KidTalk: A Natural Experiment in the Time of Covid-19
A new citizen-science project offers parents a virtual scrapbook to record their children’s speech, so researchers can see how their language skills develop in home settings—as well as see how they may be affected by staying at home during the pandemic.
Dana Foundation Launches New Outreach Grants for Brain Awareness Week
Submissions will open in October to U.S. and Canadian PartnersThe Dana Foundation will launch a grants program in October to support Brain Awareness Week outreach activities in the U.S. and Canada. Held around the world in mid-March, the annual campaign attracts hundreds of partners each year who plan and perform these activities with the goal of fostering public enthusiasm and support for brain science. The program is modeled on the successful Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and International Brain Research Organization Brain Awareness Week grants programs, also funded by the Foundation.
A Message from the President
We have all been impacted profoundly by the events in this country over the past several weeks. The recent events are a manifestation of the systemic injustice and racial prejudice that sadly pervades much of our society. We at the Dana Foundation condemn intolerance in all of its forms. As Americans and as members of our communities, we support the demand for reform to address discrimination and brutality. We join with those advancing that cause as change for the better will only occur if those suffering injustice have been heard—and we as a community take constructive action in response. Diversity and Inclusion are critical to the central values we all hold at Dana. It is those values that bind us together and give us strength. In times such as these, we must each recommit to those values, take care of each other, and unite in support of positive change to move our society forward.
Exploring a Potential New Therapy for Fatal Canavan Disease
Q&A with David Pleasure, M.D.While others try to thin out the overabundance of an amino acid that critically damages the axons in infants with Canavan disease, Dana Foundation grantee David Pleasure aims to prevent the buildup itself.
Testing Neurofeedback as a Treatment for Tourette’s
Q&A with Michelle Hampson, Ph.D.Dana grantee Michelle Hampson describes how neurofeedback may be a good alternative treatment for tics and the challenges of developing the right training paradigms.
Decoding the Canine Mind
Curious about a dog’s perception of the world and how a pooch’s brain works? Gregory S. Berns uses brain scanning and other strategies to find answers.
Jump-Starting Evolution
Three years after a best-selling book, a co-author explains how the silver fox-domestication experiment continues to help us better understand genetics and evolution.
Neurosteroids: A Major Step Forward
Research that began three-quarters of a century ago has led to one of the first new drugs to treat depression in 60 years—and the potential to treat much more.
Tracking the Neural Footprints of Consciousness
Two leading theories that are diametrically opposed are part of a new $20 million international research program to explore how consciousness arises and correlates in the brain.
Troubling Regulatory Standards
Neuroethics ViewpointOur neuroethics columnist addresses a concerning new trend of reporting brain research results through the popular media rather than in peer reviewed journals.