Human Brain

WASHINGTON -- The human brain may still be evolving. So suggests new research that tracked changes in two genes thought to help regulate brain growth, changes that appeared well after the rise of modern humans 200,000 years ago. That the defining feature of humans, our large brains, continued to evolve as recently as 5,800 years ago, and may be doing so today, promises to surprise the average person, if not biologists. "We, including scientists, have considered ourselves as sort of the pinnacle of evolution," said lead researcher Bruce Lahn, a University of Chicago geneticist...

Scientists have long debated when our ancestors mastered fire, a transformative event that shaped what early people ate and how they lived and may have fueled the evolution of the modern human brain. Now, the oldest evidence yet for early humans' use of fire has emerged from a second-floor laboratory at Boston University, where researchers say they have discovered, embedded in ancient reddish slabs of sediment, microscopic flecks of apparent campfires from a million years ago. The sediment, taken from Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa and stored in modest cardboard file...

The brain is crisscrossed by neural highways that follow a simple, grid-like pattern, much like ordered city streets that intersect at right angles, according to new research by Massachusetts General Hospital scientists. "Basically, the overall structure of the brain ends up resembling Manhattan, where you have a 2-D plan of streets and a third axis, an elevator going in the third dimension," said Van Wedeen, a physicist and radiologist at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Mass.

In "Games Primates Play" Dario Maestripieri, a University of Chicago professor and author of the cleverly titled "Macachiavellian Intelligence: How Rhesus Macaques and Humans Have Conquered the World," sifts our understanding of monkey behavior for insights into human behavior. Since the human brain has evolved to cope with many of the same social problems and situations that influenced the evolution of monkeys' brains, it makes sense that their behavior patterns, while perhaps appearing different on the surface, might be similar at a deeper level.

In "Games Primates Play" Dario Maestripieri, a University of Chicago professor and author of the cleverly titled "Macachiavellian Intelligence: How Rhesus Macaques and Humans Have Conquered the World," sifts our understanding of monkey behavior for insights into human behavior. Since the human brain has evolved to cope with many of the same social problems and situations that influenced the evolution of monkeys' brains, it makes sense that their behavior patterns, while perhaps appearing different on the surface, might be similar at a deeper level.

When the marketing firm McCann Worldgroup surveyed thousands of young people last year about what they value most, more than half of the 16- to 22-year-olds said they would rather give up their sense of smell than their phones or laptops. Researchers presented this as an example of a particularly modern youthful attachment to technology, but it is also a sign of the persistent human disregard for the sense of smell. Plato associated smell with base urges; Aristotle wrote that "man smells poorly.

Imagine if, with the flip of a switch, memories stored in the brain could flick on and off: an argument with your mother, for example, or the smell of a particular summer day. Scientists at MIT reported Thursday that they have accomplished something like that, activating brain cells and conjuring a remembrance of time past with a beam of light. The feat is basic research in mice and far from even being tried in a person, but it is a powerful demonstration that memories reside in specific cells in the brain and that they can be turned on. The work, published in the journal...

For nearly a century we’ve thought about the human brain almost solely in terms of its hundred billion neurons. Electrical signals pulse between millions of those long, slender cells, as though through the microprocessors in a computer, and bingo - we see; we think; we fall in love. But only about 15 percent of all the cells in our brains are neurons. So how can we be sure that the microprocessor analogy is accurate? What about the other 85 percent? A new book by R. Douglas Fields, a National Institute of Health neuroscientist, suggests that the other 85 percent - cells called...

Computers, like humans, can learn. But when Google tries to fill in your search box based only on a few keystrokes, or your iPhone predicts words as you type a text message, it's only a narrow mimicry of what the human brain is capable. The challenge in training a computer to behave like a human brain is technological and physiological, testing the limits of computer and brain science. But researchers from IBM Corp. say they've made a key step toward combining the two worlds. The company announced Thursday that it has built two prototype chips that it...

Scientists have long debated when our ancestors mastered fire, a transformative event that shaped what early people ate and how they lived and may have fueled the evolution of the modern human brain. Now, the oldest evidence yet for early humans' use of fire has emerged from a second-floor laboratory at Boston University, where researchers say they have discovered, embedded in ancient reddish slabs of sediment, microscopic flecks of apparent campfires from a million years ago. The sediment, taken from Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa...

The brain is crisscrossed by neural highways that follow a simple, grid-like pattern, much like ordered city streets that intersect at right angles, according to new research by Massachusetts General Hospital scientists. "Basically, the overall structure of the brain ends up resembling Manhattan, where you have a 2-D plan of streets and a third axis, an elevator going in the third dimension," said Van Wedeen, a physicist and radiologist at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Mass.

Imagine if, with the flip of a switch, memories stored in the brain could flick on and off: an argument with your mother, for example, or the smell of a particular summer day. Scientists at MIT reported Thursday that they have accomplished something like that, activating brain cells and conjuring a remembrance of time past with a beam of light. The feat is basic research in mice and far from even being tried in a person, but it is a powerful demonstration that memories reside in specific cells in the brain and that they can be turned on. The work, published in the...

When the marketing firm McCann Worldgroup surveyed thousands of young people last year about what they value most, more than half of the 16- to 22-year-olds said they would rather give up their sense of smell than their phones or laptops. Researchers presented this as an example of a particularly modern youthful attachment to technology, but it is also a sign of the persistent human disregard for the sense of smell. Plato associated smell with base urges; Aristotle wrote that "man smells poorly.

SAN FRANCISCO - Computers, like humans, can learn. But when Google tries to fill in your search box based only on a few keystrokes, or your iPhone predicts words as you type a text message, it's only a narrow mimicry of what the human brain is capable. The challenge in training a computer to behave like a human brain is technological and physiological, testing the limits of computer and brain science. But researchers from IBM Corp. say they have made a key step toward combining the two worlds.

Banning novelty lighters Lighters aren’t toys, and lighters that look like toys aren’t safe. That’s the simple principle behind the state’s ban on novelty lighters – funny lobsters, realistic tractors, and sweet Santas that are attractive to children but also designed to produce a flame – that went into effect last month. Massachusetts was the 14th state to enact this kind of statute, according to the office of the state fire marshal, Stephen D. Coan, a key player both in getting the new law enacted and, now, enforcing it. Chico Colvard ...

For nearly a century we’ve thought about the human brain almost solely in terms of its hundred billion neurons. Electrical signals pulse between millions of those long, slender cells, as though through the microprocessors in a computer, and bingo - we see; we think; we fall in love. But only about 15 percent of all the cells in our brains are neurons....

Banning novelty lighters Lighters aren’t toys, and lighters that look like toys aren’t safe. That’s the simple principle behind the state’s ban on novelty lighters – funny lobsters, realistic tractors, and sweet Santas that are attractive to children but also designed to produce a flame – that went into effect last month. Massachusetts was the 14th state to enact this kind of statute, according to the office of the state fire marshal, Stephen D. Coan, a key player both in getting the new law enacted and, now, enforcing it. Chico Colvard This is an area plump with...

WASHINGTON -- The human brain may still be evolving. So suggests new research that tracked changes in two genes thought to help regulate brain growth, changes that appeared well after the rise of modern humans 200,000 years ago. That the defining feature of humans, our large brains, continued to evolve as recently as 5,800 years ago, and may be doing so today, promises to surprise the average person, if not biologists. "We, including scientists, have considered ourselves as sort of the pinnacle of evolution," said lead researcher Bruce Lahn, a University of Chicago geneticist...