Brain/Neurological News

Dopamine determines social status

The makeup of your brain may influence your social standing, a new study suggests.

Vegetative brains show awareness

Scientists have detected glimmers of awareness in some vegetative brain-injury patients, and have even communicated with one of them.

Self-image all in the mind

People who have an unrealistically high opinion of themselves have less activity in the frontal lobes of their brain, researchers have found.

Video gamers have big brains

How adeptly you play a video game may indicate how big some parts of your brain are, the authors of a new study report.

Man in 23-year coma was conscious

A Belgian who was thought to be in a coma for 23 years tells of his "second birth" after doctors realised he was in fact conscious.

Drinking may not improve thinking

Think that a drink or two a day help keep your mind sharp into older age? Researchers from the United Kingdom may have poked a hole into that idea.

Gene therapy cures brain disease

Scientists have managed to halt a rare and fatal brain disease with an experimental gene therapy technique using a deactivated version of the Aids virus, a study showed.

Brain comes alive with music

Research in monkeys suggests that humans' ability to perceive music may have been developed through the ability of animals to communicate with one another using vocalisations.

Surf the web, save your brain

Surfing the Internet just might be a way to preserve your mental skills as you age.

Consciousness is the brains Wi-Fi

New research suggests that it is your consciousness that resolves dilemmas by serving as the brain's Wi-Fi network, mediating competing requests from different parts of the body.