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Smiling really DOES make you happier: Study finds expressing happiness influences the brain to generate positive feelings For decades, researchers have studied how acting happy could influence happiness A team at the University of Tennessee has analyzed 50 years of data on the subject They found there is a clear connection between acting happy and … Read more
Hope for childhood brain cancer: Scientists believe they could DOUBLE survival time by blocking a gene that helps deadly pediatric tumors grow and spread Researchers studied mice programmed to develop glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer They discovered a gene that fuels tumor growth and binds together different forms of RNA, which carries instructions from … Read more
The popular party drug MDMA – or ecstasy – may ‘reopen’ narrow windows in the brain that allows us to re-learn better social behaviors, new research suggests. MDMA has been given breakthrough therapy status by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) because it has shown such promise for treating PTSD. Scientists have observed the way … Read more
Pregnant women who use marijuana heavily to treat morning sickness affect part of the baby’s brain associated with memory Prevalence of pregnant women using pot increased by 62% from 2002 to 2014 Researchers exposed pregnant female rats to a synthetic chemical that acts similarly to marijuana, equivalent to heavy use in humans Baby rats exposed in … Read more
People who suffer catastrophic brain injuries may recover their social skills quicker by stroking guinea pigs, research suggests. Traumatic brain injuries often affect a patient’s ability to feel empathy and express their emotions. But a study found allowing patients to stroke ‘cute animals’ – such as micro pigs, rabbits and donkeys – during rehabilitation sessions … Read more
A team of neurosurgeons is on the hunt for a ping-pong-ball-sized tumour, lodged in the left side of Cameron Ray’s brain. Not that you’d know it. Chuckling, the 20-year-old patient gives a thumbs-up to the surgical assistant and cheekily asks the assembled doctors and nurses: ‘Is my brain out?’ It sounds astonishing but Cameron is … Read more
A vlogger whose skull was slowly crushing her brain into her spine has revealed that her body is now ‘falling apart’. Christina Doherty, of Woburn, Massachusetts, experienced headaches, confusion and paralysis from the age of 16 and had always been an ill child. Doctors diagnosed the 23-year-old with a chiari malformation which is when brain … Read more
Disturbing scans reveal how brain damage caused by alcohol carries on for up to SIX WEEKS after you stop drinking Experts in Germany and Spain scanned the brains of alcoholics and non-drinkers They found there was less activity in the drinkers’ brains even weeks later Areas of the brain controlling emotions, behaviour and memory were … Read more