Scientists have worked out why common anti-depressants cause around a half of users to feel emotionally ‘blunted’. In a study published today, they show that the drugs affect reinforcement learning, an important behavioural process that allows us to learn from our environment.
As the climate emergency and cost-of-living crisis focus our minds on how to reduce energy, a group of scientists have highlighted the hidden environmental cost behind some of our major breakthroughs.
Adult and adolescent cannabis users are no more likely than non-users to lack motivation or be unable to enjoy life’s pleasure, new research has shown, suggesting there is no scientific basis for the stereotype often portrayed in the media.
Five Cambridge researchers join the community of more than 1,900 leading life scientists in Europe and beyond today as the European Molecular Biology Organisation announces its newly-elected Members.
Social isolation is linked to lower brain volume in areas related to cognition and a higher risk of dementia, according to research published today in Neurology. The study found that social isolation was linked to a 26% increased risk of dementia, separately from risk factors like depression and loneliness.
Seven hours is the ideal amount of sleep for people in their middle age and upwards, with too little or too much sleep associated with poorer cognitive performance and mental health, say researchers from the University of Cambridge and Fudan University.
NRICH spent the last two years in emergency rescue mode, helping learners in lockdown. Its online resources attracted over a million page views per week. Now celebrating their 25th anniversary, the NRICH team is more determined than ever to nurture our next-generation problem solvers.
Too little research is being conducted into problem gambling – and what research there is, is often funded by the gambling industry rather than by independent means, say a team of experts. They argue in favour of a 1% statutory levy on the gambling industry that could be administered by one of the UK’s main research funders.
Cambridge-led computerised cognitive assessments transform early detection and treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders.
When Madeline Lancaster’s attempt to grow neural stem cells ‘failed’ she had no idea that the floating balls of cells she saw in her petri dish were in fact miniature brain tissues. They would revolutionise our ability to study the early stages of brain development and take us closer to answering: what makes us human?
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