Dementia may seem like it hits out of nowhere, but it’s not simply absent one day and fully present the next. In fact, new science is uncovering how Alzheimer’s could be detected decades before symptoms strike.
@sciencefocus has more:
Can a simple brain exercise cut dementia by 25%? Much like boosting your speed on the treadmill can unlock physical benefits, a study claims that speed training for your brain has a similar effect. Read more from @:
The last words that legendary Apple founder Steve Jobs uttered were “Oh, wow, oh wow, oh wow.” It’s anyone’s guess what spurred Jobs’ comments. But scientists may be closing in on what happens in the final moments of life by gathering data on brain activity from patients who are dying. Read more from @:
Dementia is often associated with older people, but it doesn't just appear out of nowhere. @ has more, including how early risk factors start and continue throughout much of a person's life:
I'm Cam R. (my preferred name) and this is my PERSONAL #Mastodon account. I also identify as :neobread_flag_aro: :prami_pride_ace: :prami_pride_genderqueer: (and demigirl, can't find the custom emoji for that on my instance) with she/her pronouns. I'm sticking to Mastodon from now on since I have had mostly bad experiences with other social media platforms, the latest being Bluesky and Pinterest. By the way, this account is, and has, NOT been bridged to Bluesky since the beginning of October. I am also no longer on Bluesky (for obvious reasons). #NoBridge
I just like #art, #music, #HerbalMedicine, #WebDesign, #FrontEnd#WebDev (as a thing I like to do and learn for myself), #academic#nonfiction, #hiking#trails, #food, and #psychology / #psychiatry / #neurology (despite the fact that I don't have a college degree in any of those things. I just happen to like reading about them more than doing the actual work I guess. I won't claim to be an expert on anything I don't know well). I can't afford to take care of pets or anything else at the moment. I also may have some off days, and I cannot control those who may block/mute me as a result of my actions. This does not excuse my actions, however, and I'm committed to working on myself to be a better person.
I do actually use :linux: but mostly through live USB environments rather than installed, because some Windows applications do not work well with WINE (I use https://privacy.sexy to remove unwanted features that Windows 11 imposes, so everything's okay for now)
Cam R.'s Profile & Links
at untilted.
omg.lol
https://untilted.omg.lol
Profile Picture alt text: Me trying to hold on to something to avoid falling into a small green volcano with pink lava. I'm depicted as having short hair and glasses. Made with Inkscape and GNU Image Manipulation Program.
Header Image alt text (on [email protected] bio): Blue sky and clouds on very green grass. A purple button with three hearts on each two sides appears, reading "Cam R. artist, designer, writer, hobbyist, polymath, and more"
Made with Krita and Canva (without using AI tools)
How you say something is often more important than what you say. And even more so as you age. @ScienceAlert explains how early signs of Alzheimer’s disease may be hidden in the way a person speaks.
Handbook of Neurologic Music Therapy 2nd ed. by Michael H. Thaut & Volker Hömberg
Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) is a form of music therapy developed for people suffering from cognitive, sensory, or motor dysfunctions - arising from neurological diseases of the nervous system.
People who can benefit from this therapy include sufferers from: stroke, traumatic brain injury, Parkinson's and Huntington's disease, cerebral palsy, Alzheimer's disease, autism, and other neurological diseases affecting cognition, movement, and communication (e.g., MS, Muscular Dystrophy, etc). The Handbook of Neurologic Music Therapy is a comprehensive landmark text presenting a new and revolutionary model of music in rehabilitation, therapy and medicine that is scientifically validated and clinically tested. It presents a field that is practiced by over 4000 NMT certified clinicians in over 70 countries. In this second edition, the book is fully updated and revised with new research updates in the field and extends the original clinical chapter content.
Sleep Science Made Simple: A Clear and Concise Guide by Alen Juginović, 2025
This book brings the fascinating world of sleep biology to life in clear, accessible language. Dr. Juginovic reveals what happens during the third of our lives we spend asleep—and why it matters so profoundly for our mental and physical health.
Drawing on the latest research, the book demystifies how sleep works, explaining its powerful effects on everything from memory and metabolism to heart health, immunity, mental wellbeing, and even cancer risk. With vivid explanations and relatable examples, it explores the neurobiology of sleep and how this vital process supports nearly every system in the body. Whether you're new to the science of sleep, a healthcare professional, an athlete, or a business leader striving for high performance, this book offers something for everyone. Chapters break down complex concepts into clear, relatable language while preserving scientific depth and accuracy. Sleep Science Made Simple is more than just informative—it’s a call to action. It invites readers to rethink their sleep habits, understand their importance, and make lasting changes to improve overall health, performance, and quality of life.
Could ear wax hold the answer to detecting early signs of Parkinson’s disease? NeuroscienceNews.com has more, including how an AI-powered olfactory system distinguished between Parkinson’s and non-Parkinson’s samples with 94% accuracy.
A new study suggests that people who remember small, seemingly unimportant details are actually better at coming up with creative ideas. “This means that creative thinkers view and interpret our world differently,” said Dr. Felix Chan, an assistant professor at the University of Birmingham in England. @sciencefocus has the details:
If you made a list of things that could advance the field of science, having a mouse watch “The Matrix” and “Star Wars” probably wouldn’t make it to the top. And yet, scientists recently were able to map and render into a 3D atlas a small portion of a mouse’s brain about the size of a grain of sand. The results were a revelation. “"A millimeter seems small, but within that millimeter there are kilometers of wiring," Jacob Reimer, a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine said. Read more from @LiveScience, including the role those movies played:
"And this is where we come to our current Secretary of Health, Robert Kennedy Jr. He points at the increase in children diagnosed with autism as a crisis in need of a solution. He blames vaccines for our “disability,” flying fearlessly away from the current scientific consensus. This is incredibly damaging to us, as individuals and as a community, regardless of age or severity.
The vast majority of us -- assuming that we don’t also have other, more disabling conditions -- do not want to be seen as suffering from a mistake. We are who we are not because of vaccines or bad mothering. Our existence is a feature, not a bug. Genetics is the primary cause of autism, if you want to understand why it happened to this or that individual. More generally, autism is one of the ways to be human. The idea that autism can be cured or overcome is as insulting as the idea that gay people can be cured or that to be successful women should act more like men. We don’t want to be cured; we want to be accepted and allowed to be who we are. RFK Jr. stands for the opposite of that. Whether he understands it or not, he is guilty of inciting hatred and self-hatred against our community.
We defy simple categorization. The vast majority of us aren’t intellectually deficient. We have all the emotions and empathize with others. We see allistic social rules and cues, body language and facial expressions, and those linguistic tics and mannerisms that enforce social pecking orders. But other things speak to us more loudly. We’re intensely curious, so we ask indelicate questions. We want to get to the heart of the matter, so we don’t pad our words with softeners. We want the world to make sense, and often go out of our way to make it so, even when those around us don’t notice, care, or do anything about it."
In 1990, George Franklin was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison based on the testimony of his 28-year-old daughter Eileen. Her memory of the murder was relatively fresh at just one year. But the murder happened 20 years earlier. According to the prosecution, Eileen repressed her memory of the murder. Then much later she recovered it in complete detail. The case launched a huge debate between memory researchers who argue there is no credible scientific evidence that repressed memories exist and practicing clinicians who claim that repressed memories are real. Read more from @ScienceAlert:
Researchers have hit upon a discovery that appears to delay the symptoms of Alzheimer’s in some people genetically destined to get the disease in their 40s and 50s. “It’s still a study but it has given me an extension to my life that I never banked on having,” said Jake Heinrichs of New York City.
Humans have been hunting for sex-based differences in the brain dating back to at least ancient Greece. Yet a scientist observing a female and male brain in a lab can’t tell them apart. "I'm not aware of any measure you can make of the human brain where the male and female distributions don't overlap," Dr. Armin Raznahan told Live Science. That said, the question of how male and female brains differ may still matter. @LiveScience has more:
It may be the pain it causes to your teeth or the gross taste in your mouth, but a news study shows that chewing on a hard substance like wood can increase levels of a naturally occurring antioxidant in the human brain. This isn’t to suggest you gnaw on a 2x4, but perhaps chewing on a pencil may improve a person’s memory. @ScienceAlert has more on what dogs have apparently known for decades:
Doctors may soon be able to use a video game that has an 80% success rate in identifying children with autism. @ScienceAlert has more on the potential breakthrough:
I was a little bummed in reading my new neurologist visit notes. She wants me to re-engage with a psychiatrist, and was focusing on my (former) bipolar disorder and rapid cycling.
I was sure that this was a misdiagnosis, and that being autistic was it. I do see both can cooccur, but still.... I feel so much more clear and healthy since I stopped the various bipolar meds over a year ago.
I did find a psychiatrist that focuses on both bipolar and autism (along with some other keywords that may be helpful to me), so hopefully the right decision will be made there.
And separately, it's weird that so many physicians call out that I appear anxious. But I don't feel that way at the time; it's just the way I present! But that seems to be tsked-tsked away.