Brain and Nervous System News & Features

The number of people with dementia is growing. The mind-robbing disease has no cure, but research shows how you may be able to lower your chances of having it.

Nearly 6% of people in the study had a heart attack otrdeveloped angina (chest pain). The researchers found that all the people who developed heart trouble displayed a faster decline in their mental function at the same time.

Surgeons operated on Rachel Palma to remove what they suspected was a brain tumor, and were surprised to find a baby tapeworm instead.

Having an additional finger  significantly boosts a person's ability to manipulate objects, so much so that they can execute movements with a single hand that would otherwise require two, a study has found.

The researchers developed the glove to help improve the fine motor skills of robot hands

Ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier in Alzheimer’s disease is the latest in the growing field of focused ultrasound. With focused ultrasound, doctors use the sound waves to actively treat a condition rather than passively produce images of it.

The findings could lead to new treatments for mental decline in older adults, the researchers said.

Claudia Martinez was a college student chasing her dream of becoming a doctor when a neurosurgeon gave her alarming advice: Get brain surgery as soon as possible for chiari malformation.

Comedian Tim Conway, a co-star of The Carol Burnett Show in the 1970s, has died of the brain disorder normal pressure hydrocephalus. He was 85.

The cells of the brain remained viable six hours later, compared with other brains not preserved using the newly developed process, the researchers reported.

The results show that the negative effects of aging on memory aren’t necessarily permanent. "We can bring back the more superior working memory function you had when you were much younger," the lead author said.

The newly identified "extinction neurons" suppress fearful memories when they're activated, or allow fearful memories to return unexpectedly when not activated, according to researchers.

People who were exposed to things that call coffee to mind perceived time as shorter and thought in more concrete, precise terms, researchers said.

Researchers wanted to see if they could predict someone’s age based on the way that their brain used fuel, or metabolism. On average, women appeared to be younger than men in terms of brain age.

"Our ultimate goal is to develop technologies that can decode the internal voice of a patient who is unable to speak," said the study’s author.

Brain scans show that some adolescents who've tried marijuana just a couple of times exhibit significant increases in the volume of their gray matter.

Don't take your brain's powers for granted. Here's what you can do -- throughout your life -- to stay sharp.

A 32-year-old Tennessee man has been diagnosed with the rare human form of mad cow disease, also known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).

3 previously paralyzed people can now walk with minimal assistance, Swiss researchers report. They need only the aid of crutches or a walker, thanks to incredibly precise electrical stimulation of their spinal cord combined with intensive rehabilitation, the scientists say.

A small new study suggests that repeated impacts to the head that were not as severe as concussions did not result in brain damage to young athletes. The researchers say they need to follow the kids longer.

A year after a concussion, as many as 31 percent of kids ages 4 to 15 still had symptoms that included inattention or fatigue, researchers report.

Infection typically occurs when contaminated water enters the body through the nose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Moving the kickoff line forward by just five yards -- from the 35- to the 40-yard line -- reduced the average annual concussion rate in Ivy League football by more than 68 percent, a new study says.

Researchers are cautiously optimistic after paralyzed patients took steps on their own in two studies of spinal cord stimulators.

Brain scans on 16 of the participants indicated that short bouts of mild exercise appeared to trigger an instant uptick in communication between the hippocampal dentate gyrus and the cortical brain regions. Both brain areas are key to processing memory.