain processing do not function correctly in those with fibromyalgia, a new study reveals.

This is a cross section of a mouse brain

Featured Neuroscience

·April 5, 2023·4 min read

Danger or Pleasure? How We Learn to Tell the Difference

Scientists have discovered that somatostatin-expressing neurons in the amygdala help distinguish between good and bad stimuli, responding differently to rewards versus punishments and even different types of rewards. Inhibiting these neurons in mice resulted in an inability to learn to associate sounds with rewards or punishments, providing potential insight into addiction and opportunities for new treatments.