Auditory Illusion Shaped by First Language Newport Beach, California--Neuropsychologists may wind up owing a debt to the devil--an auditory illusion known as the "devil in music," that is. How the illusion is perceived depends on what language a listener grew up speaking, researchers reported here on 7 December at the Acoustical Society of America's 140th meeting. And those perceptions might ultimately help psychologists understand how the brain wires itself during childhood. --CHARLES SEIFE Copyright © 2000 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Hearing
Link ID: 123 - Posted: 10.20.2001

A New SPIN on an Old THEORY Students twirl to test for '6th' directional sense in humans Chuck Squatriglia, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, December 12, 2000 Audrie Lee volunteered to nauseate herself the other day in the name of science. The freshman at the University of California at Berkeley was a guinea pig in a dizzying test of a 20-year-old theory that says humans -- like birds, bees and bacteria -- can find their way using only Earth's magnetic field. E-mail Chuck Squatriglia at csquatriglia@sfchronicle.com ©2000 San Francisco Chronicle Page A24

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 122 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Human Neurogenesis Group demonstrates that adult human brains grow new cells after all By Jennifer Fisher Wilson Because of a long-established fact that human brains simply cannot replace dead neurons, scientists considered brain damage irreversible and neurological disease in the elderly unstoppable. In the research reported in this paper, however, investigators demonstrated that adult human brains generate new cells after all. Since then, scientists have been furiously studying the implications, and research in this area has accelerated. It was the first time that researchers had ever demonstrated human neurogenesis. Prior evidence had suggested that human neurogenesis occurred, but it wasn't until publication of research showing neurogenesis in the hippocampus that most scientists believed it. The Scientist 14[24]:23, Dec. 11, 2000 © Copyright 2000, The Scientist, Inc. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Development of the Brain
Link ID: 119 - Posted: 10.20.2001

A Destiny of Autism? By following clues left by thalidomide--the drug that caused infamous birth-defects--researchers have identified a gene on chromosome 7 that may be responsible for some cases of autism. Meanwhile, another study has shown that a long stretch of chromosome 15 may hold even more genes that predispose kids to the disorder. Autism afflicts about 1 in every 500 children, leaving them unable to relate to other people or communicate and causing repetitive and stereotyped behavior and, frequently, mental retardation. Researchers have implicated at least three and perhaps as many as 15 genes in the disorder, and they suspect that toxic chemicals may also play a role. --CONSTANCE HOLDEN Copyright © 2000 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Autism
Link ID: 118 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Wide repertoire wins mates DAVID ADAM Birds with the brightest prospects, like the devil, seem to have all the best tunes. Female great reed warblers choose males who sing the widest repertoire of songs because it shows they were well brought up, new research suggests. Songs are learned at a vulnerable stage of fledgling development, so Stephen Nowicki of Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, and his colleagues predict, adult males with the most tunes were well fed as youngsters - turning them into eligible bachelors. 1.Nowicki, S., Hasselquist, D., Bensch, S. & Peters, S. Nestling growth and song repertoire size in great reed warblers: evidence for song learning as an indicator mechanism in mate choice. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 267, 2419-2424 (2000). Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2000 - NATURE NEWS SERVICE Nature © Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2000 Reg. No. 785998 England.

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 117 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Certain memories may rest on a good sleep Bruce Bower When practicing a musical piece, a gymnastics move, or any other activity that depends on effortless, virtually automatic execution, here's some memory-enhancing advice: If you snooze, you cruise. That, at least, is the implication of two new studies in which people who practiced a task that demands quick visual processing performed it better on ensuing trials if they were first allowed to get some sleep. From Science News, Vol. 158, No. 23, Dec. 2, 2000, p. 358. Copyright © 2000 Science Service. All rights reserved.

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 116 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Scientists reveal details of brain cell communication: implications for learning & memory Forget gigabytes. Even the most powerful computers available today are mere playthings compared to the complexity, efficiency, and information processing capacity of the human brain. Underlying the brain's far superior design are the billion-million or so connections between brain cells-called synapses-that form vast neural networks in which brain cells, or neurons, are each connected to thousands of other neurons. These networks-and their ability to be shaped by experience-enable us to receive, process, store, and retrieve all manner of information about our world. Unfortunately, the extremely tiny size of synapses and the limitations of conventional experimental techniques have hampered detailed studies of these essential structures. (One trillion synaptic compartments, or "dendritic spines," could fit into a thimble). Now, scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have overcome these technical obstacles to gain an extremely close look at the properties of dendritic spines and synapses that govern brain function.

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 115 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Where the Brain Monitors the Body As any klutz will tell you, coordination is complicated. Just walking down the street--let alone juggling--requires large portions of the brain to keep track of the body and move its limbs. Now neuroscientists think they've found a brain area that performs one of the more difficult of these chores--integrating sensations to figure out the body's position. --LAURA HELMUTH Copyright © 2000 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Keyword: Miscellaneous
Link ID: 114 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Whales Can Learn New Songs When It Comes to Tunes, Whales Can Be Teenyboppers Keay Davidson, Chronicle Science Writer Thursday, November 30, 2000 Musical crazes occasionally sweep through the deep blue sea, as surely as they sweep through the world of teenagers. Male humpback whales readily learn and "sing" radically new songs from other whales, according to research published in today's issue of Nature. The phenomenon was likened by one expert to the "Beatles invasion" of U.S. musical tastes in the mid-1960s. (c) 2000 San Francisco Chronicle

Keyword: Animal Communication
Link ID: 113 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Finding the Brain's Funny Bone Strong physician maps our response to a good laugh "Top Ten Dumb Guy Ways To Solve Presidential Election Confusion" No. 6 - Do what they do in other important contests in Florida: swimsuit competition. No 2 - Let my brother Jeb decide. No. 1 -- Solve it? Are you nuts? This is great! If you chuckled at these lines from a classic Top Ten list by David Letterman, stop for a moment and consider why. Philosophers have been asking questions about laughter for thousands of years - and now a University of Rochester Medical Center radiologist has found the brain's "funny bone." ©Copyright University of Rochester Medical Center, 1999-2000.

Keyword: Language
Link ID: 110 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Brain goes on the blink JESSA NETTING Every time we blink, the world goes away for a fifth of a second. We don't notice, say Timothy Gawne and Julie Martin of University of Alabama at Birmingham, because at the same time part of the brain shuts down momentarily. The brain ignores each blink by suppressing a the nerve signal that tells us to ‘pay attention, the picture has just changed'. Apparently the old, pre-blink visual image then just stays in place to fill the perception gap until our eyes open once more, Gawne and Martin report in the Journal of Neurophysiology1. 1.Gawne, T. & Martin, J. Activity of primate V1 cortical neurons during blinks. Journal of Neurophysiology 84, 2691–2694 (2000). 2.Martinez-Conde, S., MacKnick, S., Hubel, D.H. Microsaccadic eye movements and firing of single cells in the striate cortex of macaque monkeys. Nature Neuroscience 3, 251–258. (2000). © Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2000 - NATURE NEWS SERVICE Nature © Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2000 Reg. No. 785998 England.

Keyword: Attention
Link ID: 108 - Posted: 06.24.2010

All Creatures Great and Smart Research reveals animals' brains to be bioengineering marvels Carl T. Hall, Chronicle Science Writer Monday, November 27, 2000 Nearly every important recent brain discovery comes from the study of simpler nervous systems in animals. But it seems those animal brain circuits aren't so simple after all. Roaches, for example, listen with their knees. Snakes can remember what they see. ©2000 San Francisco Chronicle Page A9

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 107 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Knowledge may lead to the identification of new drug targets for serotonin, which regulates depression, appetite, sleep NOVEMBER 22, 2000, CAMBRIDGE, Mass. [MIT Press Release] -- Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology report tomorrow (Nov. 23) in the journal Nature that they have discovered a new type of receptor that responds to serotonin. This finding could help explain how drugs such as Prozac, which manipulate levels of serotonin signaling, bring about their therapeutic effects. The article was co-authored by Dr. H. Robert Horvitz of MIT's Department of Biology and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Rajesh Ranganathan, an MIT biology graduate student; and Dr. Stephen C. Cannon of Harvard Medical School.

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 106 - Posted: 10.20.2001

NEW 'SHUTTLE' MECHANISM DISCOVERED BY WHICH NERVE CELLS' CONNECTIONS ARE ALTERED DURHAM, N.C. -- In the process of strengthening or weakening their interconnections, brain cells use a "shuttle" system to increase or decrease the number of receptors for a key signal-transmitting chemical, a Duke University Medical Center neurobiologist has discovered. Such control of connection strength is critical to the processes of establishing preferred neural pathways, the basis of learning and memory in the brain. The discovery not only offers new insight into how the brain manages the strength of its connections, but also potential targets for drugs to treat stroke, epilepsy and neurodegenerative disease, said Michael Ehlers, assistant professor of neurobiology.

Keyword: Learning & Memory
Link ID: 105 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Tackling seasonal depression in Canada Little scientific evidence on which treatment is most effective for treating disorder by Megan Easton Nov. 14, 2000 -- Dusky mornings, bone-chilling days and long dark nights - Canadian winters can wear on even the most cheerful souls. But for some people the cold months bring disabling depression, and a new national study is looking for the best way to treat this distinctly northern affliction. The CAN-SAD study will test the effectiveness of different types and combinations of anti-depressants and fluorescent light therapy in patients with seasonal depression, also known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Right now there is little scientific evidence on which treatment is most effective for the disorder, says Dr. Anthony Levitt of the Faculty of Medicine's psychiatry department and Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre.

Keyword: Depression
Link ID: 104 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Monagamous males play away from home VALERIE DEPRAETERE Lonely looking birds may just be searching for a fling away from their partners. Nominally monogamous male swallows may masquerade as bachelors if they are fit enough for sex, but not fit enough to invest in family care, Bart Kempenaers at the Research Centre For Ornithology in Stanberg, Germany, and colleagues have found. Male birds apparently lacking a home nest were previously thought to be young, lower quality or subordinate individuals that could not compete with senior males for dominance over a territory, a nest or a mate. 1.Kempenaers, B., Everding, S., Bishop, C., Boag, P. & Robertson, R. J. Extra-pair paternity and the reproductive role of male floaters in the tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor). Behavioral Ecology and Sociology (2000). Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2000 - NATURE NEWS SERVICE Nature © Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2000 Reg. No. 785998 England.

Keyword: Evolution
Link ID: 103 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Report Links Smoking and the Mentally Ill By REUTERS CHICAGO, Nov. 21 (Reuters) - A report from the Harvard Medical School released today estimated that people with diagnosable mental illness accounted for nearly 45 percent of the total cigarette market in the United States. The study, published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association, said that could be because the mentally ill are more vulnerable to tobacco advertising or nicotine addiction. Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Drug Abuse
Link ID: 102 - Posted: 10.20.2001

What Is It With Mona Lisa's Smile? It's You! By SANDRA BLAKESLEE For nearly 500 years, people have been gazing at Leonardo da Vinci's portrait of the Mona Lisa with a sense of bafflement. First she is smiling. Then the smile fades. A moment later the smile returns only to disappear again. What is with this lady's face? How did the great painter capture such a mysterious expression and why haven't other artists copied it? Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Emotions
Link ID: 101 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Bird brain measurements reveal why females choose great singers, Cornell neurobiologists report: Mothers want brainy babies FOR RELEASE: Nov. 16, 2000 ITHACA, N.Y. -- In a recent series of studies, Cornell University neurobiologists are showing why females of some avian species choose suitors with the most elaborate courtship songs: Fancy singers have more elaborate brain structures (to learn singing and other life skills), brains that the females hope their offspring will inherit. Reports linking sexual selection on the basis of song and the "heritability" of bigger brain structures in three different bird species were published this year by Cornell scientists in the Journal of Neurobiology , with European sedge warblers; Behavioral Neuroscience , cowbirds; and most recently in Proceedings of the Royal Society (Biological Sciences) with zebra finches.

Keyword: Animal Communication
Link ID: 100 - Posted: 10.20.2001

Risk of Parkinson's Disease Higher Among Men By REUTERS en may have twice the risk of developing Parkinson's disease compared with women, results of an Italian study suggest. Following more than 4,300 elderly adults for 3 years, researchers found that more than twice as many men as women developed Parkinson's--29 men, compared with 13 women. The incidence rates were consistently higher among men across age groups, from age 65 to 84. Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company

Keyword: Parkinsons
Link ID: 99 - Posted: 10.20.2001