Results tagged “brains” from Sunday Mercury - Weird Science

A newly-discovered type of stem cell could be the key to higher thinking in humans, research suggests.

Scientists have identified a family of stem cells that may give birth to neurons responsible for abstract thought and creativity.

The cells were found in embryonic mice, where they formed the upper layers of the brain's cerebral cortex.

Slackers may have brains that are wired for under-achievement, a study suggests.

Scientists have identified neural pathways that appear to influence an individual's willingness to work hard to earn money.

Scans showed differences between "go-getters" and "slackers" in three specific areas of the brain.

Dr Albert Einstein's brain is going on display for the first time in the UK - with that of an infamous murderer.

Following his death at the age of 76 in 1955, Einstein's brain was divided into sections, two of which are going on show at the Wellcome Collection.

Brains: The Mind As Matter also features the brain of US suffragette Helen H Gardener, which she donated to science to disprove theories about gender.

The two slides from Einstein's brain are on loan from the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia, where they were only shown publicly in the US for the first time last year.

Scientists have used a glowing green virus in a bid to understand how the human brain is affected by disease.

Researchers injected day-old rhesus macaque monkeys with the genetically engineered virus, adeno-associated virus serotype 9 (AAV9), which expresses a protein that glows green under ultraviolet light.

The virus was designed to travel through the monkeys' circulatory systems to the brain, where it genetically altered brain cells.

Making friends and being popular may boil down to the size of your forebrain, a study suggests.

Scientists found an association between the size of the orbital frontal cortex - the part of the brain just above the eyes - and the number of friends a person has.

The region is one of the most highly evolved areas of the human brain. It is known to be crucial to social skills and the ability to "mentalise", or guess what other people are thinking.

Brain scans revealed that volunteers with the largest numbers of friends also had the largest orbital frontal cortex.