MIT researchers have found that flashing light may reduce the buildup of beta amyloid protein in the brain, which is associated with Alzheimer’s disease, writes Michelle Roberts for the BBC News. The researchers hope that “clearing beta amyloid and stopping more plaques from forming could halt Alzheimer's and its symptoms.”
Writing for The Atlantic, Ed Yong spotlights a study by MIT researchers that identifies a potential new treatment for Alzheimer’s – using pulses of light to stimulate brain waves. Yong writes that the study “heralds a completely new approach to dealing with Alzheimer’s—changing neural activity, rather than delivering drugs or chemicals.”
MIT researchers have found that exposure to flickering lights at a precise frequency may help fight off Alzheimer’s disease, reports Melissa Healy for The Los Angeles Times. The technique recruits “neurons and other cell types in the brain to sort of enable the brain’s inner ability to repair itself,” explains Prof. Li-Huei Tsai, director of the Picower Institute.
Guardian reporter Hannah Devlin writes about a new study by MIT researchers that shows that strobe lighting can reduce levels of toxic proteins found in Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers found that “exposure to flickering light stimulated brain waves, called gamma oscillations, that are known to be disturbed in Alzheimer’s patients.”
A study by MIT researchers is providing more information about how the brain stores and processes social memories, writes Hallie Smith for Boston Magazine. Smith explains that, in the future, the findings may be applicable to autism research and therapy.
STAT reporter Meghana Keshavan speaks with Prof. Guoping Feng about his new research that shows glial cells “very actively participate in direct neuronal function — particularly in the brain areas that control appetite, energy and metabolism.” The findings could help spur the development of weight loss medications.
Adam Piore spotlights Prof. Earl Miller’s research into the mechanisms behind working memory in an article for Discover. “Earl is kind of a rock star,” says Prof. Brad Postle of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “When he says something, a lot more people notice it.”
MIT researchers have identified a region of the brain responsible for forming habits, reports Anil Ananthaswamy for New Scientist. The researchers found that when performing an action, the prefrontal cortex, communicates with the striatum. “Over time, input from the prefrontal circuits fades, to be replaced by loops linking the striatum to the sensorimotor cortex,” Ananthaswamy explains.
Writing for The New York Times, Steve Lohr features Prof. Tomaso Poggio’s work “building computational models of the visual cortex of the brain, seeking to digitally emulate its structure, even how it works and learns from experience.” Lohr notes that efforts like Poggio’s could lead to breakthroughs in computer vision and machine learning.
Writing for The New York Times, Katie Hafner highlights how MIT researchers have identified a region of the brain that they believe could be responsible for producing feelings of loneliness. Hafner explains that “the region, known as the dorsal raphe nucleus, or D.R.N., is best known for its link to depression.”
Inside Higher Ed reporter Colleen Flaherty writes that researchers from MIT and around the world are publicly defending the late Prof. Suzanne Corkin’s work with patient H.M. in response to a highly critical publication. When “so many scholars rise to defend the reputation of a deceased colleague,” says Arthur Caplan, head of NYU’s Division of Bioethics, “that speaks volumes both about her and the problems that exist in the book.”
Prof. Emerita Suzanne Corkin, whose work with a famous amnesia patient was instrumental in uncovering the nature of memory, died on May 24, reports Benedict Carey for The New York Times. Carey writes that Corkin’s work “helped settle a debate about the function of the hippocampus in retrieving and reliving past experiences.”
Prof. Earl Miller speaks with Meghna Chakrabarti, host of Radio Boston, about the dangers of distracted driving. Miller explains that our brains “have a very limited capacity for simultaneous thought.” He adds that people have a hard time ignoring their phones while driving because the “brain evolved to find new information rewarding.”
Helen Shen writes for Nature that MIT researchers have developed a technique for assembling and operating an automated system for “whole-cell patch-clamping”, a method of monitoring the activity of brain cells. “Our hope is that we can help as many people as possible to answer questions about how neurons compute,” explains Prof. Edward Boyden.
MIT researchers have found a possible link between attention deficit disorders and autism, reports Lindsay Kalter for The Boston Herald. “One of the long-term goals is gene therapy where we can actually introduce genetic material that might be missing from the human,” explains grad. student Michael Wells.