

Assorted human interest posts.
April 18, 2014
Medical abnormalities, ages of 18 and 25, amazon, Boston, Boston-area colleges, business, Business News, casual marijuana use, CNN Health, degree of abnormalities, Hotels, human-rights, Journal of Neuroscience, Marijuana, marijuana use, medicine, mental-health, neuroimaging, number of joints, number of joints you smoke, research, Science, Science News, smoking a joint, smoking a joint occasionally, technology, Technology News, travel, vacation, young adults Leave a comment


April 6, 2014
Science $100-million BRAIN Initiative, 2012, 2013, amazon, BRAIN Initiative, business, Business News, European Union, furious debate, Hotels, Human Brain Project, human-rights, Journal of Neuroscience, medicine, mental-health, neuroscience, Neuroscience Art, neuroscience into the halls of power, Neuroscience Memories, Neuroscience Memory, Obama, Obama Administration, Obama administration’s $100-million BRAIN Initiative, pop culture, research, Science, Science News, technology, Technology News, The Atlantic, The Obama administration, travel, vacation 1 Comment

If 2012 was the year neuroscience exploded into pop culture, 2013 was the year it stepped into the halls of power..The Obama administration’s $100-million BRAIN Initiative stirred up furious debate, as proponents cheered to see so much funding and press attention thrown at large-scale efforts to map the human brain, while opponents claimed that the whole thing might be a gigantic waste of valuable resources. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the European Union’s Human Brain Project sparked similar disputes – disputes that continue even as unexpected breakthroughs have begun to surface.

September 21, 2013
Medical amazon, bbc, bbc news, brain, brain cell, brain repair, Brain Science, brain's circuitry, business, Business News, Cell (biology), cell death, Death, Dr Chiara Cirelli, Hotels, immature oligodendrocytes, Journal of Neuroscience, Myelin, oligodendrocytes, rapid eye movement, rapid eye movement sleep, REM sleep, research, Science, Science News, Scientists, Sleep, sleep lab, stress responses, technology, Technology News, travel, University of Wisconsin, vacation, why we need to sleep, Wisconsin, wisconsin team, www bbc co uk, your brain 2 Comments

Scientists believe they have discovered a new reason why we need to sleep – it replenishes a type of brain cell.
Sleep ramps up the production of cells that go on to make an insulating material known as myelin which protects our brain’s circuitry.
The findings, so far in mice, could lead to insights about sleep’s role in brain repair and growth as well as the disease MS, says the Wisconsin team.
The work is in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Dr Chiara Cirelli and colleagues from the University of Wisconsin found that the production rate of the myelin making cells, immature oligodendrocytes, doubled as mice slept.
The increase was most marked during the type of sleep that is associated with dreaming – REM or rapid eye movement sleep – and was driven by genes.
In contrast, the genes involved in cell death and stress responses were turned on when the mice were forced to stay awake.
Precisely why we need to sleep has baffled scientists for centuries. It’s obvious that we need to sleep to feel rested and for our mind to function well – but the biological processes that go on as we slumber have only started to be uncovered relatively recently.

March 29, 2013
Science amazon, anxiety, asking the right questions, brain, business, climate, connectomics, depression, Drugs, functional networks, gaming, Health, high I.Q., Hotels, I.Q., intelligence, intrepid reader, Journal of Neuroscience, learning, measurable differences, mental-health, neurophysiology, research, Science, Science News, technology, Technology News, the connectome, travel, vacation, videogames 1 Comment

Click link below picture
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Where in the brain, exactly, is intelligence? Is a high I.Q. just a result of a flawed test – or do high-I.Q. brains have specific, measurable differences from others? Answers await, Intrepid Reader – but first we have to make sure we’re asking the right questions.
Let’s start with the big news: a study just published in the Journal of Neuroscience reports that when a certain area of the frontal lobe has unusually wide and active connectivity, a higher I.Q. tends to follow. The trouble is, though, that a high I.Q. only reflects certain types of mental abilities – so what this discovery really means is that a certain functional network in the brain plays a major role in certain kinds of smart thinking.
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.Click link below for article:
http://theconnecto.me/2012/08/brains-and-brilliance/
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