ScienceDaily: Mind & Brain News

While it is well known that fighting over money can lead couples to divorce court, new research finds that differences in risk preferences, especially when it comes to financial matters, are likely a root cause of marital separation.

Positive trends in global education access are expected to decrease dementia prevalence worldwide by 6.2 million cases by the year 2050. Meanwhile, anticipated trends in smoking, high body mass index and high blood sugar are predicted to increase prevalence by nearly the same number: 6.8 million cases.

For decades, a key brain area has been thought to merely regulate locomotion. Now, a research group has shown that the region is involved in much more than walking, as it contains distinct populations of neurons that control different body movements. The findings could help to improve certain therapies for Parkinson's disease.

A new study shows that over the course of five years, patients who had bariatric and metabolic surgery to treat uncontrolled type 2 diabetes reported greater physical health, more energy, less body pain, and less negative effects of diabetes in their daily lives, compared with patients who had medical therapy alone for their diabetes.

The fruit fly has multiple taste organs throughout its body to detect chemicals, called tastants, that signal whether a food is palatable or harmful. It is still unclear, however, how individual neurons in each taste organ act to control feeding. To explore this question, a team used the fly pharynx as a model to study whether taste information regulates sugar and amino acid consumption at the cellular level.

Subtle differences in perception during late-teen years can predict the development of hallucinations, delusions, and, in some instances, psychosis later in life, according to new research.

A new study finds that the disconnect between how old we feel and how old we want to be can offer insights into the relationship between our views on aging and our health.

Researchers have discovered that decisions based on visual information, which involve a complex stream of data flowing forward and backwards along the brain's visual pathways, is broadcast widely to neurons in the visual system, including to those that are not being used to make the decision.

Researchers discovered that although the brain regulates feeding for pleasure and for hunger through serotonin-producing neurons in the midbrain, each type of feeding is wired by its own independent circuit that does not influence the other type of feeding.

Researchers show that restoring normal function of the molecular clock suppresses tumor growth in advanced neuroblastoma and can make tumors more sensitive to conventional chemotherapy.

Women leaders must often battle sexist stereotypes that label them 'too emotional' for effective leadership. A surprising new study shows that when they express calm, happy emotions, however, women are perceived as more effective leaders than men. The effect is most pronounced for leaders in top positions in an organization.

Can you think of three words that are completely unrelated to one another? What about four, five, or even ten? According to researchers, this simple exercise of naming unrelated words and then measuring the semantic distance between them could serve as an objective measure of creativity.

Frontotemporal dementias are a group of fatal and debilitating brain disorders for which there are no cures. Researchers describe how they were able to recreate much of the damage seen in a widely studied form of the disease by growing special types of cerebral organoids in petri dishes. This form of the disease is caused by a genetic mutation in tau, a protein that is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. By studying these organoids, the scientists discovered how the mutated tau protein may trigger the death of a specific class of neurons known to be vulnerable in frontotemporal dementia. They also showed that they could prevent the death of these neurons by treating the organoids with an experimental drug, originally designed to combat Crohn's disease.

A clinical trial of a new dietary treatment for children and adults with severe forms of epilepsy based on the ketogenic diet has been successfully completed.

Researchers have identified a way to bridge two neuronal approaches traditionally used in isolation, resulting in a richer understanding of neuronal activity.