Braille Brains
The same area of the brain is activated whether you’re a blind person reading Braille with your hands or a sighted person reading with your eyes.
Podcast for 25 February 2011: Language & Behavior
The surprising way the brain processes Braille, bilingualism staves off dementia, and new research on stuttering. Also: why being lonely could change how your immune system works, and the relationship between popularity and bullying.
Predicting Stuttering
Researchers are trying to predict which children will become persistent stutterers in order to provide them with needed speech therapy.
Bilingualism & Alzheimer’s
Speaking a second language may slow down the cognitive decline of Alzheimer’s disease.
Podcast for 20 February 2011
ANNUAL MEETING SPECIAL: The new science of aeroecology, deconstructing taste preferences, new ways to store energy, and 3-D printers that could one day produce replacement organs.
Memory Tagging
The brain may “tag” certain experiences for long-term storage during sleep.
Podcast
BRAIN SCIENCE: How the brain chooses which memories to store during sleep, neural explanations for ringing in the ears, and the brain rewards of listening to music.
Out of Africa Roundup
New discoveries in the Middle East suggest humans left Africa much earlier than previously thought.
Birth Order & Achievement
Birth order has a limited effect on academic achievement.
Science Illiteracy Roundup
A new study reflects an alarming lack of science literacy among U.S. college students.
Music & Emotion
Listening to music activates the reward centers of the brain.
Gait & Longevity
Walking speed is a good indicator of overall health in older adults.
First Clothes Roundup
Researchers date the advent of clothing by the evolution of lice.
Reversing Early Alzheimer’s
Scientists have erased learning and memory deficits in a mouse model of early Alzheimer's disease.
Fearless Woman
Researchers are studying a woman who lacks fear in order to help those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Podcast
NATURE OF INVENTION: Sea urchin teeth could inspire new nano-materials, and hornet stripes could lead to better solar technology. Also: automatic transmissions could revolutionize electric wheelchairs, and there's new research on the genetics of hair color and male pattern baldness.
French Smoking
French men are giving up cigarettes, but French women are smoking more.
Birthdate Depression
Being born in the winter could affect your biological clock – and your personality – later in life.
Visual Illusion
People with more brain space devoted to vision are less easily fooled by an optical illusion.
Imaginary Eating
Imagining that you're eating a food may curb your appetite for the real thing.
Ancient Music
Playing ancient Peruvian instruments inside the ruins of a temple gives researchers clues to the music's cultural significance.
Night Light Depression
Dim light at night causes depressive symptoms in rodents.
Podcast
Bacterial poison darts, a new approach to cancer research, turning skin into blood, depressing night-lights and the differences between human and Neanderthal brains.