brain

In the nose there are 400 different types of olfactory receptors that are organized according to a scale that places the most pleasant at one extreme and the most foul at the opposite pole. This is the conclusion reached by researchers from the Weizmann Institute (USA) in a study published today in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and computer models, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley (United States) have decoded and reconstructed the visual experience of our brain while we watch "trailers" of Hollywood movies. The study has been published in the journal 'Current Biology'.

What do memory-forming cells in your brain need to communicate properly? Zinc, according to a study by researchers at Duke University Medical Center in Durham and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Researchers have been able to observe zinc in action while regulating communication between neurons in the hippocampus, where learning and memory processes occur and where a disturbance in communication can contribute to epilepsy.

Those who claim that smoking keeps their memory more alert have just run out of arguments for not giving up cigarettes. A new experiment conducted by Northumbria University (United Kingdom) reveals that smokers who quit tobacco go from remembering 59% of the tasks in a prospective memory test to remembering 74%.

Yawn Maybe it's because your brain is on fire. According to a study led by Princeton University researcher Andrew Gallup, yawning is not just an indicator of fatigue or boredom. In fact, Gallup has shown that how often we yawn varies depending on the season of the year.

Exercising regularly increases the number of mitochondria, the organelles in charge of supplying energy to cells, in both muscle cells and neurons. In this way, it reduces mental fatigue, as shown by a study from the University of South Carolina.

The decrease in the levels of the brain neurotransmitter known as serotonin, which usually occurs when someone has not eaten or is stressed, affects in healthy people the brain regions that allow anger control, according to a study from Cambridge University (United Kingdom) published in 'Biological Psychiatry'.

Young people who exercise have higher IQs and are more likely to go to college and find a good job, recent research from the Sahlgrenska Academy in Sweden reveals. The positive effects are especially noticeable in logical thinking and verbal comprehension.