Want to Learn A New Skill? Try Taking Some Short Breaks

People may solidify the memory of skills they have just learned if they take a short rest immediately afterward, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The researchers said that the results of the study, published in the journal Current Biology, highlighted the critical role that rest may play in learning. “Everyone thinks you… Continue reading Want to Learn A New Skill? Try Taking Some Short Breaks

Cognitive Cross-Training Enhances Learning

Just as athletes cross-train to improve physical skills, those wanting to enhance cognitive skills can benefit from multiple ways of exercising the brain, according to a comprehensive new study from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers published in JULY 2017 INthe journal Scientific Reports. A release from the university explains that the 18-week study of… Continue reading Cognitive Cross-Training Enhances Learning

How Neurons in the Brain Fuel Learning and Memory

Researchers from King’s College London have discovered a molecular mechanism that enables neuronal connections to change through experience, thus fuelling learning and memory formation. The findings were published in July 2017 in the journal Neuron and have the potential to reveal new therapeutic strategies for neurological and psychiatric disorders. A release from King’s College explains… Continue reading How Neurons in the Brain Fuel Learning and Memory

Dancing Is Good for Aging Brains

A 2017 study led by a Colorado State University researcher shows that dancing is good for aging brains. A release from the university notes that the research team demonstrated for the first time that decline in the brain’s “white matter” can be detected over a period of only six months in healthy aging adults —… Continue reading Dancing Is Good for Aging Brains

“Overlearning” A Task Can Help in The Long Run

People who continued to train on a visual task for 20 minutes after they mastered it locked in that learning, shielding it from interference by new learning, a new study in Nature Neuroscience shows. The Brown University study, in which people learned visual perception tasks, suggests that you should keep practicing for a little while… Continue reading “Overlearning” A Task Can Help in The Long Run

Are You Forgetting Something Essential for Retirement?

Most people have some kind of lifestyle vision for retirement. Unfortunately, without proper planning their dreams won’t always become a reality as they enter the encore time of their lives, says Michael Bivona, a certified public accountant who retired almost 20 years ago. “I had a simple plan: When I stopped working I planned on… Continue reading Are You Forgetting Something Essential for Retirement?

Money Isn’t The Only Thing You Need in Retirement

It’s the dream retirement many people anticipate for decades. Hang out around the pool all day. Play one round of golf after the other. Finally read that teetering stack of books on the nightstand. In retirement, every day is Saturday – only without the dread about what Monday morning back at the office might bring.… Continue reading Money Isn’t The Only Thing You Need in Retirement

Older Adults Possess Important Forms of Expertise

Just in time for Grandparents’ Day 2015, coming up on September 13th, researchers at Chapman University in California published an article in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology showing that as adults continue to age beyond their reproductive years, despite physical frailty setting in, they are often regarded as experts in areas such as in… Continue reading Older Adults Possess Important Forms of Expertise

Power Naps Produce a Significant Improvement in Memory Performance

Neuropsychologists at Saarland University in Germany have shown that even a brief sleep can significantly improve retention of learned material in memory. A release from the university explains that Sara Studte, a graduate biologist specializing in neuropsychology, working with her PhD supervisor Axel Mecklinger and co-researcher Emma Bridger, is examining how power naps influence memory… Continue reading Power Naps Produce a Significant Improvement in Memory Performance

This is Your Brain on a Mozart Violin Concerto

According to a study done at the University of Helsinki in 2015, listening to classical music enhances the activity of genes involved in dopamine secretion and transport, synaptic neurotransmission, learning and memory, and down-regulates the genes mediating neurodegeneration. Several of the up-regulated genes have previously been shown to be responsible for song learning and singing… Continue reading This is Your Brain on a Mozart Violin Concerto

How A Protein Crucial To Learning and Memory Works

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have found out how a protein crucial to learning works: by removing a biochemical “clamp” that prevents connections between nerve cells in the brain from growing stronger. The finding moves neuroscientists a step closer to figuring out how learning and memory work, and may one day lead to drugs or other… Continue reading How A Protein Crucial To Learning and Memory Works

Surprise! With Age, We Sometimes Learn More Than Younger People.

Older people can actually take in and learn from visual information more readily than younger people do, according to research done at Brown University and reported in the Cell Press journal “Current Biology” on November 26th 2014. This surprising discovery is explained by an apparent decline with age in the ability to filter out irrelevant… Continue reading Surprise! With Age, We Sometimes Learn More Than Younger People.

The Brain’s Dilemma: Fear or Reward?

When it comes to learning tricky tasks, it seems we’re motivated more by avoiding punishment than by getting a reward. The discovery indicates that circuits in the frontal cortex of the brain, which calculate the degree of conflict, effort and difficulty of actions, are connected with another part of the brain that govern perceptions of… Continue reading The Brain’s Dilemma: Fear or Reward?

Is It A Sore Throat – or Strep?

If you’re not sure whether you’ve got strep throat – or just a sore throat – the experts at the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have some answers.
Sore throats, which can be either mild or severe, have a variety of causes. Some of them, the CDC experts say, include viruses, bacteria, allergens, irritants, post-nasal drip and fungi. But whatever the reason, the result is the irritating and painful condition known as sore throat.
Most cases will heal without treatment. But others, including strep throat, may need antibiotics.

Watch: Dairy Products for the Lactose Intolerant

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Personalized Cancer Treatment

Researchers have developed a way to predict how a cancer patient's tumor is likely to behave and which of several treatments might be most effective.

On the Horizon: A New Way to Treat Pain

Researchers have identified two molecules that perpetuate chronic pain, and that may pave the way for more effective, less addictive medicines.   A study from the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland said that the molecules may play a role in the phenomenon that causes uninjured areas of the body to be more sensitive to pain if they are near an area that has been injured.   The findings were published in the journal Neuron.   "With the identification

Watch: Can a Super Bowl Cause Fans to Have Heart Attacks?

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