09/09/2009 - 3:53am

Male Brains and Female Brains: Nature or Nurture?

Scientists have established that there are definitely anatomical differences between male and female brains. Are these differences caused by male/female behavior or do these differences cause the male/female behavior?

Using sophisticated MRI scanning, Peg Nopoulos, Jessica Wood and colleagues at the University of Iowa have been trying to shed light on the nature vs. nurture conundrum.

09/06/2009 - 7:17am

New Brain Technology Helps Understanding Brain Function

A new way of using MRI scanners has been developed that will help doctors and scientists to understand how our brains function. The new technique is called Diffusion Tensor Imaging. DTI tracks the motion of water molecules in the brain which allows us to see where nerve fibers led and give scientists the ability to map the fiber bundles that are wiring together in the cortex of the brain, called connectomes. Until now, scientists have been using fMRI which doesn’t measure brain function directly.

09/06/2009 - 5:37am

Moderate Drinking May Actually Be Helpful to the Brain

According to an analysis of several studies that was published in The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, people over 60 who consume moderate amounts of alcohol have  reduced  risk for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.
 
15 studies that followed more than 28,000 subjects for at least two years were analyzed for the publication. Male drinkers reduced their risk for dementia by 45 % as compared to non-drinkers and women by 27%.

08/27/2009 - 8:03am

Summer Vacation Takes Its Toll on Young Minds

Now that the summer vacation is just about behind us, it is time to evaluate what that long break does to all the things children learned during the school year.
 
Research has shown that children can lose an average of two months learning over the summer months if they don’t stay mentally active and are mentally stimulated. When they do finally return to classes, it may take more than one month to get back into the swing of things and get back on track with their lessons.
 

08/27/2009 - 3:00am

Children, Bilingualism and Brain Plasticity

Studies have found that the best age to learn a language is between birth and 7. This leaves most of the population out of learning a second language well enough to be considered a native speaker. Scientists have been looking into why children are able to learn languages so quickly and whether there is any way to apply the ability to adult language learning.

08/27/2009 - 2:55am

Obesity and the Brain

It is known that obesity and overweight take their toll on our bodies- increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and cancer. Now there is scientific evidence that obesity and even overweight have a detrimental effect on our brains as well. Recent research has shown that obese people have 8% less brain tissue than people who are of normal weight and overweight people 4%. The brains of obese people looked 16 years older than the brains of people who were lean, and overweight people’s brains looked 8 years older.

08/27/2009 - 2:09am

Multitasking and Multitaskers- More Means Less

Today it seems to be the norm to be multi tasking- doing more than one thing at a time. We get more and more information from different sources, which we are expected to process and handle.
 
Multitasking- no matter what form it takes- means that our brains must use their “executive control function” which is associated with the brain’s prefrontal cortex and the parietal cortex.
 

08/20/2009 - 8:01am

Texting and Driving Don’t Mix

We’ve written about how dangerous it is to talk on a cell phone while driving. Driving demands a great deal of cognitive investment from every single driver, no matter how old or young they are, no matter how experienced they are. Driving is a very complicated task and any activity that takes our attention away from the task on hand, reduces our driving ability and makes driving more dangerous.

08/18/2009 - 8:26am

Stress and our Brains

It is widely recognized that stress is bad for us and scientists are becoming more aware of just how bad stress is for different systems in or bodies. Stress can raise blood pressure, can make our arteries stiffer; it can suppress our immune system; it has been show to raise the risk of diabetes, depression and Alzheimer’s disease.

Scientists have found that chronic stress rewires our brains in such a way that it makes us repeat the behaviors that are stressing us out to begin with.

07/23/2009 - 3:17am

Driving, Cell Phones and Cognitive Abilities

Cell phone use while driving has been in the news lately. The NY Times recently reported about safety research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The NHTSA concluded that cell phone use and driving don’t mix well, but these conclusions were never released to the public. Many states are discussing whether to pass legislation banning cell phone use while driving. Other states and officials dismiss the dangers inherent in driving and talking on the phone.

Is talking on a cell phone while driving dangerous?

Here are some figures: