The benefits of stimulating the brain with direct current come from its effects on astrocytes, not neurons, in the mouse brain, researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute have discovered. The work shows that applying direct current to the head releases synchronized waves of calcium from astrocytes that can reduce depressive symptoms and lead to…
Depression More Likely For Social Media Addicts
The more young adults use social media, the more likely they are to be depressed, a new study finds. Scientists say the findings could guide clinical and public health interventions to tackle depression, which is forecast to become the leading cause of disability in high-income countries by 2030. While previous studies have yielded mixed results,…
Creative Skills – 9 Ways to Prime Your Creativity
If you have a career that involves creativity or you’ve ever needed a creative solution to a problem, you know how challenging it can be to fire up your creative skills on demand. Creativity seems to come and go with little rhyme or reason. Like any other skill, the ability to tap into creativity gets…
Genetic Risks Underlying Autism In The General Population
New light has been shed on the genetic relationship between autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) and ASD-related traits in the wider population, by a team of international researchers, including academics from the University of Bristol, the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). The researchers studied whether there is a genetic relationship…
Sounds Interfere With Tactile Skills of Preterm Babies
Premature birth is a harsh change of environment for a baby. Until birth, the baby is confined to the mother’s womb, surrounded by soft lighting and filtered noise. When infants are born, they are attacked by several visual, sound, and tactile stimulations. These stimulations thus constitute unpleasant factors for them. Their impact has not been…
Brain Metabolism Predicts Fluid Intelligence In Young Adults
A healthy brain is critical to a person’s cognitive abilities, but measuring brain health can be a complicated endeavor. A new study by University of Illinois researchers reports that healthy brain metabolism corresponds with fluid intelligence – a measure of one’s ability to solve unusual or complex problems – in young adults. Said U. of…
Spinal Cord Injury Affects Visual, Sensorimotor Representation Link
If you’ve had a local anesthesia and watched while a doctor operated on their leg or arm, you may remember a strange sensation: Your own body part seems foreign, as if it doesn’t belong to your body. One reason for this is that the brain still knows which position the limb occupied before the local…
MOZART Method Offers 3D Real-time View Of Cells
Scientists have many tools at their disposal for looking at preserved tissue under a microscope in incredible detail, or peering into the living body at lower resolution. What they haven’t had is a way to do both: create a three-dimensional, real-time image of individual cells or even molecules in a living animal. Until now. New…
Blue Light And Sleep: Are Smartphones Giving You Insomnia?
Since getting an iPad Pro, I’ve noticed that I’m reading a lot before bedtime on it. I also have a Kindle paper white, which supposedly doesn’t produce light in the High-energy visible light band. So I’ve been wondering if my sleep is being affected. Because it seems like I’m waking up a lot more during…