Today the BBC reports a warning from Dr Aric Sigman that screens “may produce” an increased level of dopamine in children’s brains.
He suggests this could lead to a dependency on screen media when they are older.
There are calls for more research to be carried out as there is currently no conclusive evidence on the effects of screen media on young children’s brains.
There is also growing concern around the world that very young children should not watch any screens at all. read more
Women who fall pregnant while dieting are more likely to have a child that could become obese or diabetic in later life, new research suggests.
While the study was carried out in sheep, University of Manchester scientists suspect the findings may hold true for humans as well. The research, carried out with colleagues in New Zealand and Canada, may also have found a reason why human twins are more likely to develop type-2 diabetes in adulthood after the team studied twin lambs.
The study investigated twin pregnancies in sheep, as well the pregnancies of ewes that received less food around the time the lamb was conceived. The researchers then looked at tissues from the brains of the unborn lambs. This was to see if there were changes in the structure of the DNA that would alter genes involved in food intake and glucose levels after birth.
“We found that unborn twin lambs had changes in the structure of DNA in the region of the brain that regulates food intake and glucose that resulted in an increased chance of diabetes in adulthood,” said study lead Anne White, Professor of Endocrine Sciences.
“Our findings provide a reason why twins are more likely to get diabetes but we have also shown that mothers who don’t have enough food around the time of conception may have a child who grows up with an increased risk of obesity.” [continue reading…]
Altered brain activity can lead to better control of other skilled movements
Playing video games for hours on end may prepare your child to become a laparoscopic surgeon one day, a new study has shown. Reorganisation of the brain’s cortical network in young men with significant experience playing video games gives them an advantage not only in playing the games but also in performing other tasks requiring visuomotor skills. The findings are published in the October 2010 issue of Elsevier’s Cortex. [continue reading…]
An interesting article in the New York Times. Todd Braver, a psychology professor at Washington University in St. Louis, was one of five neuroscientists on an unusual journey. They spent a week in late May in a remote area of southern Utah, rafting the San Juan River, camping on the soft banks and hiking the tributary canyons.
It was a primitive trip with a sophisticated goal: to understand how heavy use of digital devices and other technology changes how we think and behave, and how a retreat into nature might reverse those effects. link to read more about this journey
