New Atlas

Biology Audio available

Brain function partially restored in pigs – four hours after death

Michael Irving April 17, 2019

In a breakthrough study, researchers have managed to restore some brain function in pigs, including synaptic activity, as long as 4 hours after death. They used a system that pumps preserving chemicals through the brain’s circulatory system, but of course the finding raises some ethical questions.

Researchers have managed to restore some brain function in pigs as long as four hours after ...

Science Audio available

Scientists change monkey minds using low-intensity ultrasound

Rich Haridy April 15, 2019

An incredible new study suggests that low-intensity ultrasound can be used to target very specific brain regions and alter an animal's decision-making processes. The technique, demonstrated in macaques monkeys, prompts actual behavioral changes using non-invasive ultrasound waves.

In an new study, low-intensity ultrasound has been used to disrupt a cognitive process known as ...

Medical

Electrical brain stimulation winds memory function back 50 years

Nick Lavars April 8, 2019

A new study conducted by scientists at Boston University has outlined a non-invasive brain stimulation technique that was able to restore working memory in 70-year-old subjects, so much so they functioned like a healthy 20-year-old.

Neuroscientist Rob Reinhart has discovered a way to mend broken pathways in the brain and restore ...

Science Audio available

How jet lag could help put the brakes on brain disease

Nick Lavars April 3, 2019

There’s plenty to be said about the negative health effects of jet lag, but could a journey through the clouds have a silver lining? New research suggests that indeed it might, uncovering evidence that disruptions to circadian clocks can have a protective effect on neurons.

New research has revealed how disruptions to our circadian clocks might have a silver lining

Science Audio available

Failed cancer drug may find second life targeting Alzheimer's and dementia

Rich Haridy March 27, 2019

A drug originally developed as a cancer treatment may be repurposed to treat a variety of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Despite proving ineffective in treating cancer, the drug is safe for humans and early mouse studies suggest it could have potential as a new dementia treatment.

An illustration showing how abnormal tau protein tangles (in orange) can accumulate and destroy neurons, resulting ...

Science Audio available

Mice tripping on psychedelics help explain neural origins of hallucinations

Rich Haridy March 26, 2019

A new study is helping clarify what is going on in our brains when we are hallucinating. To do this, researchers from the University of Oregon dosed mice with a powerful psychedelic drug and with unprecedented detail zoomed in on how the animal’s brains subsequently generated visual hallucinations.

The research offers insight into what happens to our brain when we visually hallucinate (Credit: Background: ...

Biology Audio available

New research indicates we transition between 19 different brain phases when sleeping

Rich Haridy March 24, 2019

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 outlines at least 19 different whole brain activity patterns that occur while we ...

Science Audio available

Brain aging could explain why time feels like it moves faster as we get older

Rich Haridy March 20, 2019

The subjective sense that time moves faster as we get older is a universal one, and over the years scientists have proffered a number of different explanations as to why this happens. A new and strange hypothesis attempts to explain the phenomena, and it has to do with our aging brains.

A new hypothesis suggests as we grow old our brains process less images at a slower ...

Biology Audio available

Mental compass: New evidence suggests humans can sense Earth's magnetic field

Michael Irving March 18, 2019

Magnetoreception, or the ability to sense the Earth’s magnetic field, pops up throughout the animal kingdom, but it’s generally thought to be something humans missed out on. But new research has found changes in human brain wave activity that seems to be in response to a changing magnetic field.

A new study has found evidence that humans can detect changes in the geomagnetic field

Biology Audio available

Researchers home in on the brain’s taste-sensing "sweet spot"

Rich Haridy March 14, 2019

The subjective nature of taste has made pinning down where this sense is processed in the brain difficult. But now researchers have finally homed in on the brain's "sweet spot," revealing the center responsible for processing different types of tastes.

A new study presents the best evidence to date of the exact location in the brain ...