brain

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Experts Struggle to Explain Rise in Children's Brain Infections

Pandemic could be linked to increase, or even COVID-19 itself

(Newser) - From 2015 to 2021, Nevada's Clark County averaged five cases a year of pediatric brain abscesses. Last year, there were 18. Researchers presented the finding this week to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Epidemic Intelligence Service conference to bring attention to the baffling increase in life-threatening...

At Musk's 'Show and Tell,' New Demo of Brain Implant Device

Billionaire says human trials of device from his Neuralink company are imminent

(Newser) - Elon Musk held a "show and tell" event Wednesday night, but it had nothing to do with his most recent Twitter troubles . Instead, the billionaire showed off a brain implant device developed by one of this other companies, Neuralink—a device he says will link the human brain to...

Brain Plays Surprising Role When We Get Sick
Brain Plays Surprising Role
When We Get Sick
new studies
Oct 16, 2022 3:15 PM CDT

Brain Plays Surprising Role When We Get Sick

Studies suggest it hijacks our normal systems to make us feel lousy, for the greater good

(Newser) - When you're laid up with a cold or flu, it's not a virus or bacteria making you feel awful and lethargic—it's your own brain. And it's all in the service of helping you get better, according to two new studies in Nature summed up in...

Dishes Full of Brain Cells Teach Themselves to Play Pong

'When they are in the game, they believe they are the paddle'

(Newser) - Scientists at Cortical Labs call dishes full of brain cells "cyborg brains"—and they've learned to play the computer game Pong with surprising speed. The mini-brains, some of them grown from human stem cells and others from cells of mouse embryos, got the hang of a simplified...

This Is Why Your Brain Logs a Memory as Happy or Sad
Brain Discovery May Be
a Breakthrough on Memories
new study
Sep 12, 2022 10:10 AM CDT

Brain Discovery May Be a Breakthrough on Memories

Molecule called neurotensin appears to decide whether a memory is logged as good or bad

(Newser) - Brain researchers appear to have figured out precisely how our brains store a particular memory as either good or bad—and the discovery could have implications for the treatment of everything from depression to PTSD. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California say it all comes down...

CTE Finds Its Way Into Another Pro Sport

Scott Vermillion, who died in 2020, is first Major League Soccer player to be diagnosed

(Newser) - It's long been known that football players are at risk for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. Now, another sport—one in which the head is often used during game play—is making headlines in connection with the degenerative brain condition. Researchers from Boston University's CTE Center say Scott...

Dying Man's Brain Suggests Life Could Flash Before Our Eyes

87-year-old patient was hooked up to EEG machine at time of death

(Newser) - The last moments of a dying 87-year-old have raised something that researchers write in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience is "intriguing to speculate" about: that it's possible our life really could flash before our eyes as we die. They came to that conclusion somewhat accidentally. The patient...

Mental Speed Slows at 20? Think Again
Our Brains Stay Sharp
Much Longer Than Thought
NEW STUDY
Feb 18, 2022 11:00 AM CST

Our Brains Stay Sharp Much Longer Than Thought

Study suggests mental acuity is largely unchanged until about age 60

(Newser) - Don't let the youngins tell you your brain is slower than molasses. Though plenty of research shows response times slow beginning around the age of 20, that doesn't necessarily support the widely held view that brain processes slow from that age. Indeed, a new study finds this slowing...

Your Pandemic Drinking Is Hurting Your Brain
Safe Alcohol Consumption?
There's No Such Thing
NEW STUDY
May 21, 2021 9:12 AM CDT

Safe Alcohol Consumption? There's No Such Thing

Study finds drinking impacts brain's white and gray matter

(Newser) - "So many people drink 'moderately,' and think this is either harmless or even protective," says Oxford University researcher Anya Topiwala. The opposite is true, according to Topiwala's new study , which finds any amount of alcohol consumption reduces the volume of gray matter in the brain,...

Cluster of Cases May Signal Entirely New Brain Disease

Symptoms are similar to Creutzfeldt-Jakob, doctors in New Brunswick, Canada, are stumped

(Newser) - Doctors in Canada may be dealing with an entirely new brain disease that's specific to one part of their country. A cluster of 43 cases is under investigation in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, reports the Guardian . Symptoms are similar to well-known "prion diseases" such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob,...

They Ran Out of Big Game to Hunt. Then Their Brains Swelled

Researchers say shift to hunting smaller game caused early humans' brains to nearly triple in size

(Newser) - In hunting large mammals to near extinction, early modern humans may have prompted an explosion in brain size—in a good way. Humans emerged as big-game hunters in Africa 2.6 million years ago but would ultimately see large animals dwindle as a result of hunting practices, according to Miki...

COVID May Cause Odd Effects, Including a Stutter

Neurological symptoms such as stroke, psychosis not fully understood

(Newser) - We could be dealing with a "public mental health crisis" long after the coronavirus becomes a threat of the past, per Scientific American . Early studies indicate a third of COVID-19 patients develop a neurological symptom, such as stroke, psychosis, mania, a stutter, brain fog, and forgetfulness. "As horrible...

Man's Weird Beach Find Left Him 'Freaked Out'

A brain was inside the aluminum package

(Newser) - A Wisconsin man who stumbled upon a brick-shaped package wrapped in foil on a Racine beach thought he had perhaps come across drugs or cash, reports CNN . The reality was much, much odder. James Senda says he opened the package to find a brain inside, along with flowers and foreign...

Odd Virus Symptoms Crop Up: 'There's No Ventilator for the Brain'

Seizures, dizziness, and 'altered mental status' observed in some COVID-19 patients

(Newser) - Chris Cuomo recently described his COVID-19 symptoms, and in addition to the fever, shivering, and body aches typically associated with the coronavirus, the CNN anchor relayed a "freaky" anecdote about hallucinating images of his late father and other people from his past. It's not clear exactly what happened...

Vesuvius May Have Turned Victim&#39;s Brain to Glass
Study of Vesuvius Victim's
Skull Reveals a Surprise
in case you missed it
Jan 26, 2020 2:45 PM CST

Study of Vesuvius Victim's Skull Reveals a Surprise

Researchers say his brain turned to glass

(Newser) - The eruption of Mount Vesuvius may have most famously destroyed Pompeii, but the nearby town of Herculaneum endured a similar fate. Now a new study suggests that at least one of the town's residents suffered a remarkable, if grisly, fate: His brain essentially turned to glass, reports Live Science...

Secretive Company Musk Has Sunk $100M Into Opens Up
Secretive Company Musk
Has Sunk $100M Into Opens Up
the rundown
Jul 17, 2019 9:13 AM CDT

Secretive Company Musk Has Sunk $100M Into Opens Up

Neuralink gives presentation on its brain-reading technology

(Newser) - "We want this burden of stealth mode off of us so that we can keep building and do things like normal people, such as publish papers." And with that, Neuralink shrugged off the secrecy that has surrounded it since its 2017 launch . On Tuesday it went public with...

Doctors Found Tapeworm Egg in Woman's Brain —and Cheered

They'd expected to find a cancerous tumor

(Newser) - A New York woman was super pumped to learn she had a "gross" tapeworm egg in her brain—because it meant the lump wasn't a cancerous tumor as doctors had suspected. "What we saw in surgery was not at all what we were expecting," Dr. Jonathan...

Eating Bad Pork Gave Teen Deadly Tapeworms in the Brain

2 weeks after being admitted into an Indian ER, he was dead

(Newser) - A teenager who went into the hospital with groin pain died because of a tapeworm infestation in his brain. The 18-year-old had gone to an Indian hospital with swelling over his right eye, and was experiencing regular seizures that caused him to fall unconscious, reports CNN . An MRI revealed cysts...

Mom on College Footballer's Suicide: 'Maybe It's His Own Brain'

Augustus Lee's brain to be studied by concussion researchers

(Newser) - Phyllis Lee was shocked to learn her 20-year-old son, a University of Richmond football player, had killed himself by asphyxiation in his car just off campus, where his body was found early Tuesday, per USA Today . "I just wonder if something happened … because what he did was so...

Doing Puzzles Won&#39;t Stave Off Mental Decline
Doing Puzzles
Won't Stave Off
Mental Decline
new study
Dec 11, 2018 8:02 AM CST

Doing Puzzles Won't Stave Off Mental Decline

But researchers do see a benefit for those who indulge

(Newser) - Scottish researchers have some good news and bad news for those who do crosswords, Suduko, and similar puzzles. Such brain-training exercises will not prevent mental decline or ward off dementia, suggests their new study in the British Medical Journal . However, the researchers do see a benefit for puzzlers, making a...

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