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Here’s the neuroscience of a neglected banana (and a lot of other things in daily life): whenever you look at its color—green in the store, then yellow, and eventually brown on your countertop—your mind categorizes it as unripe, ripe, and then spoiled. A new study that tracked how the brain turns simple sensory inputs, such as “green,” into meaningful categories, […]
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(HealthDay)—Much of the United States has been sweltering in triple-digit heat this week, but new research finds outdoor workers can suffer fatal heat stroke from temperatures that only reach the high 80s. In fact, six of 14 cases of fatal heat stroke investigated in the new study “occurred when the Heat Index was below 91 degrees Fahrenheit,” noted a team […]
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Status epilepticus, a dangerous condition in which epileptic seizures follow one another for a duration of five or more minutes without the victim’s regaining consciousness between them, is the second most common neurological emergency in the United States, with a recorded maximum of around 150,000-plus cases per year. In 60-70 percent of cases, the patient responds to antiepileptic medications and […]
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Although it’s far from perfect by virtually any measure—whether poverty rates, violence, access to education, racism and prejudice or any number of others—the world continues to improve. Why, then, do polls consistently show that people believe otherwise? The answer, Daniel Gilbert says, may lie in a phenomenon called “prevalence induced concept change.” As demonstrated in a series of new studies, […]
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Before launching their latest science experiment, University at Buffalo researchers bought more than 200 types of tea, chocolate, herbs and other foodstuffs. The goal wasn’t to stock up for long hours in the lab, but rather to find an elusive, edible contrast agent to show doctors what’s happening inside our bodies. The search culminated with a winner: barley. Turns out […]
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Researchers working on a study to improve kidney function measurements have found a way to provide more accurate readings. Using an injectable biomarker, physicians were able to read the actual working capacity of the kidney in a clinical setting in half the time it used to take. Currently, physicians rely on estimated kidney function (or estimated glomerular filtration rate) to […]
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Researchers of the Physical Therapy and Medicine departments of the CEU Cardenal Herrera University recently published a study on patients with chronic, non-specific low back pain, in which they conducted the first clinical trial of the effectiveness of osteopathic manual therapy with or without specific techniques on the diaphragm. The results have been published in Archives of Physical Medicine and […]
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Colicky babies whose crying eases within three months have no ongoing behavioural problems according to new research by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI). In welcome reassurance to concerned parents, MCRI-funded research conducted by Royal Children’s Hospital paediatrician Dr. Georgie Bell found that crying and stress related to the common infant condition is short-lived and will likely resolve. Infant colic […]
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Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) – the relaxing ‘brain tingles’ experienced by some people in response to specific triggers, such as whispering, tapping and slow hand movements – may have benefits for both mental and physical health, according to new research. In the first study of its kind into the physiological underpinnings of ASMR, researchers from the University of Sheffield […]
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Rhesus macaque monkeys infected in utero with Zika virus develop similar brain pathology to human infants, according to a report by researchers at the California National Primate Research Center and School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis, published June 20 in Nature Communications. Rhesus macaques may be a suitable model system to study how Zika virus infection […]
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