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- Your Brain on Computers: Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime
The New York Times | 24th August 2010
- When people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting downtime that could allow them to learn better, or come up with new ideas.
- Your Brain on Computers: Studying the Brain Off the Grid, Professors Find Clarity
The New York Times | 16th August 2010
- Five neuroscientists spent a week on a hiking and rafting trip to understand how heavy use of technology changes how we think and behave.
- The Brain?s Secret to Sleeping Like a Log
Wired | 9th August 2010
- In this clamorous modern world, heavy sleepers have an advantage: They can snooze despite noisy neighbors and car alarms, and they?re capable of conking out on a red-eye flight to awake refreshed and smiling.
But how do these sound sleepers do it? According to a neuroscience study published today in Current Biology, they?re blessed with a [...]
- Intel, AMD vie to rewire PC's brain
CNET News | 26th August 2010
- The two longstanding chip rivals seem to agree on the PC processor's future. But they tap into different strengths to get there.
- Brain may take an acid trip into migranes
Ars Technica | 24th August 2010
- Migraines remain poorly understood and, partly as a consequence, we have little in the way of effective treatments. Although increased activity in the brain—both increased blood flow and elevated firing by nerve cells—has been implicated, the connection between those phenomena and the symptoms remains obscure. Now, researchers have identified a new gene that is mutated in individuals that have inherited a migraine disorder, and identified yet another factor that can contribute to migraines.
The gene was isolated in patients that had both severe migraines, and a set of other disorders (glaucoma, kidney disorders) that have been associated with loss of a protein, the sodium-bicarbonate cotransporter (SLC4A4), that shuffles ions across cell membranes. Because its targets include bicarbonate, which can buffer against pH changes, some of the problems caused by its loss are associated with increased acidity of bodily fluids.
The simplest interpretation of the results would be that the problems in SLC4A4 are unrelated to the migraines, but the researchers had access to DNA from a panel of other individuals who suffer from inherited migraine disorders; they found four other individuals that also had mutations in SLC4A4, a result that is extremely unlikely to occur by chance. It appears that all of these individuals can make the sodium-bicarbonate cotransporter, but the protein never ends up on the cell surface, so it can't perform its normal function.
So, how could altered pH induce migraines? The authors note that SLC4A4 is expressed by astrocytes, brain cells that are closely associated with neurons. They propose that loss of the gene leads to locally-altered pH, which influences how the neurons release and retrieve ions when firing off nerve pulses. These changes could ultimately increase the neurons' activity, causing the onset of migraine symptoms.
PNAS, 2010. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1008705107 (About DOIs).
Read the comments on this post
- Microelectrodes help brain signals 'speak'
CNET News | 7th September 2010
- Using two grids of 16 microelectrodes implanted atop the brain, Utah researchers are one step closer to enabling paralyzed people to speak via their thoughts.
- Overuse of digital devices may lead to brain fatigue
The Economic Times | 25th August 2010
- When people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting down time that could allow them to better learn and remember information, or come up with new ideas.Overuse of digital devices may lead to brain fatigueOveruse of digital devices may lead to brain fatigue
- Brain Drain: Real Result of Digital Overload
CBS News | 26th August 2010
- Research Is Revealing Growing Number of Negative Effects on Gray Matter, Social Interactions; But There Are Remedies
- Brain Drain: Real Result of Digital Overload?
CBS News | 26th August 2010
- Research Is Revealing Growing Number of Negative Effects on Gray Matter, Social Interactions; But There Are Remedies
- Meditation boosts part of brain where ADD, addictions reside
Ars Technica | 20th August 2010
- Spending some time meditating may improve the integrity and efficiency of certain connections in the brain, according to a new study. When a group of participants meditated regularly over the course of a month, brain scans showed increased nerve connections in the areas that govern reward processing and decision making. The authors of the study hope this particular kind of meditation can be adapted to help those conditions with manifestations in the same area of the brain, such as ADD, addiction, and dementia.
In the experiment, a small group of college students were instructed to do integrative body-mind training, or IBMT, in half-hour chunks for a total of 11 hours during one month. The IBMT involved a combination of activities, including body relaxation, mental imagery, and mindfulness training accompanied by specific kinds of music.
Compared to a control group that underwent only relaxation training, brain scans of the students who meditated for a total of at least 11 hours during the month had slightly increased connections in the white matter that connects the anterior cingulate cortex to the rest of the brain; by some measures, these connections were also more robust. The ACC processes decisions, conflicts, and rewards, and deficits in that area have been linked to ADD, depression, dementia, addictions, and schizophrenia.
While the study was small in scale, the authors hope that the training might eventually be used for therapy or intervention for these conditions, as well as a general way of making people less impatient, greedy, and anxious. The experiment's results also serve as a small probe into the nature of brain plasticity, one that the researchers hope to build upon in the future.
PNAS, 2010. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1011043107 (About DOIs).
Read the comments on this post
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- Your Brain on Computers: Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime
- When people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting downtime that could allow them to learn better, or come up with new ideas.
- Your Brain on Computers: Studying the Brain Off the Grid, Professors Find Clarity
- Five neuroscientists spent a week on a hiking and rafting trip to understand how heavy use of technology changes how we think and behave.
- The Brain?s Secret to Sleeping Like a Log
- In this clamorous modern world, heavy sleepers have an advantage: They can snooze despite noisy neighbors and car alarms, and they?re capable of conking out on a red-eye flight to awake refreshed and smiling. But how do these sound sleepers do it? According to a neuroscience study published today in Current Biology, they?re blessed with a [...]
- Intel, AMD vie to rewire PC's brain
- The two longstanding chip rivals seem to agree on the PC processor's future. But they tap into different strengths to get there.
- Brain may take an acid trip into migranes
- Migraines remain poorly understood and, partly as a consequence, we have little in the way of effective treatments. Although increased activity in the brain—both increased blood flow and elevated firing by nerve cells—has been implicated, the connection between those phenomena and the symptoms remains obscure. Now, researchers have identified a new gene that is mutated in individuals that have inherited a migraine disorder, and identified yet another factor that can contribute to migraines. The gene was isolated in patients that had both severe migraines, and a set of other disorders (glaucoma, kidney disorders) that have been associated with loss of a protein, the sodium-bicarbonate cotransporter (SLC4A4), that shuffles ions across cell membranes. Because its targets include bicarbonate, which can buffer against pH changes, some of the problems caused by its loss are associated with increased acidity of bodily fluids. The simplest interpretation of the results would be that the problems in SLC4A4 are unrelated to the migraines, but the researchers had access to DNA from a panel of other individuals who suffer from inherited migraine disorders; they found four other individuals that also had mutations in SLC4A4, a result that is extremely unlikely to occur by chance. It appears that all of these individuals can make the sodium-bicarbonate cotransporter, but the protein never ends up on the cell surface, so it can't perform its normal function. So, how could altered pH induce migraines? The authors note that SLC4A4 is expressed by astrocytes, brain cells that are closely associated with neurons. They propose that loss of the gene leads to locally-altered pH, which influences how the neurons release and retrieve ions when firing off nerve pulses. These changes could ultimately increase the neurons' activity, causing the onset of migraine symptoms. PNAS, 2010. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1008705107 (About DOIs). Read the comments on this post
- Microelectrodes help brain signals 'speak'
- Using two grids of 16 microelectrodes implanted atop the brain, Utah researchers are one step closer to enabling paralyzed people to speak via their thoughts.
- Overuse of digital devices may lead to brain fatigue
- When people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting down time that could allow them to better learn and remember information, or come up with new ideas.Overuse of digital devices may lead to brain fatigueOveruse of digital devices may lead to brain fatigue
- Brain Drain: Real Result of Digital Overload
- Research Is Revealing Growing Number of Negative Effects on Gray Matter, Social Interactions; But There Are Remedies
- Brain Drain: Real Result of Digital Overload?
- Research Is Revealing Growing Number of Negative Effects on Gray Matter, Social Interactions; But There Are Remedies
- Meditation boosts part of brain where ADD, addictions reside
- Spending some time meditating may improve the integrity and efficiency of certain connections in the brain, according to a new study. When a group of participants meditated regularly over the course of a month, brain scans showed increased nerve connections in the areas that govern reward processing and decision making. The authors of the study hope this particular kind of meditation can be adapted to help those conditions with manifestations in the same area of the brain, such as ADD, addiction, and dementia. In the experiment, a small group of college students were instructed to do integrative body-mind training, or IBMT, in half-hour chunks for a total of 11 hours during one month. The IBMT involved a combination of activities, including body relaxation, mental imagery, and mindfulness training accompanied by specific kinds of music. Compared to a control group that underwent only relaxation training, brain scans of the students who meditated for a total of at least 11 hours during the month had slightly increased connections in the white matter that connects the anterior cingulate cortex to the rest of the brain; by some measures, these connections were also more robust. The ACC processes decisions, conflicts, and rewards, and deficits in that area have been linked to ADD, depression, dementia, addictions, and schizophrenia. While the study was small in scale, the authors hope that the training might eventually be used for therapy or intervention for these conditions, as well as a general way of making people less impatient, greedy, and anxious. The experiment's results also serve as a small probe into the nature of brain plasticity, one that the researchers hope to build upon in the future. PNAS, 2010. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1011043107 (About DOIs). Read the comments on this post
(Page 1 of 1)
