A lot of us must be wondering if we’re hooked on our tech: Searches for “phone addiction” have risen steadily in the past five years, according to Google Trends, and “social media addiction” trails it closely. Interestingly, phone addiction and social media addiction are closely intertwined, especially for younger people, who probably aren’t playing chess on their phones or even talking on them—they’re on social media. And according to a growing number of studies, it’s looking more and more like this pastime is addictive. Even more concerning is the fact that this addiction is linked to some serious mental health risks. Continue reading “Phone Addiction Is Real — And So Are Its Mental Health Risks”
Can stimulating the brain treat chronic pain?
For the first time, researchers at the UNC School of Medicine showed they could target one brain region with a weak alternating current of electricity, enhance the naturally occurring brain rhythms of that region, and significantly decrease symptoms associated with chronic lower back pain. Continue reading “Can stimulating the brain treat chronic pain?”
Music training and child development: a review of recent findings from a longitudinal study
Here we present the ‘Abstract‘ of the corresponding paper by Habibi A, Damasio A, Ilari B, Elliott Sachs M, Damasio H. Continue reading “Music training and child development: a review of recent findings from a longitudinal study”
Gut hormone and brown fat interact to tell the brain it’s time to stop eating
Researchers from Germany and Finland have shown that so-called “brown fat” interacts with the gut hormone secretin in mice to relay nutritional signals about fullness to the brain during a meal. The study, appearing November 15 in the journal Cell, bolsters our understanding of a long-suspected role of brown adipose tissue (BAT) — a type of body fat known to generate heat when an animal is cold — in the control of food intake. Continue reading “Gut hormone and brown fat interact to tell the brain it’s time to stop eating”
Childhood Music Training Induces Change in Micro and Macroscopic Brain Structure: Results from a Longitudinal Study
Here we present the ‘Abstract‘ of the corresponding paper by Habibi, Damasio A, Ilari B, Veiga R, Joshi AA, Leahy RM, Haldar JP, Varadarajan D, Bhushan C, Damasio H. Continue reading “Childhood Music Training Induces Change in Micro and Macroscopic Brain Structure: Results from a Longitudinal Study”
The role of music and the brain development of children
Here we present the ‘Abstract‘ of the corresponding paper by Joyanta Sarkar, Utpal Biswas. Continue reading “The role of music and the brain development of children”