Washington Post reporter Ariana Eunjung Cha writes that MIT researchers have found evidence that memories lost due to Alzheimer’s disease could potentially be recalled using optogenetics. Cha writes that the research “raises the hope of future treatments that could reverse some of the ravages of the disease on memory.”
CBS Boston reports on a new study by MIT researchers that shows that memories lost due to Alzheimer’s disease may be recovered. The research shows “that while it may be hard for people with early Alzheimer’s to access memories, they are still retrievable.”
MIT researchers have found that cell stimulation may one day be a tool in helping Alzheimer’s patients recall lost memories, according to The Guardian. The findings raise “the possibility of future treatments that reverse memory loss in early stages of the disease.”
A study by MIT researchers illustrates how the brain responds to music, writes Jill Suttie for The Huffington Post. "You want to know what is it about bluegrass music that makes it sound like bluegrass? We think that finding this neural population will help us to answer that question going forward,” explains postdoc Sam Norman-Haignere.
Prof. Edward Boyden speaks with STAT about winning the Breakthrough Prize and his research at MIT. Boyden explains that the technique he developed to examine brain samples is being applied to “bacteria, cancer, biopsies, virology questions. There’s a huge pent-up demand for ways of seeing large objects with nanoscale precision.”
MIT researchers have found that genetic engineering could be used to reverse some of the symptoms of autism, reports Carolyn Gregoire for The Huffington Post. The researchers found that turning on the Shank3 gene, “could reverse symptoms associated with autism, such as repetitive behaviors and social avoidance.”
Boston Magazine reporter Jamie Ducharme writes that MIT researchers have found that they can reverse some of the behavioral symptoms association with autism. Ducharme explains that, “the discovery may open the door to developing more universal approaches to treating autism, like identifying and targeting the specific circuits that cause each patient’s behavioral gaps.”
Wired reporter Emily Reynolds writes that MIT neuroscientists have identified the region of the brain that generates a feeling of loneliness. The researchers found that the “DRN, near the back of the brain, hosts a cluster of cells that the team say is responsible for generating increased sociability after periods of isolation.”
New York Times reporter Natalie Angier writes that MIT researchers have identified regions of the brain that react to music. “Why do we have music? Why do we enjoy it so much and want to dance when we hear it?” says Prof. Nancy Kanwisher. “These are the really cool first-order questions we can begin to address.”
Natalie Angier of The New York Times chronicles her experience having her brain scanned as part of an MIT experiment that reveled the pathways in the brain that respond to music. Angier writes that, “the neuroscience of music is just getting started, and our brains can’t help but stay tuned.”
Prof. Edward Boyden speaks with Boston Globe reporter Murray Carpenter about how scientists need more powerful computers to help gain a better understanding of brain function. “The cool part of neuroengineering is that we have all these unmet needs,” Boyden says. “I think there is an enormous amount of hope generated by bringing new tools into neuroscience.”
In this Today Show segment, Prof. Earl Miller and Prof. Robert Desimone discuss how the brain reacts to the information overload that comes from using multiple digital tools at once. “The brain has a great deal of difficulty processing multiple bits of data at once,” explains Miller. "We are very, very single minded.”
In this video, Prof. Edward Boyden speaks with The Huffington Post about how sleep and meditation impact people on a neurological level. Boyden says that traditions such as mediation can “help us be more attuned to what our mind really wants.”
In an article for The Boston Globe’s special section about the 2015 Bostonians of the Year, Sharon Begley writes about the work of Prof. Feng Zhang. Begley writes that Zhang, "is one of the world’s most creative and influential biological engineers, able to see possibilities where others don’t.”
MIT researchers have identified a link between reduced neurotransmitter activity and the symptoms of autism, reports Carolyn Gregoire for The Huffington Post. The findings “may pave the way for new methods of treating and diagnosing” autism.