Growth Hormone Also a Memory Booster

Researchers have found that insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II), a naturally occurring hormone, can boost memory retention in animals. The discovery offers a rare glimpse into a mysterious stage of the learning process, and it may one day provide scientists with a new way to treat memory impairments, such as those caused by dementia.

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IBM’s Top Five Predictions for 2015

IBM has unveiled its fifth annual “Next Five in Five” — five technology innovations that have the potential to change the way people work, live and play over the next five years:

• You’ll beam up your friends in 3-D
• Batteries will breathe air to power our devices
• You won’t need to be a scientist to save the planet
• Your commute will be personalized
• Computers will help energize your city

Where unconscious memories form

A small area deep in the brain called the perirhinal cortex is critical for forming unconscious conceptual memories, researchers at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain have found. The perirhinal cortex was thought to be involved, like the neighboring hippocampus, in “declarative” or conscious memories, but the new results show that the picture is more complex, said lead author Wei-chun Wang, a graduate student at UC Davis.

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Infrared add-on could let standard cameras see cancer

Technical University of Denmark in Roskilde researchers are developing a device that can convert mid-infrared radiation into visible light. Attached to a digital camera fitted with an infrared flash, it could detect tumors by recording the telltale pattern of infrared light they reflect.

The device could be placed in front of a digital camera lens like a filter, and be used to take thermal photographs or video.Current mid-infrared color imagers need to run at -200°C and cost around $100,000; an upconversion imager would run at room temperature and cost about $10,000.

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What Are the Benefits of Being Left Handed?

According to ABC News, lefties are "more likely to be schizophrenic, alcoholic, delinquent, dyslexic, and have Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, as well as mental disabilities." Lefties are also more accident-prone. In some cultures, they're persecuted based on superstitions. With all these drawbacks, it's easy to overlook the advantages of being left-handed, but those advantages might be substantial. Here's a list posted by Emma Taylor: 10 benefits of being left-handed.

Tracking the Brain's Ability to Bluff

Brain-imaging experiments show how bargaining games could provide insights into psychiatric disorders. The ability to infer another person's state of mind—including his or her perception of you—is an integral component of human interaction. To make business deals, maintain good relationships, and to play a winning hand of poker, we must be able to surmise to some extent what a client, spouse, or friend is thinking. But that skill can go awry in a number of psychiatric disorders, including autism and borderline personality disorder.

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Sniff Control

For severely paralyzed, "locked in" individuals, sniffing could become a way to communicate with the outside world. Researchers have developed a device that converts nasal pressure into electrical signals, which could enable paralyzed people to type text, surf the Web, and control wheelchairs.

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Repetitive head trauma can cause ALS

Recent evidence suggests that the incidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is increased in association with head injury. And a new study published at Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology reports the first causal evidence about repetitive head trauma experienced in collision sports might be associated with the development of a motor neuron disease.

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Remote Control of Brain Activity Using Ultrasound

A novel technology that implements transcranial pulsed ultrasound to remotely and directly stimulate brain circuits without requiring surgery has been developed. The technology has a spatial resolution approximately five times greater than transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and can exert its effects upon subcortical brain circuits deep within the brain.

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Japan develops 'touchable' 3D TV technology

A Japanese research team said Thursday it had developed the world's first 3D television system that allows users to touch, pinch or poke images floating in front of them.

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