May 2008 There are some bad things going on in the world. Natural disasters in the Far East are taking up a lot of the headlines. But a lot of things are happening closer to home. And now, another sign of desperate times, these so called xenophobic attacks in Gauteng. But it isn't all bad. So on a happier note, I had the most lovely sunny autumn weekend in Durban that consisted mostly of laying about on a blanket on the grass and just reeeelaxing. WiredDifferently – Uniting Us to Explore the Jungle of the Mind Researchers Map Brain Regions Linked to Intelligence FRIDAY, April 13 (HealthDay News) -- The physical architecture of intelligence in the brain has been mapped by scientists who used brain injury patients to conduct their research. The findings provide new insight about the specific brain structures involved in general intelligence and specific skills such as memory and the ability to understand words. The study included 182 Vietnam War veterans who had highly localized brain damage caused by penetrating head wounds. [Read: Health Buzz: Dental X-Rays Linked to Brain Tumors.] "It's a significant challenge to find patients [for research] who have brain damage, and even further, it's very hard to find patients who have focal brain damage," study leader Aron Barbey, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Illinois, said in a university news release. Many people who've suffered brain damage from stroke or other causes have multiple impaired brain areas. [Read: Study Suggests Vaccine May Help Kids With Brain Cancer.] More information
Pentagon enlists universities to collaborate on brain implants to repair brain injury DARPA, the U.S. Department of Defense's research arm, has announced $14.9 million in funding for major research institutions to collaborate on brain implants that can help repair traumatic brain injury. The Pentagon project, called RePAIR ("Reorganization and Plasticity to Accelerate Injury Recovery"), aims to find a way to better analyze brain activity to develop more advanced models of how it operates. The effort is comprised of 10 professors and their research teams, culled from fields such as neurobiology, psychiatry and network engineering. The researchers hail from Stanford and Brown universities, the University of California-San Francisco and University College London. Brain injury is not an uncommon injury. The problem? Currently, scientists can create conceptual models of brain activity and can record electrical pulses emitted by individual neurons in the brain. Enter optogenetics. Here's an excerpt from the DARPA solicitation: [via Danger Room]
Brain cost-efficiency linked to family genes Some brains are wired more efficiently than others, and new research has shown that 60% of the differences can be explained by genetic factors. Credit: iStockPhoto SYDNEY: How well our brain functions is largely based on our family’s genetic makeup, according to a new study which provides the first evidence of a genetic effect on how ‘cost-efficient’ our brain network wiring is. The study, led by Australian researchers, was published in The Journal of Neuroscience and could shed light on why some people are better able to perform certain tasks than others and the genetic basis of mental illnesses and neurological diseases. “Some brains are wired better than others, and 60% of the differences can be explained by genetic factors,” said lead author Alex Fornito from the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre at the University of Melbourne. More bang for your buck Cost efficiency involves a balance between two competing priorities. Strongest effects in prefrontal cortex