Taste of beer is enough to get brain chemicals flowing

For most of us, beer is a convivial drink, but for some, it can be addicting. Alcoholism is an affliction in which a person has become physically dependent on an alcohol-containing drink, of which beer is an example. To understand alcoholism, one has to study the brain and its chemistry. For those that have become addicted to beer, the release of a brain chemical known as dopamine plays a large role in creating a physical dependency. Scientists from the Indiana University have studied what happens to the brain if people drink alcohol, and found that the act of drinking by itself is enough to trigger the release of dopamine.

A wireless chip to control robot limbs with the mind

Using your thoughts to control robot arms and robot legs are the next big thing currently in development for paraplegics. Proof of concepts have already shown that it is possible to read a person's thoughts and translate that to movement. For example, clinical studies with 'brain chips' show that we can translate thoughts to movement of robot arms, or robot legs, and even the fine movements of the finger can be simulated. Downside is that people have to be hooked up to computers in order to derive one's thoughts from the brain, but scientists have now created a chip that transmits brain activity wirelessly, which means thoughts can be read with no strings attached.

Thoughts electrically transferred between brains

Organ transplantations are nothing new nowadays, as hospitals are readily replacing various organs, including lungs, heart, kidneys and others. There is one organ that remains elusive, and that is the brain. It is obviously impossible to put the brain of one person in another body and make it work. It is also unclear what would happen: is it possible to transfer a personality from one body to another? While brain transplants remain impossible, several interesting studies revealed it is possible to partially replace brain tissue. Scientists from the Duke University School of Medicine have now found a way to transfer thoughts, in the form of behavioural patterns, from one rat to another by means of electrical stimulation.

New drug may cure deafness

Being able to hear is governed by the nervous system, by gathering input from the ears and turning it into information regarding our surroundings in the brain. Because we need the nervous system to hear, any damage to the ear or the hearing process can be permanent. The delicate cells of the ear and the nervous system are hard to repair, which is why deafness can rarely be cured. However, a new drug may change that, by allowing for repair of the sensory cells in the ear.

Breaking brain bonds helps us learn

Our brains are the most vital when we are young, and during that time we learn the most. As we age, it becomes increasingly hard to learn something. When learning something, new connections are formed between brain cells. Therefore, it is hypothesized that no longer being able to properly form new connections is one of the underlying reasons behind the age-related learning impairment. A new study shows that it is actually the inability of breaking the brain bonds that may be causing this phenomenon.

Keeping your eyes healthy, and treating diseases too

Sometimes studies reveal biological mechanisms that have way more consequences that one could possibly imagine. Such is the case in a recent study conducted by American and Israeli scientists, showing that a protein that keeps eyes healthy may also be used to treat a variety of diseases. This includes cancer, but also problems that result from thrombosis and other diseases that are characterized by cardiovascular problems. Key to these findings appears to be a single protein.

Genetic variation influences sensitivity to pain

Sensitivity towards pain is not the same in all humans. Some of us are more sensitive to painful stimuli, while others are less affected. In order to find out why some people are more sensitive than others, a research consortium of Chinese and British scientists tried to unravel whether there are genetic factors that are of underlying influence. They found that there is a strong relationship between certain genes and sensitivity to pain. This may eventually lead to novel painkillers and ways to prevent chronic pain.

Brain implant to aid patients with Alzheimer's disease

Our brain consists of many wires that all connect to each other and communicate by means of electricity. Small electrical pulses travel along the wires and the patterns result in all kinds of behavioural changes in the brain cells that receive these signals. That means electricity is essential for adequate brain function, and therefore it is something that is being investigated as a potential therapy. Previous studies with a technique called deep brain stimulation (DBS) showed that it has the potential to reverse brain damage caused by Alzheimer's disease. Now, researchers have developed a brain implant that can be worn by patients for permanent DBS.

Brain cooling reduces epileptic seizures

Epilepsy is something like a temporary overload of the brain. The seizures that accompany the disease are defined as "abnormal excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain", which basically means that the thing lights up like a Christmas tree. Seizures can have various causes, but in patients with epilepsy, a cause is often hard to establish. A cure is also not available; with medication it is possible to control the symptoms, but so far it remains impossible prevent seizures. A novel attempt by scientists from the Yamaguchi University to treat epileptic seizures is based on something completely different: they found a way to ameliorate the symptoms by cooling down the brain.

Longer sleep time reduces pain sensitivity

A good night's sleep is necessary to function properly, but the exact function of this peculiar state of hibernation is still unknown. It is hypothesized that sleep is needed to give the brain the ability to process memories, as well restore several other functions. Recent research has shown that, if we do not sleep well, it makes us want to eat more, as well as crave for more unhealthy food. Now, a study has shown that an increase in sleep time is able to reduce pain sensitivity.

New drug promising for treatment of Parkinson's

Parkinson's disease affects the part of the brain that takes care of muscle control. Because the brain part responsible for these functions is dying in patients with Parkinson's, the symptoms slowly progress from slight tremors to all kinds of problems that also affect cognition and behaviour. Our ever-increasing knowledge of the brain and its pathology has resulted in several interesting and novel treatments, such as electrical stimulation. In addition, scientists have recently uncovered how vitamins, diet and genes affect symptoms in Parkinson's. However, there is still no proper cure, but a novel drug that is currently being tested has shown very promising results.

First steps to a functioning brain transplant

One of the hardest tissue types to replace is that of the nervous system. Individual cells, called neurons, are hard to acquire and even harder to grow new in the body. Being able to provide our central nervous system, especially our brain, with fresh neurons may be a way to counter neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. Scientists have already shown capable of growing neurons from stem cells, but a recent study has now provided a way to actually make them functional after transplantation, which is a big step forward towards regrowing parts of the brain.

Man walks with robot leg using only his brain

Our attempts at understanding how the brain works have yielded very interesting results in the last couple of years We have seen paraplegics operate robot limbs using only their brain, and it is even possible to mimic the fine finger movements, allowing for complicated brain-controlled actions. Now, American scientists have come up with something new, as they have found a way to let a person control a bionic leg with his mind. He even proved to be capable to climb one of the highest skyscrapers with the robot leg, using only his brain and his one healthy leg.

How habits get hard-coded in your brain

Many forms of behaviour require our attention and conscious thinking. However, we all have our habits; things we have gotten used to and which are performed on 'auto-pilot'. Once we have gotten accustomed to certain patterns of behaviour, our conscious brain is no longer needed, and it can be 'used' for other purposes. It is quite peculiar that habituation helps us to 'relieve' us from conscious control, which is why neurologists from MIT set out to discover what actually happens in our brain.

Social contact can relieve physical pain

Humans are social beings, just like many other intelligent mammals. Not only do we prefer social contact, we actually need it: an experiment in barbaric medieval times revealed that children that never received any social contact died prematurely. While the experiment was supposedly conducted by the order of an alleged mad Roman emperor that tried to see whether language deprivation would make the children hear the voice of angels, it does highlight an interesting primary need for the proper development of a human being. Now, in a perhaps more ethical experiment, social contact was also seen to reduce a certain type of pain.

Electronic implant able to relieve migraine

A lot of people suffer from migraine attacks, a condition that can be severely debilitating. It is a form of severe headache that periodically returns and it is tied with malfunctions in the nervous system. Although it is likely to be caused by both genetic and environmental factors, the underlying pathological mechanisms are not well understood. This impedes the development of new treatments, but scientists have come up with a way to decrease the severity in certain migraine patients. An electrical implant that sends signals to the brain was shown to decrease the number of migraine attacks, making it a promising way to give such patients a better quality of life.

Liking someone affects brain processes

Our brain has the capacity to mimic things we see, which speeds up various learning processes. An example is watching someone walk: while that happens, the corresponding brain patterns are activated in your brain as well, creating a pattern of activation that would also occur if you yourself would be walking. This process of copying, facilitated by so-called mirror neurons, has been well-studied and is important for a variety of mammals, including us human beings. Surprisingly, it appears that whether you like someone affects the brain processes that govern this mimicking behaviour.

Disgusted rats help us understand nausea

We all know the feeling of nausea, but the mechanisms of the body that induce such sensations are poorly understood. This is in contrast to vomiting, which is a well-understood bodily reflex. Nausea is a bit more complex, because it involves brain functions that induce a generally unpleasant feeling, something that is more sophisticated than the vomit reflex. Scientists have found an animal model capable of simulating nausea, and that has lead to more understanding about how this phenomenon actually works. In turn, this may improve drugs that include nausea in their list of side effects, which means it could be relevant for chemotherapy in cancer patients.

Fearful memories can be erased from the brain

Our brain controls all parts of our body, but it is also very busy with storing all kinds of information. Memory is a very important aspect, but it can also impair the way we function. Some memories of traumatic experiences can haunt people for years to come or permanently change our personality. It would come in handy if we were able to modify our memory: wipe out the bad, and keep the good. A recent study shows that erasing memories from the brain may indeed be possible. Scientists from the Uppsala University demonstrated a way to wipe newly formed fearful associations.

Recording of memories can be modified

Your brain has a special way of dealing with memories in order to give them a permanent spot. A brain area called the hippocampus sort of repeats the brain activity associated with a particular event, and does so while you sleep. Basically, your experiences of the day are 'replayed' at night, which results in the neural connections getting a firm spot in your brain. Scientists from MIT tried to manipulate this process in order to study storage of memories more closely. They managed to modify the playback of dreams, thereby possibly opening the doors to modification of memory storage, and possibly even dreams.