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·August 7, 2012·2 min read

Children’s Healthy Diets Lead to Healthier IQ

Children fed healthy diets in early age may have a slightly higher IQ, while those on heavier junk food diets may have a slightly reduced IQ, according to new research.

Featured Neurology

·August 7, 2012·3 min read

Making It Easier to Learn to Read: Dyslexia Caused by Signal Processing in the Brain

Major step in understanding the cause of dyslexia is taken. Scientists have discovered an important neural mechanism underlying dyslexia and shown that many difficulties associated with dyslexia can potentially be traced back to a malfunction of the medial geniculate body in the thalamus.

Featured Neuroethics Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·August 6, 2012·2 min read

Pupil Dilation Reveals Sexual Orientation

Researchers used a specialized infrared lens to measure pupillary changes to participants watching erotic videos. Pupils widened most to videos of people who participants found attractive, thereby revealing where they were on the sexual spectrum from heterosexual to homosexual.

Featured Genetics

·August 2, 2012·3 min read

Planarians Offer A Better View of Eye Development

Planarian flatworms have come under intense study for their renowned ability to regenerate any missing body part, even as adults. But now they may take on a starring role as a model system for studying eye development and eye diseases in vertebrates, including humans.

Brain Cancer Featured Genetics Neurology

·August 1, 2012·3 min read

Researchers Discover Gene that Permanently Stops Cancer Cell Proliferation

Researchers discovered a mutant form of Chk1 gene that when expressed in cancer cells, permanently stopped their proliferation and caused cell death without the addition of any chemotherapeutic drugs. This study illustrates an unprecedented finding, that artificially activating Chk1 alone is sufficient to kill cancer cells.

Featured Neurology

·August 1, 2012·2 min read

Artificial Butter Flavoring Ingredient Linked to Key Alzheimer’s Disease Process

A new study raises concern about chronic exposure of workers in industry to a food flavoring ingredient used to produce the distinctive buttery flavor and aroma of microwave popcorn, margarines, snack foods, candy, baked goods, pet foods and other products. It found evidence that the ingredient, diacetyl (DA), intensifies the damaging effects of an abnormal brain protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

Featured Neuroscience

·July 30, 2012·3 min read

Brains Are Different in People with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory

UC Irvine scientists have discovered intriguing differences in the brains and mental processes of an extraordinary group of people who can effortlessly recall every moment of their lives since about age 10. Research offers the first scientific findings about nearly a dozen people with this highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM).

Featured Neuroscience

·July 27, 2012·2 min read

Connectomics: Mapping the Neural Network Governing Male Roundworm Mating

Researchers determined how the neurons and muscles are connected in a decision-making neural network important for mating in C. elegans. The team also accurately measured the weights of those connections, i.e., an estimate of the strength with which one neuron or muscle communicates with another.

Electrophysiology Featured

·July 25, 2012·2 min read

Cylindrical Cell Structure Parts May Aid in Targeting Diseases Such as Cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s

The model of microtubule assembly that most people accept shows the individual subunits, dimers of the protein tubulin, just adding to the grow cylinder. But another model indicates that tubulin dimmers first form an open sheet structure that later closes into the cylinder. Xing and his team concluded that their computational study of the models indicate that the second model should be seriously considered for further testing.

Brain Cancer Featured Neurology

·July 24, 2012·3 min read

New Probe Provides Vital Assist in Brain Cancer Surgery

A new probe developed uses an innovative fluorescence-reading technology to help brain surgeons distinguish cancerous tissue from normal tissue. The probe tool, now already in use at the Cancer Center for brain surgery, may one day be used for surgeries for a variety of cancers.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·July 24, 2012·5 min read

Virtual Reality Allows One to Feel Own Arm is Three to Four Times the Length of Real Arm

A study shows that using virtual reality, an arm up to three or possibly even four times the length of a person’s real arm can be felt as if it was the person’s own arm, even if it incorporates strong asymmetries in the body shape.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·July 23, 2012·3 min read

Synthetic Stimulants Called Bath Salts Act in the Brain Like Cocaine

Results of a new study offer compelling evidence for the first time that mephedrone, like cocaine, does have potential for abuse and addiction. “The effects of mephedrone on the brain’s reward circuits are comparable to similar doses of cocaine,” Dr. Malanga, a professor of neurology, pediatrics and psychology at UNC School of Medicine said. “As expected our research shows that mephedrone likely has significant abuse liability.”

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