Important Innovations

Yale University Breakthrough Research Source:  Yale School of Medicine - Pig Brain Cells Before (Left) and After (Right) May Lead to New Therapies for Brain Injuries and Stroke Experts in neuroscience are calling this research at Yale School of Medicine "mind blowing".  Results that put into question the fundamentals of neuroscience.  Yale neuroscientists have restored basic cellular activity in the brains of pigs 4 hours after they died.  Furthermore, the cells were able to maintain function for six hours.  Their hope is this research will lead to new therapies in treating human brain injuries and stroke that cause cells in the brain to die. BrainEX It took the scientists six years to create a system to do what was considered the impossible - bringing dead brain cells back to life.  They call it BrainEx.  They successfully used it on 300 dead pigs they acquired from a nearby pork processing plant.  The scientists say no animals were sa...

Brain Uses Two Clocks to Anticipate Source:  University of California Innovative Research - University of California - Berkeley It's called anticipatory timing by the brain. And it's a 2 barreled system.  One type of timing relies on memories from past experience.  A second type is based on rhythm.  They work together.  An example is putting your foot on the car's gas pedal as the light starts turning from red to green.  Berkeley neuroscientists have discovered that in music, sports, speech and other activities we calculate movements in two parts of the brain. Brain Timekeepers The neural networks supporting these timekeepers are split between 2 different parts of the brain.  The scientists discovered that timing isn't a unified process.  Their research has documented that there are 2 different ways we make temporal decisions and they are dependent on different parts of the brain. Your  Brain Actively Anticipating the Future Be...

Human Brain Cell Transplant Provides Incredible Detail on How Brain Operates Human Brain Cells Breakthrough Neuroscience by Imperial College London Scientists have created a window into the brain, which allows them to watch in real-time and with incredible details how human brain cells develop, connect and communicate with each other. The potential of their approach may result in better understanding of brain conditions like autism and provide eventual cures. Volunteer Donators Researchers from Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge transplanted human brain cells from volunteers into a mouse brain.  It allowed them to study the way human brain cells interact in a natural environment. Down Syndrome The team used the technique to model Down Syndrome using brain cells donated by 2 individuals with the condition.  They saw significant differences in the brain cells from those with Down Syndrome and those without it.  They noted the cells are n...

New Research:  Aerobics Improve Cognitive Performance Source:  Maryanne Kane's Photo of Katie Kane in Competition Running to Prime Your Mind Our brains are at their best when our bodies are in motion, like running, walking, biking rather than sedentary and sitting at a desk.  A new study by German scientists just confirmed it.  As a runner, I've always thought that I do my most deliberative thinking during a morning run.  Now science confirms it.  Wondered if as a jogger, biker, runner, walker and exerciser, you've had the same instincts?  Do you do your best thinking in motion?  Active Motion Works Scientists from Ludwig-Maximilian University in Germany took electroencephalogy brain readings on 24 participants when exercising and at rest.  They found that exercise and upright posture improved visual working memory (that's the ability to maintain visual info to do ongoing tasks) significantly over passive and sea...

Infant's Brain Foreshadows the Adult's Emotional Control and Cognition UNC's Breakthrough Neuroscience Research Medical researchers at University of North Carolina Health Care have made a remarkable series of discoveries. Using MRI's, they've shown that the brain circuits needed for successful emotional regulation in adults emerge in babies one to two years old.  These brain circuits are the foundation of successful emotional development and IQ. Predictors of Future Behavior and IQ The growth rates of the emotion circuits in the brain during the child's second year "predict", according to the scientists, anxiety and emotional regulation at the age of four.  It also predicts the child's IQ at the age of 4.  Abnormal processing in the circuits is associated with depression, anxiety and schizophrenia in adults. From the MRI's of Babies The importance of these discoveries is the ability to foresee the individual's emotional contro...

Findings:  Caltech Time Traveling Illusions Trick the Brain Source:  California Institute of Technology Rabbit Illuson How the Brain Retroactively Computes Rapid Audio & Visual Stimuli Researchers at California Institute of Technology have developed 2 new illusions to document time travelling.  The illusions, called The Rabbit Illusions as tracked above, reveal how the senses influence each other as they are received at rapid speed by the brain.  In particular, how sound can trigger and create visual illusions after the fact. Time Travel through "Postdiction" by the Brain With the onrush of sensory perceptions to the brain, the illusions occur so rapidly that they trigger a brain phenomenon called postdiction as opposed to prediction.  Postdiction happens when a stimulus that occurs later can retroactively affect our perception of an earlier event.  That's time-traveling at the pure scientific research level. Innovative and Breakthrough N...

All-Night-ers Don't Work Students should make sleep an educational priority.  A good night's sleep is essential for human memory.  Neuroscientists are just starting to understand why.  All-night-ers don't work for exams.  In fact, they're the worst thing you can do. UK Sleep Research Scientists at the Royal Holloway University in the UK have documented that sleep is essential to embedding knowledge in the brain.  Sleep affects memory, especially the recall needed to learn language. To Sleep or Not to Sleep The researchers documented two groups of students learning new vocabulary words.  The group that got a good night's sleep far outperformed the group that pulled-off all night-ers.  The bottom line:  prolonged sleep is actually good for kids and adults.  It's critical for brain function and healthy body rhythms.  And, for students, it's a priority for better test performance and grades.

Gentle Electric Pulse Boosts Memory University of Pennsylvania Innovation Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated that gentle, imperceptible electric impulses passing through the brain improve memory and information retention. 15% Improvement In fact, the electric pulses increase memory and information retention up to 15%.  The electrical stimulation is precisely timed and targeted to the left side of the brain in the left lateral temporal cortex. Real-Time The Penn team developed a system to monitor the brain's activity real-time and trigger stimulation based on the activity.  The electrical pulses are unfelt and at a safe level. Exciting, Personalized Machine Learning Models Twenty five neurosurgical patients being treated for epilepsy participated in the study at clinical sites around the US.  The scientists developed patient-specific, personalized machine learning models. They programmed the stimulator to deliver pulses only when me...

4D Videos thru 4D Goggles University of California researchers have created 4D goggles that have the ability to make entertainment content 4-dimensional.  Meaning, more immersive through multi-sensory experience. UC San Diego Discovery UC San Diego neuroscientists developed 4D goggles. They can be synchronized with entertainment content like movies, music, games and virtual reality to greatly enhance the experience.  They bring immersive, multisensory effects near to the face to deliver the feeling of really being there. Ongoing Research This is fascinating research.  The 4D goggles allow viewers to feel, during a movie, a slight touch when an object like a spacecraft is approaching. To do this with the 4D goggles, the neuroscientists mapped brain areas that integrate the sight and touch of a looming object.  That aided their understanding of the perceptual and neural mechanisms of multisensory integration and how more than a dozen brain areas were found to...

Feeling Younger - Your Brain May be Aging Slower Younger than Your Years Each day we all get older.  But there are some people that don't feel their age.  Scientists have taken that seriously.  And MRI brain scans on elderly who feel younger than their years show fewer signs of brain aging compared with those who feel their age and older. A Brain First The research was conducted by South Korean neuroscientists and published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.  It demonstrates the first link between subjective age - how old you feel - and brain aging. Act Your Age Aging isn't a fixed process.  Everyone is affected differently mentally and physically.  Then there's the emotional component and how old you feel.  Many feel older or younger than their actual years.  The questions are many but particularly why.  This is the first attempt to investigate brain aging processes as a possible reason for differences in subjective age. Gray Ma...