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Home / News / Tags / human brain
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Stories about: human brain |
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When people go blind, they lose one of the most important senses an individual can have. Single-handedly, sight accounts for the usage of massive amounts of processing power inside the brain. When the sense vanishes, the brain is left with a lot of “computing hours” to spare, and scientists at the Univers... |
19 November 2009
18:01 GMT |
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Over the past two million years or so, we have evolved to the point where we've reached about the maximum possible size of our brains. As anthropologists may argue, our brain capacities may actually be getting smaller, and all for a simple reason – the anatomical difficulties that birthing a large-headed c... |
17 November 2009
06:00 GMT |
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Our ability to recognize shapes and patterns is something that scientists believe was an acquired trait, spawned from the environment in which a new individual was born. But a new scientific study, published this week in the online issue of the journal Psychological Science, seems to show that people have a sense... |
14 November 2009
03:49 GMT |
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For many years, a large number of scientists have argued that human evolution may have come to a standstill, and even that we may be regressing. These ideas were mostly founded on the lack of observable evidence to support the claim that we were still moving ahead on the evolutionary ladder. More recent data pointed ... |
14 November 2009
03:35 GMT |
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For the first time ever, experts believe that they may have identified a sign that could lead to deciphering the mystery behind the conscious and unconscious activity inside the human brain. This has been a goal in neurology and other fields of research related to the cortex since their inception, but finding the key... |
13 November 2009
17:31 GMT |
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Many of us have, at least at one point in our lives, come to a situation when we had to tell the person we were talking to something along the lines “I don't remember if I've told you this, but ...” Apparently, this type of behavior is not something that is entirely owed to the fact that people ... |
13 November 2009
15:31 GMT |
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For centuries, children have been educated in the spirit of their families, without too much outside influence, and less influenced by their peers than today. It's arguable whether those children turned out to be individuals or not, but the main point is that they were not subjected to the many perks that childr... |
13 November 2009
10:37 GMT |
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Perhaps the most important thing that separates us from other animals is the fact that we are able to use tools proficiently, and to a great extent. One could easily argue that the instruments are what allowed our species to evolve to the point it's at today, alongside fire and speech. These three aspects of hum... |
12 November 2009
03:56 GMT |
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We've all experienced this at least once – smell something and get instantly transported back into our childhood. Strong memories are associated with various smells and situations, a fact which has been known for quite some time. But a new set of studies seems to show that the smells we experience for the ... |
11 November 2009
17:31 GMT |
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In many European countries, adding subtitles in a foreign movie in the native tongue of their residents is a standard norm. Experts who devised this system many years ago said that this would help the masses get to know a second language, by creating associations between the words and the text. But a new investigatio... |
11 November 2009
08:37 GMT |
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Words and gesture may seem to be two distinct sets of communication tools, and someone would expect that they are processed in different parts of the brain. However, this does not seem to be the case, as indicated by a new scientific study funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders... |
10 November 2009
14:31 GMT |
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For a long time, scientists have believed that those who get ill on account of smells that are harmless to most people are simply faking it, and not necessarily experiencing that many adverse effects. But a new investigation seems to reveal the fact that the very way these persons process smell is different from that... |
9 November 2009
10:06 GMT |
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Scientists reveal that music, while being a form of entertainment for most people, is something much more for those who actually play a musical instrument, or who otherwise create music. This is especially true for children who play in school orchestra, bands, or who have been practicing a certain instrument since th... |
7 November 2009
05:46 GMT |
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Over recent years, the level of miniaturization in the electronics industry has increased considerably, with circuits now being printed in the millions on just a few square centimeters. With these advancements, researchers have also made headway in the field of implantable electronic devices, such as cochlear and ret... |
5 November 2009
10:36 GMT |
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For many years, neuroscientists believed that the “headquarters” of human self-awareness were located in a portion of the brain called the insula, which allows us to realize the things that go on inside the body. For just as many years, this explanation had sufficed, and experts moved onwards with their r... |
3 November 2009
20:01 GMT |
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In a find that could have massive implications for handling people suffering from speech disorders, experts at the Yale-affiliated Haskins Laboratories have determined that learning how to speak also changes the way sounds are heard in the human brain. The discovery, which is detailed in this week's issue of the... |
3 November 2009
15:01 GMT |
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Glioblastoma multiforme is one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer, and one that is deadly in the vast majority of cases. There is a small number of methods to stop its growth at this point, and even fewer that actually have an effect, no matter how small. Now, experts propose that combining regular chemothe... |
29 October 2009
20:21 GMT |
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Scientists who recently completed a new genetic research on the issue say that at least 30 percent of Americans may be innate bad drivers. The experts argue that those who have a variant of a certain gene were proven in the investigation to not be able to keep their cars on the road as efficiently as other people cou... |
29 October 2009
02:17 GMT |
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Over the years, it has become fairly obvious that people who had their arms and/or legs amputated can still sense their limbs, as if they were still attached to their bodies. It has also become clear that people cannot only do that, but they can also imagine that they are moving their missing arms or legs in manners ... |
28 October 2009
02:46 GMT |
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In many of today's jobs, people are required to make judgments of value in the heat of the moment, by weighing the pros and cons of a situation as fast as possible, and then deciding on a course of action that they need to communicate to others. When this is done by team leaders and managers, their decisions hav... |
27 October 2009
06:01 GMT |
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A manned mission to Mars poses more difficulties than simply finding the correct type of engine and hull structure for the spacecraft that will take astronauts there. It is also a journey into the depths of human limits, and at this point mission planners and psychologists are more worried about the human element of ... |
24 October 2009
16:11 GMT |
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When it picks up sudden movements or sounds, the brain of most animals – including humans – needs to reach a conclusion fast, and to act on that so as to keep the body out of harm's way. A new scientific study has revealed that there are numerous neural pathways that compete for attention inside the ... |
24 October 2009
03:31 GMT |
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Nanotechnology is today perhaps the most promising research field in the world. In the future, scientists believe that a large number of innovations will be based on it, ranging from better solar sensors, to better computer and electronics devices, and better treatments for a large number of conditions. However, in o... |
22 October 2009
08:59 GMT |
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The human brain is a very complex construct, and one that is able to analyze the situations it finds itself in rationally. When this does not happen, adverse effects occur, such as falling for a lie and being misled, or experiencing stress and fear. Exposure to stress – in the sense of adverse stimuli – c... |
22 October 2009
06:08 GMT |
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University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) neuroscientist Andrew Frew is currently in charge of a research team that plans to unlock the secret of human cognitive skills and intelligence. The way the scientists plan to do that is by carefully and methodically observing the wiring patterns inside the cortex, and h... |
21 October 2009
16:31 GMT |
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Over the past few years, as personal music players have become more and more common and affordable, athletes around the world have started wearing their headphones during workouts, saying that their favorite tunes give them more energy, and make the long sessions seem to be funner. Exactly why this happens is still s... |
21 October 2009
11:00 GMT |
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In spite of the criticism parents have subjected the Internet to, in terms of the damage it can cause to their children, recent scientific studies by researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) have shown that using the World Wide Web can, in fact, boost the brain functions considerably. The exp... |
21 October 2009
06:43 GMT |
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According to a new scientific study, it may be that conditions such as epilepsy (a disease of the brain) and heart arrhythmia (irregular beats of the heart) may have a single molecular root problem. Misfiring electrical signals cause both these afflictions, and researchers say that the newly found knowledge may help ... |
19 October 2009
21:01 GMT |
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For a long time, scientists have been curious as to whether knowing more than one language has a positive effect on the brain, or if it benefits thinking patterns. A large number of studies on the issue was carried out, but the conclusions were mixed. Now, a new work done by a European Commission-appointed group brin... |
19 October 2009
09:40 GMT |
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In a number of medical conditions, the amyloid precursor protein (APP) plays a major role. Doctors and researchers have had their eyes set on the molecule for a long time, attempting to figure out whether it has a good effect on the organism, or a bad one. New investigation is beginning to reveal that the influence i... |
19 October 2009
04:49 GMT |
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The placebo effect has been documented on numerous instances. It is most obvious in the field of medicine, where patients told that they were given drugs for their pain or diseases seem to get better even though the pill itself contained only sugar or flour. Such an instance was recently documented using advanced obs... |
17 October 2009
06:54 GMT |
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A group of scientists has recently taken a new, high-resolution set of readouts on the human brain, collected directly from the cortex via wires implanted in the brain. The initiative has provided the scientists with an unprecedented look at how language processing functions, and has also evidenced the fact that part... |
16 October 2009
03:48 GMT |
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Over recent years, a growing number of astronomers has come to believe that the Big Bang did not create just a single Universe, as in the one we inhabit, but many different ones, which only appear locally uniform. The Multiverse theory is catching wings fast, and physicists have recently taken another step for bringi... |
16 October 2009
03:20 GMT |
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Experts from the University of Michigan (UM) have recently announced the development of a new type of brain implant that could have the ability to boost people's capacity of interacting with their prosthetic devices, leading to an increased quality of life. Robotic appendages could thus become a lot more control... |
15 October 2009
04:09 GMT |
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A new scientific study has demonstrated that people engaging in complex tasks experience a significant increase in brain power, as well as a reshaping of some of the circuitry at work in the cortex. The science team, based at the Oxford University, reported the find in the latest issue of the respected journal Nature... |
12 October 2009
05:52 GMT |
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Scientists at the Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) have recently been able to determine that the “white noise” our brains make changes considerably once we start learning new things, hinting at the fact that it helps reshape the neural connections that allow us to memorize new information. ... |
10 October 2009
05:51 GMT |
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Scientists at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have recently managed a breakthrough in understanding how the human brain makes sense of the physical world around it. They compare the process to navigating the planet using Google Maps. For a general overview, a default map works. But, when you... |
7 October 2009
09:05 GMT |
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For a long time, communicating through the power of thought has been considered to be a cheap trick that con artists use to lure innocent victims into their games. Now, scientists at the University of Southampton (USouthampton) have managed to prove that this can, indeed, happen between two people. The new study cons... |
6 October 2009
18:31 GMT |
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Despite the fact that religion is present in all cultures, and it is widely promoted around the world, scientists have yet to determine if religious belief is in any way different from normal cognition. While it is clear that the human brain reacts differently to religious or non-religious statements, the basic mecha... |
5 October 2009
17:11 GMT |
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Experts at the University College London (UCL), in the United Kingdom were following a recent study able to conclude that brain waves have a significant influence on human behavior. In a series of tests, they attached a number of electrodes on volunteers' heads, and then ran a small alternating current through t... |
3 October 2009
06:35 GMT |
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The human brain is arguably the most complex natural system in the world today. After millions of years of evolution, it grew to an impressive average size, and encompasses billions of neurons, tied together via a massive number of synaptic connections. Understanding how it functions is one of mankind's greatest... |
3 October 2009
05:53 GMT |
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Producing the neurotransmitter dopamine outside the brain is one of the main goals in medicine today, but devising setups for this, as in creating dopamine-producing neurons, has proven to be extremely difficult. Now, this goal may be one step closer to reality, thanks to a new study by experts at the Swedish medical... |
2 October 2009
18:51 GMT |
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It's common knowledge that the human brain features billions of neurons, all connected with each other via synapses and other channels. These connections are all related to everyday feelings, including one of the most powerful, fear. Studies on neural fear have usually focused on fear-conditioning experiments, b... |
1 October 2009
04:43 GMT |
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When a child is born, the best possible way to describe what their brain looks like is chaos. Neural networks are not fully formed yet, and the general aspect is one of disarray. However, out of that chaos, highly ordered neurons begin to pop up, and eventually form centers with very specific tasks. The mechanism und... |
29 September 2009
10:11 GMT |
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It would arguably be extremely hard to image the modern world without multitasking. It has become such a widespread habit, that virtually everyone does it. Children do it, their parents too, and business people are among the representatives of the genre. But very few of us have stopped to think where this ability com... |
29 September 2009
03:03 GMT |
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An international team of scientists has recently made a groundbreaking discovery, when experts have discovered that people who were partially blind, due to injury to half of their brains, were able to “see” facial expressions and body language in pictures of other individuals. All of the images were shown... |
29 September 2009
01:25 GMT |
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Over recent years, the issue of subliminal messages has been fiercely debated by the international scientific community, as far as its effects on the human brain go. Several studies have analyzed how we pick up this type of messages, but flaws in their designs meant that their conclusions could not be trusted. Now, a... |
28 September 2009
03:36 GMT |
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The age of science-fiction may not remain the product of overactive imagination for long. Scientists are already working on a method of extracting images people have seen, by tapping directly into their brain. After completing a modeling program that shows precisely how images are represented in the human brain, the ... |
25 September 2009
20:51 GMT |
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As evidenced countless times in jails around the world, including the US-operated Guantanamo Bay prison, in Cuba, torture has not yet been completely removed from common practice, when it comes to interrogating prisoners. During the Bush administration, torture was used extensively to collect data from so-called terr... |
22 September 2009
19:31 GMT |
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Experts with an international research initiative have recently determined that patients in vegetative states, or who are minimally conscious, can still learn new things, even if they lack self-awareness. The report, which appears in the latest online issue of the respected scientific journal Nature Neuroscience, als... |
21 September 2009
03:29 GMT |
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