Neuroscience

More and more people are worried about the long-term effects of contact sports on the brain. In football (soccer), studies have found that repeatedly heading the ball can lead to memory problems and an increased risk of serious brain diseases. This has led to rules limiting heading the ball in youth leagues and calls to protect professional players in similar ways.

When you hear a song from your youth—maybe a high school slow dance or a road trip anthem—you’re not just reminiscing. You’re lighting up key regions of your brain.

As animals experience new things, the connections between neurons, called synapses, strengthen or weaken in response to events and the activity they cause in the brain. Neuroscientists believe that synaptic plasticity, as these changes are called, plays an important role in storing memories.

A team of researchers from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) has developed the world’s most advanced software to study the human cerebellum using high-resolution NMR images.

Early-life adversity affects more than half of the world’s children and is a significant risk factor for cognitive and mental health problems later in life. In an extensive and up-to-the-minute review of research in this domain, scholars from the University of California, Irvine illuminate the profound impacts of these adverse childhood experiences on brain development and introduce new paths for understanding and tackling them.

In a preclinical study, rodents treated with uric acid showed improved long-term outcomes after acute ischemic stroke. The findings suggest that the treatment may work as an add-on therapy to standard stroke treatments in humans. The study is published in Stroke.

University of Arizona neuroscientists studying the brains of songbirds have found that aging alters the gene expressions that control the birds’ song. The finding could lead to earlier diagnoses and better treatments for human neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, which are known to hinder vocal production in their early stages.

For college athletes with concussion, brain changes may remain visible in brain scans up to a year after they are cleared to return to play, according to a study published online in Neurology.

Speech is a unique human ability that is known to be supported by various motor and cognitive processes. When humans start speaking, they can decide to cease at any point; for instance, if they are interrupted by something happening or by another person speaking to them.

Studying spinal cord injuries requires a material that can transmit clear signals yet remain flexible for when patients move around. Researchers at Binghamton University think they have hit upon a solution that will offer the best of both requirements.