Brain | featured news

Scientists are closing in on a long-sought goal: A blood test to screen people for Alzheimer's disease. An experimental test did a good job of indicating how much of the telltale Alzheimer's plaque lurks in people's brains, Australian researchers reported Wednesday. If the test proves accurate in larger studies, it could offer a way to check people having memory problems to see who needs more definitive testing for the disease.

Brain games can help with abstract reasoning months after the training, but they work only for those who really need and enjoy the exercises, a study says. Training a child to hold a whole cluster of items in his or her memory for even a short time may feel like trying to hold a wave on the sand.

The first photos of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords since she was shot in January were released on Sunday on her Facebook page. The photos of the Arizona Democrat were taken by a professional photographer the day before her cranioplasty surgery in May.

Brain scans that detect early warning signs of Alzheimer's may be available in the United States as soon as this year.

Gabrielle Giffords is nowhere close to returning to Congress. And there remains real doubt whether she ever will. That appears to be the bottom line of an article Thursday in the Arizona Republic that provides the most complete assessment yet of the wounded congresswoman’s current condition. Giffords was shot in the head by a gunman in Tucson in January. Now, six months later, she still struggles mightily to communicate, although her staff believes her comprehension skills are strong. And it remains unclear just how much damage her brain has suffered.

Next time Grandma asks why you're going to the mall on Sunday morning instead of church, tell her you're going to Apple Chapel.

One in seven strokes happens at night, and sufferers may not get medicine that could prevent brain damage, suggests a new study.

If you have a brain aneurysm, drinking coffee, having sex or even getting angry may boost the risk of it rupturing, a new study suggests.

It happens to all of us: You stop at the store and forget the one thing you went for. You blank on your co-worker’s husband’s name—Is it John? Jim? And where are those darn keys?!? It’s normal to be forgetful once in awhile, especially if you’ve got a lot on your plate.

His was a suicide with a macabre twist. In February, former Chicago Bears safety David Duerson shot himself in the chest, but not before leaving behind a note requesting his brain be studied for evidence of a disease striking football players.