A new study released this week found that those suffering (or who have suffered) from anorexia nervosa have quite a difference in their brain patterns compared to those that have never developed the disorder.

Is a difference in the brain the cause of the eating disorder which can pale down someone to flesh and bones? That's hard to say. Using unique brain-scanning and reward-penalty research, the study concluded that the brains of young women who had anorexia nervosa were indeed not making a distinction insofar as making a large difference between winning and losing.

Lead researcher from the research team out of Pittsburgh said that "for anorexics, then, perhaps it is difficult to appreciate immediate pleasure if it does not feel much different from a negative experience."

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Sleep is a wondrous thing -- our bodies get to rest and recharge chemically (from a biological standpoint), while our mind sorts out the junk from the day and catalogs some things while throwing other things in the trash for disposal later.

It's been said that we remember everything, every day -- and our brain files away all that data for later recollection (or not). The science of sleep was renewed in that vein recently by Dr. Ross Levin, who looked at why long-ago memories could be brought back into people's dreams when triggered by different types of trauma.

This is common in war veterans, many of which can lead normal lives until a traumatic even spurs old memories and some kind of downward spiral happens as a result.

Can therapy help those who have sleep disorders or constant nightmares as a result? Dr. Levin thinks so, and for those who have crippling sleep episodes, proper treatment can be the only alternative.

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You've probably heard that, once you reach adulthood, you lose the ability to grown new brain cells. But, according to a recent study, that may be just a myth.

Researchers at MIT discovered that, while the changes in the neurons of adult brains were significantly smaller than what goes on in younger years, "the fact that it goes on at all is earth-shattering."

Apparently scientists made their discovery by looking at a set of neurons not normally studied -- called "interneurons." These interneurons make up about 20 to 30 percent of the neocortex (the part of your brain responsible for higher functions -- like thought) -- so, because they're malleable, it means that large-scale changes in adult brains might be possible.

Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks.

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