Word: brained
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...other babies, however, remarkable things started to happen. The stem cells circulated uneventfully through most of the body. But when they landed in the sickened brain tissue, they appeared to know to go to work, restoring the enzyme that the babies lacked and causing affected nerve cells to regrow myelin insulation and healthy ones to keep what they had. "The cells go everywhere, but they seem to be more attracted to areas where there's injury," says neurodevelopmental pediatrician Maria Escolar, the study's lead author...
...slowly and in some cases improving a bit. The mildly symptomatic or asymptomatic babies, though, did much, much better. "Our oldest survivor is 6 1/2," says Escolar. "She's now running, jumping and doing well in school." Best of all, since the stem cells take up residence in the brain and reproduce there like native cells, it appears to take just one dose of the therapy to achieve whatever recovery is possible...
...back of their minds, those researchers always remember that the scientific establishment has a long history of scoffing at big, implausible ideas that ultimately turned out to be correct: the assertion that the Earth orbits the sun, the idea that brain-wasting diseases are caused by misshapen proteins, the proposition that hand washing can prevent doctors from transmitting disease, the claim that continents can drift across the surface of the world--all these and more were scorned at first...
...pleasant when they thought they were smelling cheese. Researchers used imaging technology to try to pinpoint the neurological intersection of good-smell words with good-smell odors. Though the precise mechanism hasn't yet been worked out, it is clear that smell is in both the nose and the brain of the beholder...
...BRAIN TO SELF: DRUGS INCOMING! Scientists knew that cocaine triggers the release of the brain chemical dopamine. Now a new study in rats shows that there are in fact three distinct dopamine releases, including one that occurs just before the drug arrives. Call it the buzz of anticipation; it may help explain what drives addictive behavior in humans...