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Category: neuroscience – Page 293

Do you prefer originals to remakes, or the whacky option compared to something more relevant? Well, a new study published in the journal American Psychologist suggests that people more inclined towards original ideas are likely to be more inventive themselves.

Creative mechanisms in the brain are complex and largely unknown – and scientists are still learning how creativity works and what motivates it. But a French team of cognitive neuroscientists are trying to shed the light on this process.

Neuroscientists currently agree that the creative process has two parts: coming up with ideas and then assessing them to choose the good ones.

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Exercise has many health benefits, from improving brain health to strengthening bones and muscles. Included in the vast array of advantages associated with exercise is cancer prevention and control.

The scientific literature suggests that physical activity mobilizes immune cells, activating them to fight cancer. This idea prompted an investigation into the interplay between exercise and immunity, the results of which were recently published in Scientific Reports.

The study investigated how 10-minute exercise sessions impact immune cells in patients recently diagnosed with breast cancer. The exercise regimen in the study consisted of pedaling a supine bicycle (laying on the back while cycling the legs) for ten minutes. This type of activity, considered “acute exercise,” is loosely defined as single bouts of physical activity. Acute exercise directly impacts circulation, and when the blood starts pumping, immune cells travel throughout the body, becoming more likely to encounter cancerous cells.

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View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/can-we-grow-human-brains-outside-…-lancaster.

Shielded by our thick skulls and swaddled in layers of protective tissue, the human brain is extremely difficult to observe in action. Luckily, scientists can use brain organoids — pencil eraser-sized masses of cells that function like human brains but aren’t part of an organism — to look closer. How do they do it? And is it ethical? Madeline Lancaster shares how to make a brain in a lab.

Lesson by Madeline Lancaster, animation by Adam Wells.

Continue reading “What are mini brains? — Madeline Lancaster” | >

The more we like our ideas, the faster we give them shape. But to be creative, we need to focus on out-of-the-box thinking. This is what Alizée Lopez-Persem and Emmanuelle Volle, Inserm researchers at Paris Brain Institute, showed in a new study published in American Psychologist.

Using a behavioral study and a computational model to replicate the different components of the , the researchers explain how individual preferences influence the speed of the emergence of new ideas and their degree of . These preferences also determine which ideas we choose to exploit and communicate to others.

What drives us to develop new ideas rather than settling for standard methods and processes? What triggers the desire to innovate at the risk of sacrificing time, energy, and reputation for a resounding failure? Creativity is based on complex mechanisms that we are only beginning to understand and in which motivation plays a central role. But pursuing a goal is not enough to explain why we favor some ideas over others and whether that choice benefits the success of our actions.

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Well, I’ve got news for you: none of those three are bad things. You’re shooting the messenger. It’s an emotional friendly fire incident.

In fact, boredom, frustration, and impatience are downright good for you. Yeah, I said it.

They aren’t obstacles to a good life; they’re your guides to a good life. They help us find our path, they motivate us, and they give us hope. Instead of avoiding them, fighting them, or suppressing them, we just need to listen to them — and maybe steer them a bit.

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Scientists may have successfully spotted the brain center for the male libido responsible for sexual interest and mating in mouse models. The discovery may lead to improved drugs for sexual function.

This is according to a report by Medical Xpress published on Friday.

Senior researcher Dr. Nirao Shah, a professor of psychiatry and neurobiology at Stanford University School of Medicine, in California, said in the article that the newly-discovered region is responsible for recognizing the sex of other mice.

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