Category Archives: Neurobiology
Postzygotic mutations in autism
The number of genes linked to autism has not stopped growing in the last decade. Although there are hundreds of variants that are more frequent in people who are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) than in the general population, […]
Minibrains: a present from the tooth fairy
Stem cells can be cultured, multiplied and differentiated. By interacting with each other in this process of specialization they can follow organization programs that show striking similarities with what happens in the entire organism. This way you can form […]
Child obesity and brain function
The OECD report on obesity in Spain published in 2014 (PDF) presented worrying data: 1-in-6 adults is obese and more than half are overweight, including obesity. The percentage of obesity has grown in the last years and its prevalence […]
Intelligence: a mishmash of genetic ingredients
Like father like son. We have all heard it one time or another. The layman explanation to hereditary characters. Whether the cause is genetic inheritance or the effect of growing up in a certain environment, is quite something else. When […]
Alpha by design
In social species, the dominant individual is often called the alpha. Depending on the species, the alpha may be a male, a female, both or a pair. The alpha individual usually presents a certain behavior: dominant, assertive, brash and usually […]
Testosterone and bad judgments
Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone and, in men, it plays a key role in the development of male reproductive tissues such as the testis and prostate, as well as promoting secondary sexual characteristics such as increased muscle and […]
Brain tumours and the lack of molecular editing
When we talk about nucleic acids we generally think of DNA and RNA that code for proteins, and when we talk about brain cells we tend to think of neurons and their nerve impulse transmission. However, it is not news […]
LSD as a therapeutic agent for autism
Treatment of children with autism in the 1960s included shock therapies and many different psychotropic drugs. The results were bad: there was no positive change in those children although the treatments were occasionally maintained for years. Under these circumstances, more […]
Sexual differences in the human brain
Sexual differences in the human brain, both in structure and function, have a high scientific interest and a clear social impact. In the biological part because of the different susceptibility of both sexes to some developmental disorders such as autism […]
Diagnosing autism using brain scans?
A key aspect of our effort to overcome autism is to get a quick, reliable and early diagnosis. Typical signs such as difficulty in making eye contact or following the mother’s pointing gesture are usually observed after the age […]