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 [...]
Early detection of Alzheimer's or dementia is just as important as it is for any health malady: catching symptoms as early as possible means These findings were published Oct. 7 in Radiology in a study entitled Arterial Spin Labeling May Contribute to the Cognitive Deterioration in Healthy Elderly Individuals. The study found that individuals whose [...]
Osteoarthritis is so common (affecting 1 in 10 Canadians according to the Arthritis Society) that it has led many people to dismiss it as an inevitable part of the aging process. However, while the disease, which causes the cartilage of the joints to wear down, is not curable, it is possible to keep its severity [...]
Do you tweet while you watch TV? Surf the net while you Skype? Work on multiple screens simultaneously? If the answer is yes, you may want to consider a device detox--new MRI research has shown lowered gray-matter volume in such multi-taskers. The study, entitled Higher Media Multi-Tasking Activity is Associated with Smaller Gray-Matter Density in [...]
In a scientific landscape where "Survival of the fittest" is as accepted as biological fact, a certain group of humans behaving benevolently--altruists--has puzzled scientists for years. An altruist will go so far as to endanger their own self to help another, even a complete stranger. A new study called Neural and cognitive characteristics of extraordinary [...]
The term 'neurocinematics', coined by Princeton psychology professor Uri Hasson, refers to the effects that movies have on the human brain. For his 2004 paper entitled Intersubject Synchronization of Cortical Activity During Natural Vision, Hasson found that the MRI brain scans of cinema-goers watching a clip of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly showed that [...]
Experts have long debated the possibility of food addiction; many believe that a substance necessary for survival cannot be classified addictive. But with the proliferation of 24-hour grocery stores, tasty but nutritionally void convenience foods and even a "foodie" culture, it can be argued that the general attitude towards food in developed countries extends far beyond [...]
Have you ever wondered why some people you know crumple when faced with a stressful situation, while others appear invigorated by it? Opinions differ on the old saying "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger," and for good reason: A new MRI brain study suggests genetics play a large role in human responses to stressful [...]
In 1959, British physicist and novelist C.P. Snow delivered a lecture called The Two Cultures, an influential think piece in which he outlined how many of the western world's problems were the result of an intellectual barrier that exists between scientific and literary thinkers. Snow wrote: "A good many times I have been present at [...]