Tag

Brain

All articles tagged with #brain

science15 hours ago•4 min saved

Alcohol Rewires Brain Networks, Isolating Regions

A Minnesota-led study with 107 adults found that alcohol at a driving-penalty level increases local brain connectivity and clustering while reducing global connectivity, making brain regions more insular. These network changes measured by MRI after rest predict subjective intoxication and may explain common alcohol effects like visual and motor impairment; effects vary by individual and health status, with broader implications for understanding alcohol's impact on brain communication.

via ScienceAlert|

#alcohol #brain #mri

science3 days ago•15 min saved

Nightly Reading: A Simple Sleep Booster Backed by Science

A study found that reading a book at night improves sleep for more people than going straight to bed, with a December 2019 online trial showing 42% of readers reported better sleep versus 28% of nonreaders. Brain scans suggested lasting connectivity changes from nightly reading, and experts say short, consistent 15–20 minute sessions can calm the mind, support memory and cognitive reserve, and even enhance social skills.

via Earth.com|

#bedtime-reading #brain #neuroplasticity

science5 days ago•6 min saved

Two Labs, One Bassline: Pink Floyd Tracks Breakthroughs in Brain Research

Two independent labs—UC Berkeley and Technion—used Pink Floyd’s 'Another Brick in the Wall, Part 1' as a test stimulus to probe brain activity and delivery science: Berkeley reconstructed the song from intracranial recordings, while Technion showed that low-frequency sound can influence cellular uptake and gene expression in neurons and mice via lipid nanoparticles, with fMRI showing brain activation in humans. The shared choice of a bass-heavy track underscores bass as a meaningful signal, but the work is exploratory, not therapeutic, with translational questions and limited quantitative data remaining.

via Headphonesty|

#brain #drug-delivery #music

health8 days ago•8 min saved

Sugar-Free Lent: What Cutting Sweets Does to Your Brain

Giving up sugar for Lent can reveal how sugar acts on the brain’s reward system—driving dopamine signaling in the mesolimbic pathway, altering D1/D2 receptor balance and dopamine transport—similar to drugs of abuse; rodent studies show bingeing, withdrawal, and impulsivity; in humans, about 40 days off sugar may reset some neural sensitivity and reduce cravings, though effects vary by person.

via RTE.ie|

#addiction #brain #dopamine

science9 days ago•7 min saved

Aging Reveals a Brain Protein Switch—and Diet May Reset It

Aging destabilizes the brain’s protein ubiquitylation system, with reduced proteasome activity causing damaged proteins to accumulate and shift in activity, potentially driving cognitive decline and vulnerability to neurodegenerative disease. Notably, a short calorie-restriction diet in old mice significantly altered ubiquitylation patterns, in some cases reversing them toward a youthful state, suggesting diet can influence brain aging and that ubiquitylation could serve as a biomarker for age-related neural decline.

via SciTechDaily|

#aging #brain #diet

science11 days ago•18 min saved

Microplastics Found Deep in Human Brains, More Common in Dementia Patients

A study of 52 donated brains found microplastics, including polyethylene, in all samples, with higher concentrations in newer specimens and three to five times more particles in some dementia patients, indicating the plastics can cross the blood–brain barrier and accumulate in deep brain regions. While the findings raise concerns about potential brain effects, researchers say causality isn’t established and more work is needed to understand exposure and health implications.

via Earth.com|

#brain #dementia #microplastics

health16 days ago•37 min saved

19-year-old's headache proved fatal: birth control pills linked to brain blood clot

A 19-year-old from Bolton died from a brain blood clot believed to be caused by estrogen-containing birth control pills; her family says the risk, while rare, is real and they want greater awareness of hormonal contraception risks.

via Yahoo News New Zealand|

#birth-control-pills #blood-clot #brain

science18 days ago•4 min saved

Meditation May Push the Brain Toward an Optimal Balance of Chaos and Order

A small MEG study of 12 Theravada monk meditators finds two meditation methods shape brain activity differently: Samatha yields a stable, focused state, while Vipassana nudges the brain toward 'criticality'—an optimal balance between chaos and order that may enhance information processing and learning. Experienced meditators show brain activity closer to resting patterns, gamma oscillations can decrease (suggesting less external processing), and some practitioners report anxiety or other drawbacks. The findings contribute to understanding how meditation reshapes neural dynamics and were published in Neuroscience of Consciousness (2025).

via ScienceAlert|

#brain #criticality #meditation

science21 days ago•4 min saved

Yawning Rewrites Brain Fluid Flow, MRI Study Finds

A small MRI study (22 healthy participants) shows yawning shifts cerebrospinal fluid away from the brain and briefly increases arterial inflow, unlike deep breaths. The finding suggests yawning may relate to brain maintenance or cooling, but the results are from a preprint on bioRxiv and not yet peer-reviewed.

via ScienceAlert|

#brain #cerebrospinal-fluid #mri

science25 days ago•6 min saved

Lab-grown human brain cells steer rat behavior in a first-of-its-kind integration

Scientists transplanted human brain organoids into developing rat embryos, enabling vascularization and functional integration that allowed the human cells to respond to stimuli and influence a rat’s behavior — a breakthrough for human-brain models, but raising ethical questions about consciousness, donor consent, and animal welfare.

via Indian Defence Review|

#brain #ethics #neuroscience

science25 days ago•7 min saved

Flavanols’ Astringent Taste May Wake the Brain, Study Finds

Researchers propose that dietary flavanols may boost brain function not mainly through absorption, but via their astringent taste signaling sensory pathways that activate central nervous system and stress responses. In mice, flavanols increased wakefulness, attention, and learning by triggering hypothalamic CRH neurons and boosting noradrenaline and dopamine activity in the locus coeruleus and connected regions, with downstream effects on mood, arousal, and memory. This points to a sensory-nutrition mechanism and potential for designing foods that leverage taste signals to support cognitive function.

via SciTechDaily|

#astringency #brain #flavanols

science26 days ago•3 min saved

Sleep Deprivation Thins Brain Myelin and Slows Signals, Study Finds

New research links sleep loss to damage in oligodendrocytes that insulate neurons, thinning myelin and slowing brain signaling in rats, while human MRI data show reduced white-matter integrity with poorer sleep. In rats, sleep deprivation disrupted cholesterol handling by oligodendrocytes and slowed inter-regional communications, but restoring cholesterol transfer with cyclodextrin improved function, suggesting a potential target for mitigating sleep-loss effects, though human confirmation is needed.

via ScienceAlert|

#brain #myelin #neuroscience

science28 days ago•2 min saved

Chia Seeds May Boost Satiety Signals, Rat Study Finds

Brazilian researchers report in Nutrition that chia oil and chia flour modulate brain satiety signals in rats fed a high-fat, high-fructose diet: chia oil raised genes linked to fullness, both forms improved leptin response, and the products may help curb overeating and support metabolic health, though findings come from animal data and need human confirmation.

via LADbible|

#brain #chia-seeds #metabolism

health28 days ago•4 min saved

Severe CTE Linked to Dementia Risk, NIH Study Finds

An NIH-funded study of 614 donated brains with known repetitive head impacts shows severe CTE (stages III/IV) is strongly linked to dementia risk (stage IV ~4.5x higher); milder CTE (stages I-II) shows no association with dementia, mood changes, or functional decline, helping clarify CTE's role in neurodegeneration.

via National Institutes of Health (NIH) | (.gov)|

#brain #cte #dementia

science-tech28 days ago•11 min saved

Brain sculpting isn’t fantasy: adulthood can change its structure and function

For much of the 20th century, scientists believed the adult brain was fixed, but neuroplasticity now shows the brain can change throughout life in response to experience—though changes are gradual and bounded. The article traces this shift from Hebb’s 1949 idea to modern imaging that reveals learning reshapes brain activity and connectivity, with the hippocampus showing limited adult neurogenesis. Change is strongest with effortful, meaningful engagement and is enhanced by practice, regular exercise (which raises BDNF) and sleep, while chronic stress can impair plasticity. Plasticity can be maladaptive, reinforcing harmful patterns like chronic pain or addiction, but therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy and rehab can steer it toward recovery. The piece also debunks myths of rapid, limitless change, emphasizing that real brain remodeling comes from challenging, real-life activities like language learning, playing music, and complex social interaction.

via The Conversation|

#brain #learning #memory