The Science of ‘Inside Out’
Pixar’s latest movie gets a lot right about how the emotions work. - Dacher Keltner and Paul Ekman Source: The Science of ‘Inside Out’
Patients with Recurrent Depression Have Smaller Hippocampi
The brains of people with recurrent depression have a significantly smaller hippocampus (the part of the brain most associated with forming new memories) than healthy individuals, according to a study of nearly 9,000 people called the ENIGMA study. - News Staff Source: Patients With Recurrent Depression Have Smaller Hippocampi
Scientists Have Discovered How The Month You’re Born Matters For Your Health
A new study suggests that your birth month has a connection with the diseases you might develop in your lifetime. - Ana Swanson Source: Scientists have discovered how the month you're born matters for your health I The Sydney Morning Herald
After Learning New Words, Brain Sees Them as Pictures
When we look at a known word, our brain sees it like a picture, not a group of letters needing to be processed. That's the finding from a Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, which shows the brain learns words quickly by tuning neurons to respond to a complete [...]
Researchers Find Hunger Pangs Drive People to Acquire More Non-Food Objects
A team of researchers with members from institutions in the U.S. and Hong Kong has found that when people feel hunger, in addition to attempting to quash their pangs by eating, they will also acquire more non-food items. - Bob Yirka Source: Researchers find hunger pangs drive people to acquire more non-food objects
Glancing at a Grassy Green Roof Significantly Boosts Concentration
A University of Melbourne study shows that glancing at a grassy green roof for only 40 seconds markedly boosts concentration. The study, published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, gave 150 students a boring, attention-sapping task. The students were asked to press a key as a series of numbers repeatedly flashed on a computer screen, [...]
The Human Family Tree Bristles with New Branches
Scientists reported finding another species of ancient hominid, Australopithecus deyiremeda, fanning debate over the pace of evolution and the number of human forebears. - Carl Zimmer Source: The Human Family Tree Bristles With New Branches - NYTimes.com
Back Pain is the Biggest Cause of Ill Health in the World
If your back is aching, you are not alone. Back pain causes more ill health than any other condition, including heart disease and malaria, a major international study has found. An analysis of the health of 188 countries found lower back aches cause more years lived in pain than anything else. - Fiona Macrae, Science Editor [...]
Motherhood Permanently Alters the Brain and Its Response to Hormone Therapy Later in Life
Hormone therapy (HT) is prescribed to alleviate some of the symptoms of menopause in women. Menopausal women are more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease but not other forms of dementia, and HT has been prescribed to treat cognitive decline in post-menopausal women with variable degrees of effectiveness. New research by Dr. Liisa Galea, [...]
Our Dogs Can Read Our Minds: The New Neuroscience of Animal Brains and Understanding
We might well wonder, though, whether animals do go beyond reading the expressions of emotions, and understand what others are thinking. In the quest to identify what might be unique to the human mind, one might well ask whether non-human animals have a theory of mind. In fiction, perhaps, they do. Eeyore, the morose donkey [...]