How Learning Shapes The Empathic Brain

We can learn to empathize with strangers. Surprisingly positive experiences with people from another group trigger a learning effect in the brain, which increases empathy. As researchers from the University of Zurich reveal, only a handful of positive learning experiences already suffice for a person to become more empathic. Conflicts between people from different nationalities…

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Inflammation Fans The Flames Of Depression

Chronic inflammation in the bloodstream can “fan the flames” of depression, much like throwing gasoline on a fire, according to researchers. A new study, which appears in the American Journal of Psychiatry, reviews 200 existing papers on depression and inflammation. Says coauthor Christopher Fagundes, an assistant professor of psychology at Rice University: “One thing that…

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New Multidisciplinary Approach To Classify Brain Cell Types

Despite its importance, scientists still do not understand all of the different cell types that make up the brain. A group of researchers from Baylor College of Medicine (Drs. Andreas and Kimberley Tolias’ laboratories), the Karolinska Institutet (Dr. Rickard Sandberg’s laboratory), and the University of Tübingen (Dr. Matthias Bethge’s laboratory) have developed a novel technique…

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Risk Factors, Not Chance, May Cause Most Cancers

Researchers report quantitative evidence proving that extrinsic risk factors, such as environmental exposures and behaviors, weigh heavily on the development of approximately 70 to 90 percent of cancers. The finding may be important for strategizing cancer prevention, research, and public health. Inspired by a January 2015 research paper in Science, which concluded that the majority…

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Forgetting Is Integral To Learning, Study Finds

Do you often feel overwhelmed with the amount of information coming at you? Forgotten your shopping list as soon as you’ve heard the sports results? Don’t worry, it’s all completely normal – and necessary – according to new research which shows that such forgetting is a key part of learning. The study, by researchers from…

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Anxiety Significantly Raises Risk For Dementia

People who experienced high anxiety at any time in their lives had a 48 percent higher risk of developing dementia compared to those who had not, according to a new study led by USC researchers. The findings were based on an examination of 28 years of data from the Swedish Adoption Twin Study of Aging,…

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Unstable Blood Vessels Seen In Autistic Brains

When researchers examined human postmortem brain tissue, some from typical brains and others from those with an autism diagnosis, they found evidence of changes to blood vessels in autistic brains. Explains Efrain Azmitia, a biology professor at New York University and senior author of the study published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders:…

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Architecture Of mTOR Protein Complex Solved

For a long time it has been known that the protein TOR – Target of Rapamycin – controls cell growth and is involved in the development of diseases such as cancer and diabetes. Researchers at the University of Basel’s Biozentrum together with scientists from ETH Zurich have now examined the structure of mammalian TOR complex…

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Coffee May Improve Athletic Endurance Performance

The caffeine in a morning cup of coffee could help improve athletic endurance, according to a new University of Georgia review study. Author Simon Higgins, a third-year doctoral student in kinesiology, reviewed more than 600 scholarly articles and screened them for those that focused only on caffeinated-coffee conditions, measured the caffeine dose and measured an…

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