brain

Neuroscientists have been working for a long time to identify the molecules that allow us to get the most out of our thinking organ and, incidentally, avoid the ailments of aging. If they can get them together in a pill, it is most likely that this pill contains a few grams of a compound called P7C3 that, according to a bustling American study published in the journal Cell, promotes the formation of new neurons in the hippocampus, a region of the brain. linked to memory and learning.

Although they share the same genes and grow up in the same environment, identical twins develop different personalities and behave in increasingly different ways as they grow older. Scientists at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, have conducted experiments on mice to find out if these differences are reflected in the brain. And they have concluded that the time each twin spends exploring throughout their lives translates into significant differences in the number of neurons in their hippocampus, an area of the brain involved in learning and memory.

'My pains started when my period stopped.' This is a comment that can be found frequently in women who suffer from fibromyalgia. This pathology, characterized by symptoms such as generalized chronic pain, intense fatigue, mood changes and difficulties in concentration and memory, has a preference for women, having been related to estrogen deficiency.

Although it is known that chronic stress can lead to depression, the mechanisms that regulate this relationship are not entirely clear. Now, new research published in the journal PNAS has identified a protein that has a lot to say in this process.

When we meditate, neuronal activity increases significantly in areas of the brain involved in empathy, that is, in the ability to put ourselves in the place of others and. Specifically, scientists from Emory University used magnetic resonance imaging to study the brains of people who meditated and found that, compared to those who did not, the neurons of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and the inferior frontal gyrus were more active, two structures that participate in the recognition of the emotional state of the people around us.

If your appearance haunts you in a sickly way, it may be due to a "crossing of wires" in the brain. Scientists from the University of California have identified that people who suffer from body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), a psychiatric problem little understood until now and characterized by the fact that patients are perceived as disfigured and ugly despite the fact that their appearance is absolutely normal, have abnormal connections in neurons in your brain.

Closing and squeezing the right hand during an event or while trying to learn something new helps it stick more strongly in the memory. On the contrary, squeezing the left hand is useful when it comes to remembering what we have already stored in memory, according to a study by Montclair State University published in the journal PLOS ONE.

If two people suffered similar strokes, it would seem logical to think that the effects on their mental functions would be similarly serious. However, it's not always like that. Some people seem to have more brain protection than others from brain disease. What does that depend on? Well, among other things, of our 'cognitive reserve'.