Click click! Brain selfie! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Diagnosing mental health disorders takes a VILLAGE of experts and medical tests. Despite progress, diagnoses are still taken with a BRAIN of salt. How can we do better? Enter Spencer Kinsey and team from Georgia
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Can we save memories before they slip away? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Alzheimer’s kills brain cells, leading to memory loss and confusion. How can we stop this destruction? Marta Koper and the team at University Hospital Leuvenin Belgium may have found a hidden
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Music as medicine?! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Has a song ever moved you to tears? Music’s emotional impact has inspired researchers from Shanghai to explore its potential to treat depression. They focused on its ability to activate brain circuits connected to emotion and
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Lights, camera… neural action! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science saying… What is your brain actually doing while you watch a movie? Reza Rajimehr at MIT observed brain activity in two hundred people watching film clips. Why? To understand how our brains process information from
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In a food coma after too much holiday fressing? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Researchers at the University of Manchester, lead by Dennis Burdakov, can explain. When we’re hungry, we have low levels of glucose in our bloodstream and brain. That activates tiny proteins
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Bad night’s sleep? Try a HEAD RUSH! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Rapid eye movement – or REM – sleep is important not only for dreaming, but our mental health too. Does that mean we NEED to dream? Enter Chia-Jung Tsai and colleagues at
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Happy Thanksgiving, America! Meat gravy, vegan tofurky, arguing over politics?!? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Meet clinical psychologist Drew Westen and colleagues at Emory University. They used functional neuroimaging—a type of MRI scan—on die-hard Democrats and Republicans. They watched different brain areas become active,
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Your brain is a masterpiece! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Scientists have long scratched their heads studying brains. But brain tissue is a scarce resource! Can we make more brains? Enter Yuanwei Yan and Xueyan Li from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They developed a
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What’s black, white, and LOVES siestas? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Humans enjoy cat naps, particularly at our desks, but if you’re a creature out in the wild? Dozing off can make you lunch for predators. Or does it? Enter the Chinstrap penguins of
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Pain switch? Turn it off! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. When pain calls, you may order that prescription… with a risky side effect of addiction? Yikes! Is there another way to hit mute on pain? Enter Wynn Legon and team from Virginia Tech. Their
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