Like any other part of your body, your brain needs daily exercise. Neglecting your brain health can make you vulnerable to degenerative brain diseases like Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. As a neuroscientist, I’ve spent decades guiding patients with memory problems through brain-enhancing habits and exercises — many of which I practice, too. Here … Read more
I never go grocery shopping when I’m hungry. People who do are more tempted to buy unhealthy comfort snacks and packaged goods, rather than whole, nutritious and satisfying options. I’m very intentional about what I put in my body. So, as a nutritional psychiatrist and author of “This Is Your Brain on Food,” people often … Read more
Karen Hopkins: This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m Karen Hopkin. Hopkins: Ever notice that some music just really makes you want to dance? Well, a new study shows that it is, indeed, all about the bass. Because researchers have found that, during a concert, boosting the bass bumps up the boogying. The results appear … Read more
About 430 million people around the world experience disabling hearing loss. In the United States, approximately 37.5 million adults report some trouble hearing. Hearing loss can happen when any part of the ear or the nerves that carry information on sounds to the brain do not work in the usual way. For instance, damaged hair … Read more
A gene recognized as the strongest risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) ages the way cholesterol moves around the brain and as we age, this altered movement likely contributes to loss of learning and memory, a team of researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) … Read more
While the physical differences between humans and non-human primates are quite distinct, a new study reveals their brains may be remarkably similar. And yet, the smallest changes may make big differences in developmental and psychiatric disorders. Understanding the molecular differences that make the human brain distinct can help researchers study disruptions in its development. A … Read more
Stem cell-derived neurons from combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) react differently to a stress hormone than those from veterans without PTSD, a finding that could provide insights into how genetics can make someone more susceptible to developing PTSD following trauma exposure . The study, published October 20 in Nature Neuroscience, is the first … Read more
The prevalence, age of onset, and clinical symptoms for virtually all neuropsychiatric disorders differ between men and women. Among the disorders with pronounced sex bias are Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), where the ratio of males/females diagnosed is approximately 4 to 1. Whether this skewed ratio arises from roles played in brain … Read more
Calorie restriction has long been associated with reduced seizures in epilepsy. New research from Boston Children’s Hospital helps explain how fasting affects neurons in the brain and could lead the way to new approaches that would avoid the need for fasting or restrictive diets. The findings were published August 30 in the journal Cell Reports. … Read more
UF Scripps Biomedical Research scientists have discovered a key gene that is shedding light on how people develop tolerance to pain-relievers over time, a problem that raises risk of addiction and overdose. The finding could open the door to a new generation of pain medications designed to function differently, and lower the chance patients could … Read more