Patient rescued from 23 years in 'coma' was conscious all throughNovember 23rd, 2009 LONDON - A leading European neurologist has said many cases of brain injuries around the world are wrongly diagnosed as coma after helping rescue a patient who was conscious all through the 23 years he was thought to be in coma. Steven Laureys, head of the Coma Science Group and Department of Neurology at Liege University Hospital, spoke after writing about the astounding case of Rom Houben, a Belgian who was thought to have slipped into a persistent vegetative state 26 years ago.
Astounding case of Rom Houben: 23 years in 'coma', but conscious all along!November 23rd, 2009 LONDON - A leading European neurologist has said many cases of brain injury around the world are wrongly diagnosed as 'coma' after discovering that a car-crash victim thought to have been in coma for the past 23 years was conscious all the time. Steven Laureys, head of the Coma Science Group and Department of Neurology at Liege University Hospital, spoke after writing about the astounding case of Rom Houben, a Belgian who was thought to have slipped into a persistent vegetative state 23 years ago.
Separated Bangaldeshi twin Trishna wakes up after surgeryNovember 19th, 2009 LONDON - One of the Bangaldeshi twins separated in a 25-hour operation in Australia has awoken from an induced coma. Trishna and Krishna, who were rescued from an orphanage in Bangladesh two years ago and brought to Australia where they have been nursed back to health, were separated by a team of 16 surgeons, doctors and nurses at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne.
Hypnosis has 'real' effect on the brainNovember 16th, 2009 LONDON - Hypnosis has a "very real" effect on the brain that can be easily picked up via scans, according to Hull University researchers. In an imaging study of hypnotised participants, researchers showed decreased activity in the parts of the brain linked to daydreaming or letting the mind wander.
Head-mounted microscope allows better viewing of brain activityNovember 10th, 2009 LONDON - A small microscope mounted on an animal's head provides a better view of how the brain processes visual and other stimuli on the move. The device contains a laser, which can scan the activity of neurons through a tiny hole in the skull, made under anaesthetic prior to the experiment, reports New Scientists.
Juggle your way to a sharper brainOctober 17th, 2009 LONDON - Learning to juggle helps one develop a sharper and better coordinated brain, say a new study. "We tend to think of the brain as being static, or even beginning to degenerate, once we reach adulthood," says Heidi Johansen-Berg clinical neurologist, University of Oxford, who led the study.
'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.
The brain has a built in predictive text function like those on mobileOctober 15th, 2009 LONDON - Former guerrillas in Colombia have helped neuroscientists locate which parts of the brain are involved in literacy, a finding which could explain why we can sometimes finish the sentences of others. The study, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, has enabled the study's researchers to see how brain structure changed after learning to read.
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).
Scientists crack brain's numerical codeSeptember 25th, 2009 LONDON - Researchers have found that they can tell what number a person has just seen by observing and analysing the pattern of brain activity. These findings confirm the notion that numbers are encoded in the brain via detailed and specific activity patterns and open the door to more sophisticated exploration of a human's high-level numerical abilities.
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.
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.
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.
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.
