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A study conducted by researchers from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, have found that the amygdala in mice's brain can significantly control their sense of pain. According to Fan Wang, the lead author of the study and the Morris N. Broad Distinguished Professor of neurobiology in the School of Medicine, recent studies have determined parts of the brain that could 'turn on' pain signals, but this was the first time they were able to pinpoint where pain could be 'turned off.' The researchers also discovered that general anesthesia also stimulates a specific subgroup of inhibitory neurons in the central...

My kids didn’t have school the day after Donald Trump won the presidential election and eventually, near noon, they came into my room to see what was wrong with me. Perhaps they’d come to me at their father’s prompting. Perhaps they’d heard me weeping. They’d never seen me this way before. Inconsolable. “Hillary didn’t lose!” I insisted, as they sat on the bed around me, even as Hillary’s voice drifted into the room — her concession speech, on the radio downstairs, my husband shouting up, “Honey, you should come listen to this!” I would not listen. I would never listen....

Scientists have long known that stress can influence your heart health, but exactly how this relationship takes place has been something of a mystery -- until now. Activity in the amygdala, a region of the brain associated with fear and stress, can predict your risk for heart disease and stroke, according to a study published in the journal The Lancet on Wednesday.

A team of political scientists and neuroscientists has shown that liberals and conservatives use different parts of the brain when they make risky decisions, and these regions can be used to predict which political party a person prefers. The new study suggests that while genetics or parental influence may play a significant role, being a Republican or Democrat changes how the brain functions. Dr. Darren Schreiber, a researcher in neuropolitics at the University of Exeter, has been working in collaboration with colleagues at the University of California, San Diego on research that explores the differences in the way the brain...

Lindsey Stone — the Plymouth woman taking an online beating for posting a photo of herself flipping the bird at Arlington National Cemetery on Facebook — has lost her job. “Lindsey resigned and we accepted her resignation,” LIFE Inc. CEO Diane Enochs told the Herald tonight. LIFE Inc. of Hyannis — a Cape Cod nonprofit that helps adults with special needs — announced tonight that Stone, along with the woman who snapped the offending photo, are not working there. Ironically, the formal announcement was made on Facebook.

A woman who cannot feel afraid because of a missing structure in her brain could help scientists discover treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Research published in Current Biology showed the woman felt no fear in a variety of scary situations. These included exposure to snakes and spiders, horror films and a "haunted house". The woman feels other emotions but said as an adult, she had never felt afraid. She is the first known case of someone who is unable to process fear. Researchers at the University of Iowa said her inability to feel frightened was because she is missing...

People are afraid to lose money and an unusual study released on Monday explains why -- the brain's fear center controls the response to a gamble. U.S. | Science | Health | Lifestyle The study of two women with brain lesions that made them unafraid to lose on a gamble showed the amygdala, the brain's fear center, activates at the very thought of losing money. [...]

Finding could offer insight into autism and other disorders Related Links: Dr. Ralph Adolphs Pasadena, Calif.—In a finding that sheds new light on the neural mechanisms involved in social behavior, neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have pinpointed the brain structure responsible for our sense of personal space.The discovery, described in the August 30 issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience, could offer insight into autism and other disorders where social distance is an issue.The structure, the amygdala—a pair of almond-shaped regions located in the medial temporal lobes—was previously known to process strong negative emotions, such as anger and...

Enlarge ImageBrain trust. The hormone oxytocin may spur us to trust others even when they betray us by suppressing activity in the dorsal striatum (top, red regions) and amygdala (bottom).Credit: Thomas Baumgartner/University of Zürich Trust forms the foundation of healthy relationships, and now scientists are zeroing in on how the feeling is triggered by chemicals in the brain. A new study shows that the hormone oxytocin may spur us to trust others even after they have betrayed us by suppressing a region of the brain that signals fear. The findings could lead to a better understanding of social phobias...

A hyperactive amygdala may cause its own self-destruction. The more severe the social dysfunction of an autistic patient, the smaller the part of their brain that governs fear-response, according to a new study. The results have scientists wondering whether some of the symptoms of severe autism are due to the brain becoming so overworked that it attacks its own cells. The amygdala — a small part of the brain that governs emotional responses, such as fear — is thought to be important in autism, as it helps to govern social behaviour. To examine the relationship, Richard Davidson and his team...

Many boys and men with autism suffer from diminished social and communication skills. They may also suffer from a diminished number of neurons in their amygdala, according to the results of a new study. David Amaral and Cynthia Mills Schumann of the University of California, Davis, surveyed the number of neurons in the amygdala of nine autistic males and 10 nonautistic males ranging in age from 10 to 44. Painstakingly counting them under a microscope revealed significantly fewer neurons (electrical signaling cells) in the area of the brain associated with fear and memory. "This is the first quantitative evidence of...

Scientists working with mice have found that by removing a single gene they can turn normally cautious animals into daring ones, mice that are more willing to explore unknown territory and less intimidated by sights and sounds that they have learned can be dangerous. The surprising discovery, being reported today in the journal Cell, opens a new window on how fear works in the brain, experts said. Gene therapy to create daredevil warriors is likely to remain the province of screenwriters, but the new findings may help researchers design novel drugs to treat a wide array of conditions, from disabling...

Terror shows only in the eyes Close window Published online: 05 January 2005; | doi:10.1038/news050103-4 Terror shows only in the eyesRoxanne Khamsi Knowing where to look is key to recognizing others' emotions. Focusing on a person's eyes is crucial for detecting their fear.© Punchstock A woman who cannot recognize fear in people's faces is causing neuroscientists to rethink theories of how our brains read emotions. Scientists have been testing the 38-year-old woman for more than a decade. She has a rare disease that has damaged both sides of her amygdala, the almond-shaped part of the brain that is known from imaging studies...