Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) is a leader in brain and nervous system research. Our goal is to prevent, treat and cure brain and nervous system diseases, disorders and injuries through medical research.
We now know that there’s much more to pain than simply what is happening in the painful body part, and attention has turned to the role of the brain. But not even this mysterious organ can tell us everything…
Animal-based therapies have a positive effect but having them visit nursing homes has a number of drawbacks.
Duane Keys
Late-stage dementia is characterised by increasing agitation that can be distressing for the person with the illness and their carers. So, researchers are investigating whether robots disguised as animals…
We are usually told that daydreaming is a waste of time and mental power, but the ability to daydream offers us tremendous flexibility in our daily lives. The frequency with which we daydream suggests…
Fake or real? A simple question with a tricky answer.
dhammza
It may seem silly to ask yourself if your index finger is part of your body, but that question is actually perfectly reasonable in neuroscience research - and has led to important insights into key brain…
Memories of emotionally-dense events are formed in great detail, allowing them to be remembered extremely vividly,
Julie Falk
All memories aren’t created equal. Whether you remember an event the next day, week or year, depends on a number of factors, the most important one of which is the emotion associated with it. Emotional…
Empirical science needs data. But all data are subject to random variation, and random variation obscures patterns in data. So statistical methods are used to make inferences about the true patterns or…
The majority of people who have obstructive sleep apnoea are unaware they have the disorder.
Image from shutterstock.com
Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a common sleep-related breathing disorder, where the upper airway repeatedly collapses during sleep. During an obstructive breathing event, someone with OSA continues…
Our ability to imagine and look to the future depends on the brain regions that store general knowledge, a recent study has…
Muhammed Ali, Michael J Fox, former pope John Paul II and Yasser Arafat all suffered from Parkinson’s disease.
Ali by Ludie Cochrane/Flickr; all others AAP.
Parkinson’s disease was not always known by this name. Almost 200 years ago in 1817, when English doctor James Parkinson first described the disease, he called it Shaking Palsy. But Parkinson’s disease…
Encephalitis lethargica seemed to take over its victims’ mind with neurologic and psychiatric changes.
Finizio
Encephalitis lethargica, an infectious disorder that only once appeared in epidemic form (1916-1926), is largely forgotten now. But this curious illness provided significant insights into brain function…
Current regulations do not require dummies to be placed in the rear seat during crash tests.
AAP
Since the introduction of the seatbelt into motor vehicles over 40 years ago, there have been major gains in protection to occupants in automotive crashes. This progress has not been observed in the rear…