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Cerebrum 2007

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Cerebrum

“Go” and “NoGo”

Learning and the Basal Ganglia

Many human behaviors are, in essence, reflexes programmed into our brains when we are rewarded or punished for taking a particular action. New research is showing how the basal ganglia, deep inside the brain below the cortex, are important in learning from feedback, in the formation of good and bad habits, and even in brain disorders as diverse as Parkinson’s disease, ADHD, and addiction.

By: Michael J. Frank, Ph.D.

Cerebrum

Harnessing the Brain’s Power to Adapt After Injury

Rehabilitation from a brain or spinal cord focuses on enabling people to make the most of what functions they still have. Physical, occupational, and speech therapy, counseling, and education can go only so far, however. For neurorehabilitation to offer the hope of curing the underlying brain damage, writes an expert in the field, it must look to basic science and better clinical trials to put to work the power of the brain’s plasticity.

By: Michael E. Selzer, M.D., Ph.D.

Cerebrum

Stress and Immunity

From Starving Cavemen to Stressed-Out Scientists

Scientists in Australia have recently discovered the first clear molecular process that helps to explain how stress suppresses our immune defenses and makes us more vulnerable to getting sick. Has a biological system that worked well for early humans faced with starvation turned against those of us living with the many new stresses of modern society?

By: Fabienne Mackay, Ph.D.

cartoon arrows swirling around cartoon man
Cerebrum

Seeking Free Will in Our Brains: A Debate

Two senior scientists, a neurologist and a psychiatrist, debate the meaning of free will and whether brain science can, now or ever, fully explain it.

By: Paul R. McHugh, M.D., Mark Hallett, M.D.

sheet of music
Cerebrum

When Music Stops Making Sense

Lessons from an Injured Brain

What does the experience of people whose musical abilities have been affected by brain damage teach us about how the brain binds together what we perceive into a seamless flow?

By: Petr Janata, Ph.D.

Cerebrum

“Cosmetic Neurology” and the Problem of Pain

Is taking a drug to lessen the pain of our common daily struggles a “cosmetic” enhancement of human life, even a danger to character, or is it an ethical choice?

By: Anjan Chatterjee, M.D.

Cerebrum

Risks and Rewards of Biologics for the Brain

Biologics—drugs derived from living organisms—have great potential for treating brain and other diseases, but their risks are significant. How can patients, physicians, industry, and government balance these risks and rewards?

By: E. Ray Dorsey, M.D., M.B.A., Philip Vitticore, M.D., Hamilton Moses III, M.D.

Cells infected with malaria
Cerebrum

Cerebral Malaria, a Wily Foe

Scientists worldwide are working to understand the devastating effects of malaria on the brain, particularly in young children.

By: Kayt Sukel

Cerebrum

Protecting the Brain from a Glutamate Storm

Head injury or stroke can cause a surge in glutamate, leaving damaged neurons in its wake. But a new method may help keep the chemical messenger in check.

By: Luba Vikhanski

Cerebrum

Prying Into Prions

Challenges, Gloom and Hope for Treating Deadly Diseases

Prion diseases such as "mad cow" turn the brains of otherwise healthy people into a spongy mush, inevitably killing them. Now researchers are beginning to understand how mutant prion proteins cause this destruction.

By: Scott P. Edwards

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