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Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health

The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health is one of the world’s top six brain research centres. We employ 600 research and support staff and educate 90 post-graduate students each year. Our scientists comprise the largest neuroscience research team in Australia.

Our teams work across a variety of disease states such as stroke, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Huntington’s disease, motor neuron disease, traumatic brain and spinal cord injury, mental illnesses including schizophrenia, depression and addiction. We are world leaders in imaging technology, stroke rehabilitation and epidemiological studies.

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Displaying 1 - 20 of 65 articles

Different MR images help us unravel the mysteries of the brain. A diffusion MRI tractography reconstruction like this reveals the complicated wiring deep within a person’s brain. Thijs Dhollander

Some women seem to lack a key brain structure for smell – but their sense of smell is fine

Odd findings in a brain scan of a 29-year-old woman have scientists asking new questions about how our sense of smell really works.
A headache is not from your brain itself hurting, but it might mean some of the muscles, membranes and tissues surrounding the brain or its blood supply system could be hurting. Shutterstock

Curious Kids: what is a headache? Is it our brain hurting?

The brain itself can’t actually feel pain. It can’t sense damage to itself the way your finger can. We know this because people can have brain surgery while they are totally awake.
Your brain is about 70% water. Shutterstock

Curious Kids: how much does a brain weigh?

An adult brain weighs about 1.5kg. It’s mostly water with some fat, protein, sugar and a dash of salt. Sounds like pancakes, I know, but I once tried chicken brains and, well, pancakes are tastier.
Les personnes exposées à un faible ensoleillement et les femmes sont plus susceptibles d'être atteintes de sclérose en plaques. Shutterstock

À quoi est due la sclérose en plaques ? Ce que l’on sait, ce que l’on ignore

La sclérose en plaques affecte de façon surtout les jeunes femmes. Elle survient quand le système immunitaire attaque le cerveau et brouille la communication avec le corps. Quelles sont ses causes ?
Las personas expuestas a bajos niveles de luz solar tienen más probabilidades de padecer esclerosis múltiple que las que viven en climas cálidos. Unsplash / chuttersnap

Esclerosis múltiple: lo que se sabe, lo que se ignora y lo que se sospecha

Las mujeres jóvenes son mucho más propensas a padecer esclerosis múltiple, una enfermedad en la que el cuerpo ataca al cerebro, dificultando la comunicación con el resto del organismo. Esto es lo que sabemos sobre las causas.
People exposed to low levels of sunlight are more likely to have MS than those who live in warm climates. chuttersnap

What causes multiple sclerosis? What we know, don’t know and suspect

Young women are disproportionately affected by multiple sclerosis, a disease where the body attacks the brain, scrambling communication to the rest of the body. Here’s what we know about the causes.
The fashion advice is generally to tighten ties so they’re tight but not too tight. from www.shutterstock.com

Research Check: do neckties reduce blood supply to the brain?

Wearing a tie that causes slight discomfort can reduce blood flow to the brain by 7.5%, but the reduction is unlikely to cause any physical symptoms, which generally begin at a reduction of 10%.
Statistics has Guinness to thank for the Student’s t-test. Flickr/Scott Thompson

The genius at Guinness and his statistical legacy

A statistical method widely used today by scientists and others is all thanks to a statistician at a Guinness brewery whose work was published anonymously more than a century ago.
A hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease is gradual deterioration of memory. Roman Kraft/Unsplash

What causes Alzheimer’s disease? What we know, don’t know and suspect

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, but treatments are still far from successful in clinical trials. Here is what we know about the disease, and what is yet to be uncovered.
Why do we retain some memories better than others? Wes Mountain/The Conversation

Comic explainer: how memory works

The Florey Institute’s Dr Jee Hyun Kim explains how the different aspects of memory work and why attention is the most important element of improving your memory in this long-form comic explainer.
Our language abilities are enabled by a co-ordinated network of brain regions that have evolved to give humans a sophisticated ability to communicate. [bastian.]/Flickr

What brain regions control our language? And how do we know this?

When you read this text, certain regions in your brain begin working more than others. Advanced imaging allows scientists to map the brain networks responsible for understanding language.

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