Summary: A new neuroimaging study provides an insight into the neurobiology of those willing to commit terrorist acts.

What makes movies that are sad or scary so popular? For that matter, why do people enjoy roller-coasters, bungee jumping, or any of the countless other activities that seem to serve no purpose except to make people feel terrified, however briefly? Is there a positive benefit to exposing yourself to these kinds of intense negative experiences? According to recent studies, there may be.

Two proteins central to the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease act as prions – spreading through tissue like an infection by forcing normal proteins to adopt the same misfolded shape. 

A simple tweak to the sleeping patterns of ‘night owls’ – people with extreme late sleeping and waking habits – could lead to significant improvements in sleep/wake timings, improved performance in the mornings, better eating habits and a decrease in depression and stress.

People with polydactyly — who have more than five fingers per hand — have better dexterity and rewired brains that can control these extra digits.

The pursuit of science is usually an unending stream of embarrassments for the human ego. No, the sun doesn’t revolve around us. No, we’re not all that different from common animals. No, we’re not even the only humans. But, in some ways at least, our brains really are special.

A VA San Diego study finds that Vets and service members with a history of combat-related mild traumatic brain injury have much higher levels of abnormally fast brain waves in a region that plays a key role in consciousness.

Researchers say Pfizer should have published Enbrel analysis. Pfizer says its decision was based on science.

The protocol uses EEG to control virtual avatars and robotic exoskeleton walkers while the patient wears a “tactile shirt” that offers sensory feedback.

Experiences such as poverty, residential instability, or parental divorce or substance abuse, can affect executive function and lead to changes in a child’s brain chemistry.

It is changing the way we pay attention, remember things and interact with other people, say scientists.

The human brain can’t contend with the vastness of online shopping.

Health dept reports three more cases in people who visited Hawaii Island.

Neuroscientists identify a brain circuit that helps break decisions down into smaller pieces.

Simple steps can shift the body clock and improve people's mental health, say researchers.

There’s a method to the madness of the teenage brain. In the foothills of the Sierra Mountains, a few hours east of San Francisco, are the Moaning Caverns, a cave system that begins, after a narrow, twisting descent of 30-some feet, with an abrupt 180-foot drop. The Park Service has found ancient human skeletons at the bottom of the drop. Native Americans living there at the time didn’t make human sacrifices. Instead, these explorers took one step too far in the gloom. The skeletons belonged to adolescents.

Development could transform ability of hearing-impaired to cope with noisy environments

By better understanding anxiety circuits in our brains, researchers may learn what goes awry in people with anxiety disorders.

Creatures from migratory eels and other fish species to insects to birds tap into the Earth’s magnetic field to navigate, sometimes many thousands of miles. But so far, evidence has been scant for any such magnetic sense in humans. Now, research suggests that some people do indeed perceive magnetic fields, albeit unconsciously. In response to a changing magnetic field, so-called alpha brainwaves...

In microgravity, astronauts’ brains fill with fluid and it doesn’t drain for months after they return to Earth, which may be why their vision worsens

Compound that knocks out a DNA repair pathway enhances cisplatin treatment and helps prevent drug-resistance.

A new breakthrough is offering hope to people living with Alzheimer’s disease and their families. Praveen Nekkar, a professor at the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy, has discovered that two common medications for depression and mood disorders — fluoxetine and paroxetine — have the potential to slow the advancement of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. The finding, published in the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience, is significant because it could be the key to preventing and ultimately curing the disease. It could not come at a more critical time, as the numbers of those living with Alzheimer’s disease reach epidemic proportions.

Neuralink, if Elon Musk is to be believed, could be the next step in human evolution. The company's Neural Lace technology could help stave off the potential downsides of AI to humanity and could even trigger the Technological Singularity. In the following article, we'll try to lift the lid on this secretive company and see what the technology hopes to achieve. Welcome to the future of mankind!

Air pollution is much worse for health than people had thought, increasing the risk of Alzheimer's significantly. Meanwhile, air quality is getting worse.

Artist Tony Luciani was testing out a new camera when his 91-year-old mother, Elia, snuck into the background of his photos. The spontaneous images that resulted sparked a years-long collaboration, with Luciani documenting his mom's life and spirit as she lived with dementia. In this touching talk, he shares the stories behind some of their favorite shots, capturing the joy and grief of caring for an aging parent.

This study is radically changing how we view the process of evolution.

A woman from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) who was seriously injured in a traffic accident in 1991 has made a seemingly miraculous recovery after emerging from a 27-year-long coma. Munira Abdulla, who was aged 32 at the time of the accident, suffered a severe brain injury after the car she was travelling in collided with a bus on the way to pick up her son from school.

People with neurological conditions who lose the ability to speak can still send the brain signals used for speech (such as the lips, jaw and larynx), and UCSF researchers might just use that knowledge to bring voices back. They've crafted a brain machine interface that can turn those brain signals into mostly recognizable speech. Instead of trying to read thoughts, the machine learning technology picks up on individual nerve commands and translates those to a virtual vocal tract that approximates the intended output.

You can have £10 today or £12 next week. Which do you go for? Being able to forego a reward now in favour of gaining something better later is known to be important in determining all kinds of desirable outcomes in life, including greater educational attainment, social functioning and health.

We have no place in our culture for this kind of grief. Gabrielle was still there – it just wasn’t the her I had loved

Which phrase does a better job of grabbing people’s attention: “global warming” or “climate change”? According to recent neuroscience research, the answer is neither. If you want to get people to care, try “climate crisis,” suggests new research from an advertising consulting agency in New York. That phrase got a 60 percent greater emotional response from listeners than our old pal climate change. (It must be music to the ears of Al Gore, who uses the phrase in just about every other tweet.)

People have certain physical ‘tells’ when they conceal information – and studies show that good liars can prevent these ‘tells’ being detected by displaying physical red herrings of their own. But scientists have now shown that even a brain imaging technique called fMRI, which in theory is much harder to trick, can be beaten by people who use two particular mental countermeasures.

The death of six of the 11 Rhesus monkeys has once again raised some familiar ethical questions. (Photo : Pixabay on Pexels) A month ago, scientists from the Chinese Kunming Institute of Zoology in China were successful in implanting MCPH1 or Microcephalin into the existing genes of 11 rhesus monkeys.

A team from the Department of Psychological Medicine and Department of Biochemistry at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore (NUS) has found that seniors who consume more than two standard portions of mushrooms weekly may have 50% reduced odds of having mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

For years, drugmakers have tried targeting a brain compound called beta amyloid. Not one of those attempts has worked.