Cerebrum : the Dana Forum on Brain Science

When we consider the health and welfare of our children, few issues are of more concern than the risk and consequences of head trauma in sports. From participation in male-dominated football and hockey to girls soccer and softball, repeated impacts to the head that do not produce recognized concussion is the cutting edge of sports head injury research. Our author, a leading researcher in this field, provides the latest on what we know and don't know on this relatively new frontier of neuroscience .

Neuroaesthetics is a new and rapidly expanding field of research that is aimed at the intersection of psychological aesthetics, biological mechanisms, and human evolution. Our author, a pioneer in this young and exciting field, tells us how music, art, theater, dance, literature, landscape, and media have the power to help treat any number of disorders and improve one's quality of life .

The silent, often subconscious conversation that is taking place inside us is one of the most vital communications we will ever find ourselves engaged in. It's the dialogue of emotion-based signals between our hearts and our brains, also known as the heart-brain connection. Our author tells us what research has uncovered and some of the keys to a longer, healthier life .

Brain-machine interface-once the stuff of science fiction novels-is coming to a computer near you. The only question is: How soon? While the technology is in its infancy, it is already helping people with spinal cord injuries. Our authors examine its potential to be the ultimate game changer for any number of neurodegenerative diseases, as well as behavior, learning, and memory. They take the temperature of where the technology is, where it is going, and the inevitable ethical and regulatory implications .

Spinal muscular atrophy is the number one genetic cause of infant death. Until recently, half the babies born with it would die before their second birthdays, their hearts and lungs becoming too weak to continue. Medical care improved the odds somewhat, but new discoveries and therapeutic developments have improved survival rates significantly-and more good news may be on the horizon .

What happens to your brain when you multitask? Does your brain slow down? Do you feel increased levels of stress? Why are some people better at it than others? Our authors supply the answers to some of these questions and provide the latest on what happens to the brain when you try to handle more than one task at a time .

The total cost of Parkinson disease (PD), which affects nearly 1 million people in the US is $52 billion every year, with $25.4 billion attributable to direct medical costs such as hospitalizations and medication, and $26.5 billion in non-medical costs like missed work, lost wages, early forced retirement, and family caregiver time. The more we know about PD's non-motor symptoms-depression, dementia, fatigue, and others-the better we can treat, and perhaps find a cure, for this neurological disorder .

Editor's Note: Google "brain games for kids" and you can find apps, board games, puzzles, phonic fun, improvisational games-the list goes on and on for all ages in a billion dollar market. But questions remain: do toys and games improve thinking or IQ, or do they just make a child better at playing the games? Our authors examine the market and give us an inside look at some of the research behind this billion-dollar industry .

Along with the rising number of people suffering from dementia and Alzheimer's disease (due to longer life spans) come two main concerns: finding remedies and helping them live comfortable and contented lives. Our authors examine the latest research on what is called "retro environments" and "reminiscence therapy," which includes health-care communities that offer elements of nostalgia, as well as music, objects, and photographs from one's past .

Millions of people suffer from serious mental illness, but very few receive consistent coordinated care. Since leaving his post in 2015 after 13 years as director of the National Institute of Mental Health, co-author Tom Insel has been on a mission to use technology (such as mining your smartphone) to better understand your state of mind and treat depression, schizophrenia, and other disorders. Insel and co-author Joshua Chauvin, part of the team at a healthcare innovation company, examine the potential and pitfalls of this next digital frontier ...

While the human brain is hardwired to feel pleasure for basic survival necessities, such as eating and sex, music-although obviously pleasurable-doesn't offer the same evolutionary advantages. So why do we respond to patterns of sounds that disappear in an instant? Why do we belt music from the top of our lungs, learn to play instruments, and empty our bank accounts to see Bruce Springsteen on Broadway? Our author offers some valuable insights .

There's no shortage of statistics about the depth of America's opioid epidemic: 72,000 overdose deaths just last year, more than 2 million with problems, and so on. But numbers only begin to tell the whole story. Beth Macy, who has spent three decades reporting on central Appalachia-which she claims is the birthplace of the modern opioid epidemic-focuses her book on social and economic trends and how they affect ordinary people. Our reviewers, colleagues at the Columbia University Division on Substance Use Disorders, are well qualified to comment ...

In 1988, Lauren Slater became one of the first patients in the US to take Prozac. She also emerged as one of its most poetic chroniclers when she detailed her heady, complex love affair with the drug in "Prozac Diary" (1998). Thirty years since that first book, Slater explores the discovery, invention, science, and people behind today's drugs that define mind, emotion, and behavior, from the earliest, Thorazine and Lithium, to Ecstasy, "magic mushrooms," and through today's most cutting-edge memory drugs and neural implants ...

In 1979, while at the National Institutes of Health, now Columbia University professor Nancy Wexler and colleagues traveled to Venezuela to study the world's largest family with Huntington's disease. That led to identifying the disease gene at the tip of human chromosome 4 and the race to find a drug that can treat people who carry the fatal gene prior to the onset of symptoms. Our author believes that a new strategy tied to turning off targeted genes could have profound implications for therapy development for Huntington's and other neurodegenerative diseases ...

Trying to kick drug addiction without medicines is said to be like relying on willpower to overcome diabetes or asthma. Enter naltrexone, which has been around since 1984 and reduces the cravings for drugs and alcohol by fine-tuning the brain's chemical reward system. Why has it recently increased in popularity? How does it compare to similar strategies? Has it made a difference? Our authors, who have long studied addiction and the brain, confront a drug and alcohol addiction problem that today kills more Americans each day than gun violence or car accidents ...

Editor's Note: Unthinkable 's author, a British neuroscientist, tracked down nine people with rare brain disorders to tell their stories. From the man who thinks he's a tiger to the doctor who feels the pain of others just by looking at them to a woman who hears music that's not there, their experiences illustrate how the brain can shape our lives in unexpected and, in some cases, brilliant and alarming ways .

The brain, like other parts of the body, needs to maintain "homeostasis" (a constant state) to function, and that requires continuous removal of metabolic waste. For decades, the brain's waste-removal system remained a mystery to scientists. A few years ago, a team of researchers-with the help of our author-finally found the answer. This discovery-dubbed the glymphatic system- will help us understand how toxic waste accumulates in devastating disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and point to possible strategies to prevent it ...

Memories are the internal mental records that we maintain, which give us instant access to our personal past, complete with all of the facts that we know and the skills that we have cultivated. While the mind's capacity to store and recall information is truly wondrous, there are desirable and undesirable difficulties in learning. Our authors provide examples of retrieval practice and individual differences in long-term retention and explore quick and slow learners .

Therapeutic vaccines, drugs, and modified human cells that activate the immune system against cancer have improved outcomes and prolonged lives in some types of cancer in the past few years. For patients with glioblastoma, the most common primary brain tumor in adults, immunotherapy is still struggling to overcome this lethal malignancy .

This article is the second of two that addresses the development of the human brain. Last month's article, "The Evolution of Human Capabilities and Abilities," focused on neurons, the basic information-processing units of the nervous system. This month's article examines the evolution of the neocortex, a part of the cerebral cortex concerned with sight and hearing in mammals, regarded as the most developed part of the cortex .