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So our brains are working away even while we sleep?  That's the idea behind a new study that's found that " memory of specific odors (along with many other things) depends on the ability of the brain to learn, process and recall accurately and effectively during slow-wave sleep — a deep sleep characterized by slow brain waves." If more can be learned from better understanding of how the brain processes odors, researchers believe it could lead to novel therapies that target specific neurons in the brain, perhaps enhancing memory consolidation and memory accuracy, according to newswise.com. Researchers showed in experiments with rats that odor memory was strengthened when odors sensed the previous day were replayed during sleep, the Web site reports. Memories deepened more when odor reinforcement occurred during sleep than when rats were awake. When the memory of a specific odor learned when the rats were awake was replayed during slow-wave sleep, they achieved ...

You wouldn't know it from me but it's better to wait a little before making decisions , according to a new study. I constantly make snap judgments (sometimes I'm right, in the case of a husband, and sometimes I'm wrong, also in the case of a husband, and yes, the same one) but this new study has found that hesitating even a fraction of a second makes for a better decision, newswise.com reports. “Decision making isn't always easy, and sometimes we make errors on seemingly trivial tasks, especially if multiple sources of information compete for our attention,” the Web site quotes first author Tobias Teichert, PhD, a postdoctoral research scientist in neuroscience at CUMC at the time of the study and now an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. To make a good decision?  Simply, do nothing.  At least for a while.   “Postponing the onset of the decision process by as little as 50 to 100 milliseconds enables the brain to focus attentio...