-
Categories
-
Archives
Blogroll
Monthly Archives: August 2007
Your Brain on Coffee
August 26, 2007 – 10:13 pm
By contributing author Paul Li, a neuroscience graduate student at Columbia.
Coffee is not just a popular beverage–it’s a drug, an addicting habit that many of us partake every morning to begin our day. Considering that most major cities have coffee shops in virtually every street corner, it is not easy to avoid coffee. And maybe […]
Eat your vegetables, do your homework, and play your video games?
August 22, 2007 – 6:10 pm
By contributing author Paul Li, a neuroscience graduate student at Columbia.
When I was a kid, I was constantly scolded by my mother for spending countless hours on my 1989 Nintendo Entertainment System. She thought reading or playing outside would be more beneficial for me than Duck Hunt or Super Mario Brothers. My mother could have […]
Cancer drug enhances memory… but that’s old news
August 14, 2007 – 5:57 pm
In the past couple months of maintaining the Brain Health Blog, I’ve been surprised at how frequently the press release for a scientific finding has little to do with the research that was done. Maybe the cynical among you already figured as much, but it struck me as a bit disconcerting.
For example, I read this […]
Care to Read my Brain Waves?
August 13, 2007 – 10:32 am
Serina Deen, who has a background in neuroscience research, is a 4th year medical student at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Here she describes how your brain waves could get involved in your gaming.
I remember back in my freshman year of college, sitting in a pitch black room the size of a closet, […]
Mirror Neurons: What you see is really what you do
August 9, 2007 – 12:44 pm
By contributing author Paul Li, a neuroscience graduate student at Columbia.
Have you ever inexplicably and involuntarily yawned after someone else does the same? Well, researchers may have found the neural basis for intention and emotions, empathy in particular. Neurons become activated not only when one performs an action, but also when viewing it!
Why might mirror […]
Deep brain stimulation
August 7, 2007 – 3:02 pm
A man who spent the last 6 years barely conscious and unable to speak or eat can now do both with the help of electrodes implanted in his brain. These electrodes provide electrical stimulation to a region of the brain called the thalamus, which is involved in motor control and communication between different parts of […]
Cognitive reserve defense against lead
August 2, 2007 – 8:35 pm
Elizabeth Buchen, neuroscientist, science writer and advisor to Lumos Labs, continues her discussion of cognitive reserve with a specific example.
The cognitive reserve hypothesis has recently been supported by findings of Dr. Margit Bleecker, who studied the effects of lead exposure on cognitive function. The study involved 112 lead smelter workers in New Brunswick, who […]
Cognitive reserve
August 1, 2007 – 9:59 pm
Elizabeth Buchen, neuroscientist, science writer and advisor to Lumos Labs, explains the concept of ‘cognitive reserve’, and why people with more education are generally better at coping with brain damage.
The first Alzheimer’s diseased brain I ever touched looked horrific. The cortex was shriveled, the ventricles were large, cavernous voids, and when I stained the […]