Bird Brains Show How Trial and Error May Contribute to Learning
The adult male zebra finch knows only one scratchy tune learned in its youth, which it performs repeatedly and intensely when females are listening. But occasionally, the finch might improvise, experimenting with a slower, more sultry variation or emphasizing different notes. Neurobiologists studying the finch now say the improvisation arises from a component of a crucial learning circuit...Birds brains reveal source of songs
Scientists have yearned to understand how the chirps and warbles of a young bird morph into the recognizable and very distinct melodies of its parents. Neuroscientists at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT now have come one step closer to understanding that process. They've shown for the first time how a particular brain region in birds serves as the source of vocal creativity....Supercomputers to focus brains on AIDS dilemma
More than two decades after it burst onto the scene, HIV/AIDS has claimed more than twenty million lives and continues to devastate societies around the world, particularly in Africa and other developing countries. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, after years of effort AIDS researchers succeeded in developing a class of drugs that proved to be highly effective against AIDS. By blocking the acti...Mice brains shrink during winter, impairing some learning and memory
The brains of one species of mouse actually shrink during the winter, causing the mice to have more difficulty with some types of learning, a new study found. This is one of the first studies to show...Babies Brains Are more Fragile
An American study that says babies are more vulnerable to serious brain injuries when they fall than previously believed may help child abuse investigators distinguish between accidental and intentional injury.// The University of Pennsylvania study found that rotational forces generated by a baby's head hitting a hard surface can cause widespread, potentially serious brain injuries. T...Genetic differences found between Male and Female brains
As mounting research strives to understand how much of who we are is controlled by our genes, research out of UCLA offers even more understanding of what genes can do.// New findings suggest there are 54 genes that explain the different organization between male and female brains.Researchers offer evidence in their report that sexual identity is hard-wired and is determined before a person is e...Fish eaters found to have sharper brains
The benefits of eating fish has been proved with evidence following the finding that fish food reduces the age-related mental decline by the equivalent of three to four years. The research adds to the growing evidence that a fish-rich diet helps keep the mind sharp//. Previous findings have established that consumption of fish is associated with a reduction in the risk of Alzheimer’s di...Healthy Brains Depend Upon Survival Genes
A healthy brain can be maintained by a person at old age through activities that exercise the brain like a daily crossword puzzle. The University of Edinburgh’s scientists are doing further research on this subject// with the object of identifying the ‘survival genes’ in the brain. The awakened genes add capacity to the brain to resist the after effects of drugs, strokes, and also con...Human neurons grown in the brains of mice
Researchers in San Diego have designed mice containing fully functional human nerve cells as a novel way to study and potentially treat neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. // In the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences in La Jolla, the neurons were formed in the brains of mice that had been injected with human embryonic stem cells as 2-week-old embryos. <br...UCLA: Lithium Builds Gray Matter in Bipolar Brains, UCLA Study Shows
Novel brain imaging technique suggests how lithium works as atherapeutic LOS ANGELES, April 12, 2007--Neuroscientists at UCLA have shownthat lithium, long the standard treatment for bipolar disorder,increases the amount of gray matter in the brains of patients withthe illness. The research is featured in the July issue of the journalBiological Psychiatry and is curren...