Language Acquisition – PossibleThreat Articles

Brain fat, not just plaques, may be the hidden driver of Alzheimer’s

September 24, 2025 0 Comments #039, Alternative Medicine, amp, Dementia, Diseases and Conditions, Infant and Preschool Learning, Intelligence, Language Acquisition, Pharmacology, s Healthcare, Today&amp

For decades, scientists believed Alzheimer’s was driven mainly by sticky protein plaques and tangles in the brain. Now Purdue researchers have revealed a hidden culprit: fat. They found that brain immune cells can become clogged with fat, leaving them too weak to fight off disease. By clearing out this fat and restoring the cells’ defenses, researchers may have uncovered an entirely new way to combat Alzheimer’s — shifting the focus from plaques alone to how the brain handles fat.

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Dogs can tell how toys work without any training

September 23, 2025 0 Comments Animal Learning and Intelligence, Behavioral Science, Dogs, Intelligence, Language Acquisition, New Species, Psychology, Social Psychology

Gifted dogs can categorize toys by function, not just appearance. In playful at-home tests, they linked labels like “fetch” and “pull” to toys—even ones they’d never seen before. The findings hint that dogs form mental concepts of objects, much like humans, pointing to deeper cognitive abilities.

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For better research results, let mice be mice

October 24, 2019 0 Comments animals, Genetically Modified, Huntington's Disease, Language Acquisition, mice, Psychology, rodents, Social Psychology

Animal models can serve as gateways for understanding many human communication disorders, but a new study suggests that the established practice of socially isolating mice for such purposes might actually make them poor research models for humans, and a simple shift to a more realistic social environment could greatly improve the utility of the future studies.

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Babies understand counting years earlier than believed

October 24, 2019 0 Comments Child Development, Child Psychology, Creativity, Infant and Preschool Learning, Language Acquisition, Literacy, Numeracy, Parenting

Babies who are years away from being able to say 'one,' 'two,' and 'three' actually already have a sense of what counting means, researchers have discovered. The findings reveal that very early on, years earlier than previously believed, babies who hear counting realize that it's about quantity.

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Natural language interface for data visualization debuts

October 23, 2019 0 Comments Brain-Computer Interfaces, Child Development, Computer Modeling, Computers and Internet, Hacking, Information Technology, K-12 Education, Language Acquisition

A team has developed FlowSense, which lets those who may not be experts in machine learning create highly flexible visualizations from almost any data.

News Science

The secret of classic Belgian beers? Medieval super yeasts!

October 21, 2019 0 Comments Beer and Wine, Child Development, Creativity, Fungus, Language Acquisition, Nature, New Species, Stress

An international team of scientists has discovered that some of the most renowned classic Belgian beers, including Gueuze and Trappist ales, are fermented with a rare and unusual form of hybrid yeasts. These yeasts combine DNA of the traditional ale yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with that of more stress-resistant feral yeasts such as Saccharomyces kudriavzevii.

News Science

How the brain dials up the volume to hear someone in a crowd

October 21, 2019 0 Comments Brain Injury, Brain-Computer Interfaces, Disorders and Syndromes, Intelligence, Language Acquisition, Learning Disorders, neuroscience, Perception

Our brains have a remarkable ability to pick out one voice from among many. Now, a team has uncovered the steps that take place in the brain to make this feat possible. Today's discovery helps to solve a long-standing scientific question as to how the brain's listening center can decode and amplify one voice over others. It also stands to spur development of hearing-aid technologies and brain-computer interfaces that more closely resemble the brain.

News Science

Make some noise: How background noise affects brain activity

October 21, 2019 0 Comments Brain Injury, Brain-Computer Interfaces, Disorders and Syndromes, Intelligence, Language Acquisition, neuroscience, Perception, Psychology

Have you ever found it difficult to focus on a task due to background noise? Scientists are studying just how these sounds impact our brain activity — and what that impact means for designing neurotechnology.

News Science

Embryo's early development revealed in a dish

October 17, 2019 0 Comments Brain-Computer Interfaces, Immune System, Language Acquisition, Lymphoma, neuroscience, Perception, Skin Cancer, Stem Cells

Bioscientists develop a method to observe patterns of early embryonic development, during which ectodermal cells diverge toward their fates as skin, organs and the nervous system.

News Science

Early reading in Spanish helps children learn to read English

October 16, 2019 0 Comments Child Development, Dyslexia, Educational Psychology, K-12 Education, Language Acquisition, Learning Disorders, Literacy, Numeracy

Immigrant parents worry their children will struggle with reading and fret that as non-English speakers, they can't help. A new study shows that's simply not true. Reading to a young child in any language will likely help them learn to read in English.

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