I just happened across this video from National Geographic showing how methamphetamines affect the brain, both in the short term and the long term. It gives an informative, concise look into what’s happening in the brain to make the drug so very addictive–and how that addiction can ruin the sense of joy that everyday life [...]
Tags: brain function, brain health, drugs, meth, methamphetamines, neurology, video
Posted October 13, 2010 by Marghi Merzenich under Drugs, Neuroscience
It’s common wisdom that women become emotionally unhinged when it’s their “time of the month,” right? Supposedly, we get weepy, angry, and just generally difficult whenever our periods come along. Is it true? For some women, sure, at least on occasion. Others aren’t as affected. This emotional instability has long been associated with hormonal changes [...]
Tags: brain function, depression, health, menstruation, MRI, neurology, PMS, postpartum depression, scientific studies, women
Posted September 20, 2010 by Marghi Merzenich under Neuroscience, Research studies
I happened across this video of Stephen Wiltshire, an autistic man whose ability to remember incredible detail and draw it with near perfection is extraordinary. If he flies in a helicopter over a city just once, he can recreate the city perfectly in a drawing. The buildings have the right number of columns and windows. [...]
Tags: amazing, art, autism, brain function, savant, Stephen Wiltshire, video
Posted September 1, 2010 by Marghi Merzenich under Autism, Memory
Do you ever read about a study that’s received a million dollar grant and think, “Who would spend a million dollars to study THAT? And what kind of scientists would want to spend their time on it?” That’s what I first thought when I heard about research on sea slug brains. I couldn’t figure out [...]
Tags: Aplysia californica, brain function, Eric Kandel, Memory, scientific studies, sea slugs
Posted August 17, 2010 by Marghi Merzenich under Evolution of the Brain, Memory, Neuroscience, Research studies
Perhaps you’ve heard that we humans are special in the animal world because our brains are so very, very big for our size. Not true, as it turns out. Sure, they’re big compared to a bird brain or a dog brain, but in the primate world our brain size is pretty unremarkable–at least according to this [...]
Tags: brain function, craniometry, intelligence, IQ tests, neurology, science claims, scientific studies, Steven Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man
Posted August 4, 2010 by Marghi Merzenich under Evolution of the Brain, Neuroscience, Odds and Ends
Viewing television and playing video games each are associated with increased subsequent attention problems in childhood.
Tags: brain function, Brain plasticity, children, lifestyle, scientific studies, video games
Posted July 9, 2010 by Steven Aldrich under Neuroscience, Research studies
There was a deeply jarring article in the New York Times earlier this week that told the story of an extended Colombian family with unprecedented rates of early-onset Alzheimer’s. How their incredible suffering might hold the key for discovering a cure for Alzheimer’s is the subject of the article. Young people in this family grow [...]
Tags: Alzheimer's, brain function, Colombia, neurology, prevention, scientific studies
Posted June 4, 2010 by Marghi Merzenich under Alzheimer's disease, Research studies
I’d like to share a great educational tool from the Alzheimer’s Association website. It’s a 16-slide Brain Tour that shows the differences between a healthy brain and one with Alzheimer’s. The tour has fantastic roll-over visuals that make it easy to understand what changes in the brain of an Alzheimer’s patient and how it affects [...]
Tags: aging, Alzheimer's, Alzheimer's Association, brain function, brain tour, neurology
Posted April 12, 2010 by Marghi Merzenich under Alzheimer's disease, Neuroscience
I just found out that more than half of babies born in developed countries today will live to be more than 100 years old. That’s a lot of centenarians. Apparently, with each passing year humankind (in rich countries, at least) gains an average of 3 months of extra life expectancy, thanks to medical advances. As [...]
Tags: aging, brain fitness, brain function, centenarians, medical advances, old age
Posted April 7, 2010 by Marghi Merzenich under Neuroscience, Research studies
Multiple studies have shown that Posit Science training programs produce many benefits for healthy adults by improving cognitive performance. There is also great interest in the science community for using our products to address cognitive decline in clinical populations. The goal of brain plasticity based training programs is to re-normalizing brain function through rigorous and [...]
Tags: brain function, Brain plasticity, brain training, cancer, chemobrain, chemotherapy
Posted March 24, 2010 by Peter Delahunt under Benefits of Brain Fitness, Brain Fitness Program, Brain plasticity, Neuroscience, Research studies