Researchers find brain's default network shrinks in healthy aging and dementia

Researchers at York University and Cornell University have found the brain’s default network, a collection of brain regions thought to be involved in cognitive functions such as memory, declines in volume with both normal aging and in Alzheimer’s disease. These new findings suggest that structural changes in this collection of brain regions may be critical […]

Bullying is bad for the brain, says speaker for upcoming conference

Bullying is bad for the brain. It has the potential to change and damage the brain, causing lifelong consequences. Professor Jean Clinton of McMaster University will discuss how toxic stress, such as that caused by bullying, can have long-lasting effects for children, at PREVNet’s sixth annual bullying prevention conference next week. Debra Pepler Creating Healthy […]

CRC Georg Zoidl congratulated by Canada's prime minister

Biology Professor Georg Zoidl, York’s Canada Research Chair in Molecular & Cellular Neuroscience, has received a framed letter of congratulations from Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The letter was delivered to Zoidl by York Vice-President Research & Innovation, Robert Haché, Faculty of Health Dean Harvey Skinner and Faculty of Science & Engineering Dean Janusz Kozinski. Above: from […]

York prof president of Royal Canadian Institute

University Professor Emeritus Ronald Pearlman of York’s Faculty of Science & Engineering has been named president of the prestigious Royal Canadian Institute (RCI) for the Advancement of Science. Pearlman, currently first-vice-president of the RCI, is the director of York’s Core Molecular Biology/DNA Sequencing Facility and former dean and associate dean of York’s Faculty of Graduate […]

Two York profs receive Ontario Early Researcher Awards

York Professors Natasha Myers and Thilo Womelsdorf have been awarded $100,000 each in funding under the Ontario government’s Early Researcher Awards program.   Ontario’s Ministry of Economic Development & Innovation announced the awards Monday.  York University’s research investment of $50,000 will match the funds for the award. The Early Researcher Awards program helps promising, recently appointed […]

Roving eyes help us see things better and faster

The saying, “looking at things with fresh eyes”, may be more than just a metaphor, according to new studies led by Professor Kari Hoffman of York’s Centre for Vision Research, which have been published in scholarly journals. Left: Kari Hoffman While searching for experiments to use in a research methods course, Hoffman took a fresh […]

Study finds people can see the forest without the trees

When you look at someone’s office, what do you see – the desk, some pens, a computer? Do you know it’s an office because of the objects in it, or by taking in the entire scene? What York psychology Professor Jennifer Steeves and PhD candidate Caitlin Mullin (MA ’08) have found is that it’s not […]

Bee study reveals battle of the sexes is in the brain

Why do male honey bees receive the royal treatment, while female bees do the work? It’s all in the brain, according to a new study by bee researchers at York University in Toronto and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Researchers at the two institutions set out to study differences in how genes are turned […]

Brain to blame for wandering eyes

Why is it so hard to suppress a glance at an attractive person? Why do we find ourselves rubbernecking at traffic accidents? According to a York University study, the brain’s primitive “inner eye” is to blame. The study, published yesterday in the Journal of Neuroscience, focuses on the superior colliculus, a structure buried deep within […]

Former astronaut will talk about 'My Brain in Space'

Former astronaut Dave Williams, president and CEO of Southlake Regional Health Centre, will talk about how his brain handled the weightlessness of outer space at the upcoming joint York Neuroscience - Centre for Vision Research seminar. The talk, “My Brain in Space”, will take place, Tuesday, Dec. 13, at 4pm at 519 York Research Tower , Keele campus. […]