The past month has been tough. All across the world, people have been asked to stay home and socially isolate themselves to protect themselves and their communities against the spread of the COVID19 pandemic. At Posit Science, we’ve all been working from home for five weeks now, sheltering in place with our families or roommates,…
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For decades, we’ve been waiting on the scientific community to find a cure for Alzheimer’s—but very little progress has been made. The first drug used to treat the symptoms of Alzheimer’s was Cognex (tacrine), which was approved in 1993; and the most recent was Namenda (memantine), approved in 2003. That means that in the past…
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If you’ve ever dabbled in neuroscience (or work at a neuroscience-based company, like I do) you may have come across the story of “H.M.” H.M. was a man who had brain surgery in the 1950s to stop severe seizures. The surgeon ended up removing large pieces of H.M.’s brain. The result: far fewer seizures, and…
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I watched the new PBS show called Brain Secrets in which our own founder, Dr. Mike Merzenich, is featured. One of the everyday examples of brain fitness Dr. Mike mentions is how older people can avoid falling down by training their brains to keep their head upright when they walk. Older people have more fear…
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For the past 25 years or so, TED Talks have been a great source of accessible information about cutting-edge research on the brain and its development over a lifespan. We’ve featured several on our blog and in other communications. Here, we’ve gathered a few of our favorites together so you can find them all in…
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Ed. note: This week, in the run-up to Valentine’s Day, we’re featuring a 5-part series about the neuroscience of love and romance. At the end, we’ll put the full series on our website. Enjoy! Does all this romantic mumbo-jumbo make you feel a little queasy? I have good news: a recent study showed that listening…
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Ed. note: This week, in the run-up to Valentine’s Day, we’re featuring a 5-part series about the neuroscience of love and romance. At the end, we’ll put the full series on our website. Enjoy! You may have heard of oxytocin, sometimes called the “love hormone.” Human and animal studies have shown that oxytocin plays a…
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Ed. note: This week, in the run-up to Valentine’s Day, we’re featuring a 5-part series about the neuroscience of love and romance. At the end, we’ll put the full series on our website. Enjoy! Lots of relationship experts suggest that couples who have been together through the ages can keep the romance alive with regular…
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Ed. note: This week, in the run-up to Valentine’s Day, we’re featuring a 5-part series about the neuroscience of love and romance. At the end, we’ll put the full series on our website. Enjoy! Unlike Helen Fisher, Ted Huston is more interested in studying what happens throughout long-term relationships. One interesting finding over a lifetime…
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Ed. note: This week, in the run-up to Valentine’s Day, we’re featuring a 5-part series about the neuroscience of love and romance. At the end, we’ll put the full series on our website. Enjoy! Ever fallen madly in love? Researcher Helen Fisher has spent her academic life trying to figure out what’s going on in…
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