Build-up of a harmful protein in the brain can predict atrophy in Alzheimer’s disease patients at least one year in advance. Previous studies have shown that two tell-tale plaques, amyloid beta and tau, form clumps that smother and destroy neurons. But researchers found that only accumulation of the tau protein was indicative of where damage … 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
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
Given the choice between a lifetime of headaches from a condition that could unexpectedly – but quickly – kill you, or brain surgery with a high risk of leaving half their body paralyzed, most people would hesitate to answer. But it gave Lindsay Vos, of Ann Arbor Michigan no pause. After an abnormal mass of … Read more
Do you ever go upstairs to look for something, then realise you have no idea why you were going upstairs in the first place? Or what about putting rice on to cook, then leaving the room and only returning when you smell the burning? I find that as I get older I am increasingly doing … Read more
MISCELLANY UNCOMMON KNOWLEDGE by Tom Standage (Economist £8.99, 272 pp) This is what Tom Standage, deputy editor of The Economist, calls ‘a compendium of explanations’. It’s uncommon knowledge in two senses of the word: in the normal sense of ‘rare or infrequently encountered’, and also as in the meaning ‘exceptional and extraordinary’. In short, it’s … Read more
Maria Menounos is urging the public not to dismiss symptoms as merely ‘work stress’ as she did prior to her brain tumor diagnosis. The 40-year-old Sirius XM host revealed in July 2017 that she had a mass the size of a golf ball and that she’d undergone surgery to remove it. In a recent appearance … 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
Having won two gold medals in the 2017 under-18 kayaking world cup when she was just 15, it’s fair to say Georgia Carmichael was in peak condition. But just six weeks after the event, she was struck down with searing headaches, chronic fatigue and an unbearable sensitivity to bright lights. Within months, she had suffered a … Read more
Someone who is infected with the coronavirus can spread it with just a simple cough or a sneeze, scientists say. Nearly 4,000 people with the virus are now confirmed to have died and more than 110,000 have been infected. Here’s what we know so far: What is the coronavirus? A coronavirus is a type of … Read more