brain

When Intel was recently asked about their plans for future development, the world's largest semiconductor chipmaker retorted with a rather unusual answer. According to Intel, by the year 2020, people will no longer need a keyboard or mouse to ... control a computer. Rather, users will able to surf the Internet and open files using nothing more than their brain . Intel researchers are currently finding new ways to read human brain activity to be used in the manipulation of computers, television sets and cell phones. If the research proves to be successful, many brain waves could soon be harnessed ... (view more)

Think video games are wasting away a new generation of frag-happy, overweight teens? Nutritionists might have good reason to be worried, but optometrists could soon be pushing action games on patients after a recent study found they can actually ... improve eye sight. According to a study launched by the University of Rochester in New York, those participants who played a significant amount of action video games were better able to differentiate between varying shades of gray. Doesn't sound notable? Well, researchers believe it could actually help people see at night, particularly when they're ... (view more)

While Nintendo boasts that its Wii can make you fit, the game company's popular line of DS "Brain Games" have for some time promised to make kids smarter by challenging them with word puzzles and math formulas. However, a French professor isn't ... buying the shtick. University of Rennes professor Alain Lieury, a cognitive psychology specialist in Brittany, France, recently studied a group of ten year old children playing a variety of mentally-challenging games. Not all were video games, however; Lieury pit more traditional games (including sudoku, Scrabble, and regular old reading and homework) ... (view more)

Tests at the University of Washington have shown it's possible to reroute brain signals to move paralysed limbs. The results could eventually lead to treatment for spinal injury victims. The study works on the idea that, although spinal injuries ... damage the connections which carry nerve signals, victims usually retain both the muscles in the affected limb and the use of the motor cortex, the part of the brain which controls movement. Unlike some parts of the brain, which work on a 'use it or lose it' basis, studies have shown people can retain full control over the motor cortex even after ... (view more)

Tests at the University of Washington have shown it's possible to reroute brain signals to move paralysed limbs. The results could eventually lead to treatment for spinal injury victims. The study works on the idea that, although spinal injuries ... damage the connections which carry nerve signals, victims usually retain both the muscles in the affected limb and the use of the motor cortex, the part of the brain which controls movement. Unlike some parts of the brain, which work on a 'use it or lose it' basis, studies have shown people can retain full control over the motor cortex even after ... (view more)

Military scientists are in the midst of developing new technology that, if successful, will increase safety during times of war and change the face of battlefield health care. The new technology will be able to detect hidden brain injuries, critical ... for saving victims from the unseen. For years, researchers have tried to develop a system for use on the battlefield to determine the severity of injuries experienced by soldiers who are near explosive devices when they detonate. Many problems in the past have resulted from troops being exposed to a blast, but showing no visible injuries. These ... (view more)

Are you left handed? According to one research team, it could mean you're also a looney tune. The Wellcome Trust for Human Genetics at the University of Oxford has recently completed an international study of southpaws. The findings are a bit ... startling: the same gene that leaves one left-handed may also lead to the development of schizophrenia, a mental disorder that impairs perception and affects approximately 1% of the global population. It's all about brain symmetry. The gene in question, labelled LRRTM1, modifies that symmetry in the human brain. Although in most humans the left side of ... (view more)