'Brain-to-brain communication' developedOctober 15th, 2009 LONDON - Reading minds would soon be possible, thanks to British scientists who have developed a system that creates "brain to brain communication."
The system, developed by a team at the University of Southampton, makes it possible to send messages formed by one person's brain signals through an internet connection to another person's brain many miles away. Christopher James said the experiments were "the first baby steps" towards technologies that would allow people instantly to send thoughts, words, and images directly into the minds of others, reports The Times.
Heavy boozing can lead to brain damaging 'walnut effect'October 13th, 2009 MELBOURNE - Doctors have warned heavy drinkers against alcohol abuse that can lead to the "pickled walnut" effect. Dr Mark Daglish, Director of Addiction Psychiatry at Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH), explained excessive alcohol could lead to serious brain damage and may cause memory deficits.
Learning to juggle can improve brain's networkingOctober 12th, 2009 LONDON - Juggling can significantly improve networking in the brain, say researchers. The popular trick strengthens brain's white matter through which messages pass within the nervous system.
Brain waves have direct influence on behaviour, says studyOctober 5th, 2009 LONDON - Brain waves can have a direct influence on a person's behaviour, say researchers after an experiment found that people can be made to move in slow motion by boosting one type of brain wave. "At last we have some direct experimental proof that brain waves influence behaviour in humans, in this case how fast a movement is performed," said Peter Brown of University College London (UCL).
How colour plays musical chairs in the brainOctober 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - While the brain is attuned to link a colour with a particular object, researchers have found that the familiarity to colour stays with the brain separately, and it can assign it to some other object. The researchers at the University of Chicago have for the first time found that the brain processes the shape of an object and its colour in two separate pathways, and, though the object's shape and colour normally are linked, the neural representation of the colour can survive alone.
New brain pathway for regulating weight, bone mass identifiedSeptember 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Yale researchers have claimed that hormone leptin, which is critical for normal food intake and metabolism, appears to regulate bone mass and suppress appetite. The hormone appears to regulate bone mass and weight by acting mainly through serotonin pathways in the brain.
New method to turn blood-brain barrier into therapy delivery systemSeptember 22nd, 2009 LONDON - Researchers at University of Iowa have discovered a way to turn the blood brain barrier into a production and delivery system for getting therapeutic molecules directly into brain cells. Working with animal models of a group of fatal neurological disorders called lysosomal storage diseases, the researchers found that these diseases cause unique and disease-specific alterations to the blood vessels of the blood brain barrier.
Both sides of the brain required to understand idiomsSeptember 15th, 2009 LONDON - Researchers in Italy have discovered that both the left and the right hemisphere of the brain are used to understand idioms. Alice Proverbio from the University of Milano-Bicocca and colleagues used an electro-physiological analysis to investigate the role of the two cerebral hemispheres in idiom comprehension.
Smoking ban in UK leads to fall in heart attacksSeptember 14th, 2009 LONDON - The ban on smoking in public places in Britain has reaped great results, as it has led to a huge fall in the number of heart attacks, according to a study commissioned by the Department of Health. The results of the study revealed that heart attack rates dropped by about 10 per cent in England in the year after the ban was introduced in July 2007, according to The Sunday Times.
Brain training's efficacy in preventing dementia being tested in UKSeptember 7th, 2009 LONDON - British people would be put on test to see if brain-training can help to prevent diseases like Alzheimer's. The Alzheimer's Society and the BBC are running Brain Test Britain to assess whether mind-training-such as with hand-held computers-can really help ward off dementia.
Saturated fat in certain foods can spur Alzheimer'sSeptember 6th, 2009 SYDNEY - Certain foods high in saturated fat can increase the likelihood of developing Alzheimer's disease, says a new study. Before now, there has been no dietary driven approach to the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease, said John Mamo, professor of metabolic fitness at Curtin University.
Human brain could be replicated in a decadeSeptember 5th, 2009 WASHINGTON - If scientists get their way, it would be possible to replicate human brain in 10 years. According to neuroscientist Professor Henry Markram of the Brain Mind Institute in Switzerland, a model that replicates the functions of the human brain is feasible in 10 years.
Scientists will replicate human brain in 10 yearsSeptember 4th, 2009 LONDON - Within 10 years, scientists will be able to create a model that replicates the functions of the human brain says a neuroscientist. "I absolutely believe it is technically and biologically possible.
Injectable gel helps regenerate brain tissue in traumatic injuriesSeptember 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a breakthrough study, a Clemson University bioengineer has successfully regenerated brain at the site of a traumatic brain injury with the help of a novel biomaterial gel. Assistant professor of bioengineering Ning Zhang has shown that the biomaterial gel made up of both synthetic and natural sources has the potential to spur the growth of a patient's own neural stem cells in the body, structurally repairing the brain injury site.
Playing Tetris could boost brain powerSeptember 2nd, 2009 LONDON - Playing Tetris may help increase brain efficiency, says a new research. Researchers from Mind Research Network in Albuquerque, New Mexico, examined the effects of practice in the brain using two image techniques.
