Though a handful of studies on the risks of cell phone radiation have prompted some lawmakers to propose legislation that would outfit mobile devices with warning labels (like packs of cigarettes), and some companies are already marketing radiation diverting phone covers, in the scientific community there remains little consensus over
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Dreaming about tomorrow’s big presentation, or how you’ll tackle certain questions on an exam later this week may seem like a sign that your anxiety over the pending challenge has seeped its way into your subconscious—yet, according to new research published in the journal Cell Biology dreaming about something you’ve learned may
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A study from researchers at Nottingham University published in the journal Biological Psychiatry and highlighted by the BBC suggests that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may benefit from immediate rewards in similar ways that they do from medications such as Ritalin. In the study, researchers set out to
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The uninsured and those whose primary health insurance is through Medicaid are far more likely to receive poor migraine treatment, compared with people who have private health insurance, according to a study published in the journal Neurology. Analyzing data from two large national surveys of patient visits to hospitals and doctor’s
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Antipsychotic drugs, which are often prescribed to treat aggression in patients with dementia, may significantly increase risk for potentially fatal pneumonia in the elderly, according to a new study highlighted by the BBC from researchers at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands. The study, published in the Annals of
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Adding to a growing understanding of the underlying brain functions involved in moral decision-making, a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University—including neuroscientist Marc Hauser, author of the 2006 book Moral Minds— found that manipulating activity in a certain brain region
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A recent clinical trial conducted by neurologists at Stanford University School of Medicine suggests that deep brain stimulation using implanted electrodes may help reduce seizures in epileptic patients. The results of the clinical trial, published online this week in the journal Epilepsia, showed that, patients whose brains were
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Why is it that most of us can remember our precise surroundings the moment that we first learned of JFK’s assassination, the Challenger explosion or the fall of the Twin Towers, but not say, what grocery aisle we were standing in when the phone call came to remind us to pick up milk? What is it about the timing—or more specifically,
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An overactive dopamine reward system in the brain may help explain why psychopaths pursue rewards without regard for consequences, according to new research published this week in the journal Nature Neuroscience. Previous research has found that individuals who suffer from antisocial personality disorder—often referred to as …
Administering a small magnetic pulse to the back of the head may be an effective, and drug-free, method for combating migraine pain, according to new research published online this week, and in the April issue of the journal Lancet Neurology. Previous research has suggested that this single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (sTMS)
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Understanding what distinguishes people who battle with dementia and Alzheimer’s as they age from those whose mental acuity remains strong well into their 80s, 90s and even older, is a major focus of current psychiatric research. Previous studies have pointed to the potentially protective value of exercise, social support and even
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Glioblastoma brain tumors are notoriously difficult to fight: though they can be battled back with radiation and chemotherapy, within time they eventually manage to grow again. Yet, according to initial results of a study in mice, a technique that effectively starves the tumor of the blood supply it needs to regrow could eventually offer
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Patients who lose the ability to speak after suffering a stroke may be able to regain their speech using a novel technique that effectively reroutes the way the brain processes language, according to research presented this past weekend at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The technique, known as
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