News

Alzheimer’s Preventives: Lifestyle, Diet

by Tom Valeo

While we wait for potential Alzheimer’s drugs to prove useful, some simple lifestyle changes might help ward off the disease, suggest several studies reported at the Alzheimer’s Association’s recent international conference.

The Economic Brain

Emotion underlies whether we buy or sell

The laws of economics have traditionally discounted the brain, assigning values to observed behavior and assuming that everyone will act in his or her own best interest. But humans are perplexing creatures who behave in irrational ways, and brain imaging is beginning to offer some explanations.

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Scientists Harmonize on the Theme of Arts Advocacy
Column: Arts Education in the News

Scientists Harmonize on the Theme of Arts Advocacy

by Janet Eilber

The Dana Foundation's "Learning, Arts, and the Brain" report contains a number of hard-science studies that strengthen the link between arts training and cognitive performance.

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News

Helping Brain Cells Stand at Attention

by Jim Schnabel

A class of brain-cell receptors known as muscarinic acetylcholine receptors regulates visual attention in monkeys, researchers in the United Kingdom report. The unexpected result represents a significant advance in the study of attentional processes that is likely to energize the young field, other scientists say.

A Road Paved by Reason

A Road Paved by Reason

by Elizabeth Norton Lasley

Cerebrum

Cognitive therapy, which emphasizes problem solving, has helped generations of people with disorders such as depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Soon it may help more.

News

Stroke Survivors' Brains Benefit from Treadmill Exercise, Too

by Aalok Mehta

Using a treadmill not only improves the mobility and health of people who have had strokes but also seems to “rewire” the brain—even years after the damage—according to a new study.

News

Study Suggests Serotonin Plays a Role in SIDS

by Tom Valeo

Research on mice with dysfunctional neurons in the serotonin system suggests how the chemical's imbalance in the brain might be a trigger for sudden infant death syndrome in humans.

Learning, Arts, and the Brain
Research

Learning, Arts, and the Brain

Dana Consortium studies find strong links

For the first time, coordinated, multi-university scientific research brings us closer to answering the question: Are smart people drawn to the arts or does arts training make people smarter?

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George Will Riffs on Cubs Book
New Book

George Will Riffs on Cubs Book

The Newsweek columnist uses examples from Your Brain on Cubs to explain the “neurological affliction” of rooting for a team with a history of letdowns. Also, Steve Mirsky of Scientific American talked with editor Dan Gordon about the book recently, as did Ira Flatow on National Public Radio's Science Friday show. Visit the book page for more links to interviews and news coverage.

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Screening for Childhood Disorders: Is There a Downside?
News

Screening for Childhood Disorders: Is There a Downside?

by Brenda Patoine

Recent recommendations by the nation’s top pediatricians association to screen all infants for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has raised questions about the potential downsides of widespread screening for ASD and other childhood neuropsychiatric disorders. 

Podcast

The Brain-Injured Soldier

A two-part podcast about the connection and intersection of brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder in U.S. veterans of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Part of our podcasts section.

Latest Books
Cerebrum 2008: Emerging Ideas in Brain Science

Cerebrum 2008: Emerging Ideas in Brain Science

In this second annual anthology, top scientists and scholars interpret the latest discoveries about the human brain and confront their implications for fields from architecture to ethics, music to health care policy. Foreword by Carl Zimmer.

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Your Brain on Cubs

Your Brain on Cubs

Inside the Heads of Players and Fans

Edited by Dan Gordon

A group of today’s leading science writers and neuroscientists explore here the ways that our brain functions when we participate in sports as fans, athletes, and coaches, taking baseball as the quintessential sport for all three perspectives.

See also

Wired for Goodness

Wired for Goodness

by Donald W. Pfaff, Ph.D.

A distinguished neuroscientist gives us a science-based hypothesis of why humans across time and geography have such similar notions of right and wrong.

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Defining Right and Wrong in Brain Science

Defining Right and Wrong in Brain Science

by Walter Glannon, Ph.D.

August 2007

The fifth volume in The Dana Foundation Series on Neuroethics, this collection marks the five-year anniversary of the first meeting in the field of neuroethics, providing readers with the seminal writings on past, present, and future ethical issues facing neuroscience and society.

Best of the Brain from Scientific American

Best of the Brain from Scientific American

Mind, Matter, and Tomorrow's Brain

July 2007

Top neuroscientist Floyd E. Bloom has selected the most fascinating brain-related articles from Scientific American and Scientific American Mind since 1999 in this collection. Divided into three sections—Mind, Matter, and Tomorrow’s Brain—this compilation takes you to the latest information from the front lines of brain research.

Cerebrum 2007

Cerebrum 2007

Emerging Ideas in Brain Science

May 2007

In this first yearly anthology, Cerebrum's authors reveal what will be tomorrow’s conventional wisdom on topics such as the biological nature of ethical behavior, the brain basis for belief in the supernatural, the science of music, and drugs to alter traumatic memories.

Mind Wars

Mind Wars

Brain Research and National Defense

by Jonathon Moreno

November 2006

A provocative book that reads like an edge-of-your seat investigation into the intertwining worlds of science, technology, and government, Mind wars is the first ever systematic overview of brain research and national security.

Resistance

Resistance

The Human Struggle Against Infection

by Norbert Gaulde
Steven Rendall (Translator)

October 2006

The 20th century utopian notion of eradicating common infectious disease has gradually taken a back seat to the reality of bacterial resistance, new diseases and newly discovered infectious agents.

Hard Science, Hard Choices: Facts, Ethics, and Policies Guiding Brain Science Today

Hard Science, Hard Choices: Facts, Ethics, and Policies Guiding Brain Science Today

by Sandra J. Ackerman

May 2006

Hard Science, Hard Choices examines the ethical challenges facing brain research today.

Spotlight

Annual Meeting of the Neuroethics Society Nov. 13-14, 2008

Registration is open on the Society's site. The conference, in Washington, D.C., will include lectures, forums, debates, poster sessions and other events on topics including the science of decision-making and free will, national intelligence and neuroscience and the ethics of forensic neuroscience, cognitive enhancement and treatments for psychiatric disorders.

Dana Alliance Publications

2008 Progress Report on Brain Research

2008 Progress Report on Brain Research

Describes and interprets the important advances in neuroscience of the previous year, contributing to better diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of the numerous diseases that affect the brain.
Q&A: Answering Your Questions About Brain Research

Q&A: Answering Your Questions About Brain Research

A pamphlet that provides the answers to commonly asked questions about the brain and its disorders.
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Brain Connections

Brain Connections

A pocket-sized resource booklet in its seventh edition that lists more than 240 organizations likely to help those looking for information, referrals, and other guidance in connection with brain-related disorders.
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It's Mindboggling!

It's Mindboggling!

Packed with information about the brain in a fun format of games, riddles, and puzzles, this booklet is perfect for middle and high school students.
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Es Increible!

Es Increible!

The Spanish edition of It's Mindboggling! is packed with information about the brain in a fun format of games, riddles, and puzzles. This booklet is perfect for middle and high school students.
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More Mindbogglers!

More Mindbogglers!

An addition to It’s Mindboggling!, this new publication is a closer look at learning and memory, the senses, drug addition, and how the brain and nervous system work...still in a fun format.
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