Scientific American is just stellar today with its focus on the brain and music. A wonderful article explores the theories behind why music moves and how it could just be darn good luck that it does.

From the article:

Such dialogue provides a way for people to connect emotionally and thus may reinforce the ties that underlie the formation of human societies, which have clear survival advantages. Musical rhythms may have even facilitated certain physical interactions such as marching or dancing together, further cementing our social ties. In addition, tunes may work to our benefit on an individual level, manipulating mood and even human physiology more effectively than words can—to excite, energize, calm or promote physical fitness. All these benefits are causing people to reconsider whether music is truly as frivolous as it seems.

Throughout recorded history, people have attempted to explain music’s sway over the human spirit. Music has been labeled everything from a gift of the heavens to a tool of the Devil, from an extension of mathematics to a side effect of language processing. Charles Darwin was famously stumped by music’s ubiquitous presence around the world: man’s predilection for music, he wrote in 1871 in The Descent of Man, “must be ranked among the most mysterious with which he is endowed.”

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Read the full article here.

As a writer, I've had a long-standing interest in language and the nature of human communication. A new study about the so-called "language gene", FOXP2, and its function in singing mice holds clues for what neural circuits are important for human language.

From the Scientific American article:

In 2001 Cecilia S. L. Lai and colleagues at the University of Oxford identified FOXP2 as the first gene specifically involved in speech and language development in humans. The gene was discovered when researchers began studying members of a family that exhibited severe language deficits: they struggled to speak in grammatically correct sentences and often failed to comprehend the language of others, although they demonstrated no other cognitive handicaps. A genetic analysis of the family linked these severe linguistic deficits to a mutation in the FOXP2 gene. Interestingly, the FOXP2 gene is highly conserved among vertebrates, including humans, songbirds, bats and rodents, perhaps indicating a shared function. Experimental evidence from a variety of animals suggests a general role in communication for FOXP2. For instance, mice that lack the gene produce abnormal ultrasonic vocalizations, while the expression of the gene changes in the brains of songbirds during vocal learning.

Mice have been especially useful models in elucidating the role of FOXP2 in communication and fine motor development. While this might seem paradoxical (rodents don’t talk, so how can they teach us about speech?) mice have several important advantages. As mammals, they share many aspects of anatomy with humans and their entire genome has been sequenced. Multiple experimental techniques are easily employed with mice, including various genetic manipulations and behavioral assays. The recent discovery that male mice produce ultrasonic songs only adds to their attractiveness as a behaviorally relevant model for vocal communication.

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Read the full article in Scientific American here.

Researchers have found that administering the equivalent of five cups of coffee's worth of caffiene helped memory in a mouse model of demensia.

From the BBC News article:

Dr Gary Arendash, who led the latest study, told the BBC: "The results are particularly exciting in that a reversal of pre-existing memory impairment is more difficult to achieve.

"They provide evidence that caffeine could be a viable 'treatment' for established Alzheimer's disease and not simply a protective strategy.

"That's important because caffeine is a safe drug for most people, it easily enters the brain, and it appears to directly affect the disease process."

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Read the full article from BBC News here.

Researchers in Sweden have found links between the genes responsible for red hair and freckles and cancer.

From the article in The Local:

“In our study we have found that genes related to the number of birthmarks are also related to the risk of melanoma,” professor Håkan Olsson, senior doctor at the oncology department of the Lund University Hospital, said in a statement.

According to the international research group, the relationship between melanoma and the genes associated with red hair and freckles has proved to be even stronger than expected.

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Read the full article here.