Many people have done a Meyers Briggs personality test (or something similar) to confirm whether they're one of two extremes: introvert or extrovert. The difference is basic: introverts need alone time to recharge their energies, while extroverts thrive and feel energized being around others. But of course there's more to these simplistic categories; there are [...]
"Let food be thy medicine..." said Hippocrates. "Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down," added Mary Poppins, centuries later. Flash forward to the present day, when a team of researchers discover the flavanols found in chocolate help turn back the clock on memory loss. Specifically, flavanols found in chocolate increase blood flow [...]
Vitamin D is a dual nutrient: it is both a vitamin and a hormone the human body can create from sun exposure. It is also vital for bone health and immunity and--according to new research--brain health. (Vancouverites especially should pay attention to these findings, considering the past few weeks' rainfall!) The findings of the study [...]
In this unusual study, researchers used MRI to measure how certain triggers (associations with dental pain vs. contemplating one's own mortality) could affect the human brain's affinity for understanding surrealistic artworks. The study, called Ceci n'est pas la mort: Evidence for the recruitment of self-reference from surrealistic art under mortality salience, was published in the [...]
MRI studies have previously been done on how expensive wine tastes better, because knowing you're consuming something that's got a higher price tag activates more pleasure centres in the brain. But could the same principle work for distributing placebo medication? According to a new MRI study, it can. The study, entitled Placebo effect of medication [...]
Are you looking forward to holiday treats and libations but dreading sluggish energy levels and extra weight come January? Turns out those feelings of dread might be the right approach to keeping off the pounds, according to a new MRI study. Why are some people better at resisting food cravings than others? The answer [...]
Every year as the holidays approach, pages are published about the havoc overindulgence will wreak upon your waistline. But perhaps taking a more holistic approach--body and mind--would be more apt, according to a new research. Fluctuations in blood sugar levels have a direct impact on the brain, a new MRI study has learned. Certain areas [...]
Sign the kids up for French immersion (and take some lessons of your own)! A new MRI study confirms a long-held suspicion that the brains of bilingual people are more efficient at processing not only language, but other tasks as well. The study, published today in the journal Brain and Language, reveals that learning or speaking [...]
What's scarier, an MRI brain study showing participants images of dirty toilets and mutilated bodies, or its researchers concluding that your reaction to such images is enough to predict whether you lean towards political conservatism or liberalism? Researchers from the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute published their study, entitled Nonpolitical Images Evoke Neural Predictors of [...]
Albert Einstein was five years old when he handled his father's compass and found himself awestruck by a powerful curiosity: what invisible forces of nature were responsible for the device's unerring ability to point northward? Many professionals report similar childhood experiences in which a new subject piqued their interest so urgently that their subsequent education [...]