fMRI

Two new imaging breakthroughs demonstrate a PET/MRI approach to locate specific locations of chronic pain in a patient, and a full-body scanner that can visualize the complete systemic burden of inflammatory arthritis for the very first time.

New imaging research is offering insights into the relationship between Alzheimer’s and abnormal accumulations of iron in the brain. The study confirms a correlation between high iron deposits in some brain regions and rates of cognitive decline.

A new brain imaging study, examining cognitively healthy middle-aged subjects, is suggesting lower levels of estrogen in women post-menopause could play a role in triggering brain changes linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

A study is suggesting the global popularity, or virality, of a video can be predicted by looking at how certain areas of a person’s brain are activated while they view the first few seconds of footage. The technique has been dubbed neuroforecasting.

New research examining the brain activity of subjects sleeping suggests that instead of the traditional four sleep stages we generally understand the brain moves through, there are 19 identifiable brain patterns transitioned through while sleeping.

A new study has homed in on the relationship between sleep and pain using brain imaging to identify the differences in neural activity while processing pain. The results revealed sleep deprivation seems to block the parts of the brain that release natural analgesics in relation to pain sensitivity.

​There may be new hope for people with severe phobias, thanks to a system devised by scientists in Japan and the US. It's based around using fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) to actually see when a patient is envisioning the thing that they fear.

Wim Hof is an “extreme athlete” from the Netherlands, best known for his apparently superhuman ability to withstand intense cold for long periods of time. To observe what might be going on in his brain and body, scientists have now run a series of scans during these icy exposures.

The brain is more complicated than the simplistic adage that left-brain thinking is logical while right-brain thinking is creative and new research is showing how creative thought is determined by how effectively the brain can communicate between different regions that usually work separately

​Following some compelling research suggesting brain inflammation is linked to suicidal thoughts, a team of scientists has now used a machine-learning algorithm and brain imaging to accurately identify whether a person is considering suicide.

An operating theater isn't somewhere you'd normally expect to see someone belt out a saxophone solo lying on the table with their brain exposed. But that's exactly what musician Dan Fabbio​ did, as surgeons removed a tumor from his brain without disrupting his professional skills.

​In the past, “mind reading” systems have been able to guess a number, but deeper thoughts have been beyond the technology’s reach. Now, a team from Carnegie Mellon University has developed a way to accurately read more complex concepts from a brain scan, and even piece together entire sentences.