16 November 2019

There has been widespread UK media coverage for a new study, published in the journal Epidemiology that haslinked air pollution nanoparticles to brain cancerfor the first time. It was found that a one-year increase in pollution exposure of 10,000 nanoparticles per cubic centimetre the approximate difference between quiet and busy city streets increased the risk of brain cancer by more than 10%. The cities studied were Toronto and Montreal

The human brain has the ability to block cancer drugs from effectively reaching cancer cells in the brain and the greatest obstacle to treating cancer is the brains natural defence mechanism, the blood-brain barrier, the collection of blood vessels that can filter out what goes in and out of the brain. When cancer cells invade the brain, the blood-brain barrier transitions into the blood-tumour barrier, and this transition still presents aroadblock for effective drug delivery howevera new road map could ease blockages to this effective drug delivery to the brain. Recently published workinOncotarget from scientists at Purdue University, Indiana, has provided the first comprehensive characterization of both the blood-brain and blood-tumour barriers in brain metastases of lung cancer, and this will serve as a road map for treatment development. The principal investigator of the Comparative Blood-Brain Barrier Laboratory at Pudue, Tiffany Lyle said Identifying when that change occurs during the transition is critical because it tells us when and where the brain vasculature prevents effective drug delivery.

Scientists obtained new compounds with potential anti-tumour effect from sea sponge, click this link to find out more about how chemists from Far Eastern Federal University's School of Natural Sciences (SNS FEFU)developed a new method to synthesise biologically active derivatives of fascaplysin a cytotoxic pigment of a sea sponge. FEFU scientists have already shown that fascaplysin derivatives stimulate the death of glioblastoma multiforme cells - the most aggressive type of brain cancer.

Click through toPhase 1 study in patients with Glioblastoma multiforme,and read details of the first abstract (an abstract is a brief summary of a research article). It is a small study of eight patients but showed that the drug ifabotuzumab is effectively delivered across the blood-tumour barrier and accumulates specifically at the tumour site in all patients treated to date with no observed normal tissue uptake Our results show that ifabotuzumab is safe and very effective at targeting the tumour, said professors Hui Gan and Andrew Scott, who led the study from the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute in Melbourne. We are also excited that there are early indications that ifabotuzumab may help to control disease growth in some patients."

News of an encouraging trial here;Positive Phase 2 Glioblastoma DataInterim results from a Phase 2 trial testing immunotherapy AV-GBM-1 in patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) shows current survival is 96% at six months and 91% at twelve months with three patients followed for more than a year. Furthermore, a vast majority of patients displayed an appropriate immune response and a decrease of tumour biomarkers. The trial is still in progress and will continue to enrol patients for a few more months with follow up for at least another year. Final analysis likely will occur in early 2021.

To learn about the difference between Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials and more about the whole vital area of clinical trials please do click through to ourclinical trials information pagefor a concise but comprehensive overview.

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Weekly pick of Neuroscience news from around the world - Brain Tumour Research

Amgen has given notice of its intent to lay off 149 people at its Cambridge, Massachusetts, operation by the end of the year. The notice comes weeks after Amgen revealed it was retreating from its East Coast neuroscience operations in a move that would threaten around 180 jobs.

That plan became official Friday when state authorities in Massachusetts revealed Amgen had submitted a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act note. The note formally signaled Amgens intent to cut 149 employees in Cambridge loose at the end of the year. Amgen will retain an operations and process development presence in Massachusetts but is consolidating research back in California.

Amgen focused its Cambridge research site on neuroscience and hired people versed in medicinal chemistry, pharmacokinetics and drug metabolism, genetics, cell biology and and toxicology to staff it. With Amgen exiting neuroscience research, those skills are now largely surplus to requirements.

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The move to exit neuroscience R&D follows the decision by Amgen and its partner Novartis to stop pivotal tests of CNP520 in Alzheimers disease. Amgen and Novartis pulled the plug on the program after an interim review linked the BACE inhibitor to a worsening of cognitive function.

While Amgen is pulling out of in-house neuroscience research, the company has plans to continue to participate in the field in some way. Amgen believes its work with deCODE positions it to understand the genetics of neurological disorders, and, while it wants to focus its internal resources elsewhere, it's keen to capitalize on these capabilities in some way.

Half the genes in the body are expressed in the brain and only the brain and we think we have some unique resources to try to capitalize on insights around that. We'll be exploring potentially different models for doing that with venture capital and perhaps academic institutions as well, Amgen CEO Bob Bradway said on a quarterly results conference call with investors late last month.

Amgens decision to exit neuroscience follows the shuttering of an Eli Lilly facility focused on the field and the spinning out of Pfizers pipeline to create Cerevel Therapeutics.

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Amgen to cut 149 staff in retreat from neuroscience R&D - FierceBiotech

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Amgen submitted a Worker Adjustment and Retraining (WARN) filing with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, indicating it planned to lay off 149 employees effective December 31, 2019. This comes only shortly after the company announced it was ending its neuroscience research.

According to a report in the San Fernando Valley Business Journal, the company, which has headquarters in Thousand Oaks, California, has spent the last five years increasing its presence in New England, shifting staff from California to Kendall Square in Cambridge. Some of the people being laid off have been offered relocation to other sites in North America. The Cambridge site will continue to work with a process development presence for pipeline products and next-generation technology.

The decision to exit the neuroscience space was announced in the companys third-quarter financial report. Upon careful evaluation of our pipeline and the challenges inherent in developing drugs for major neurologic diseases, weve made the decision to end our neuroscience research and early development programs with the exception of programs centered on neuro-inflammation, David Reese, the companys R&D head, said in the conference call.

Unfortunately, this makes Amgen yet another major biopharma company to exit or slim down work on neurological diseases. Others include Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca.

In July 2019, Amgen, Novartis and the Banner Alzheimers Institute announced they were halting two pivotal Phase II/III clinical trials in the Alzheimers Prevention Initiative Generation Program. The studies were evaluating the BACE1 inhibitor umibecestat (CNP520). An analysis of unblinded data during a scheduled review showed that the patients were getting worse in some of the measures of cognitive function, the opposite of what they were hoping. The three organizations jointly decided that any patient benefit wasnt worth the risk.

The Amgen and Novartis Neuroscience Collaboration launched in August 2015 to develop and market treatments for migraine and Alzheimers disease. Amgen and Novartis sponsor the work in collaboration with Banner Alzheimers Institute. Novartis is the regulatory sponsor and Amgen and Novartis are co-development partners.

Beta-amyloid is a protein that accumulates in the brains of Alzheimers patients, and was long thought to be the cause of the memory and cognitive issues in the disease. However, much of the science has moved away from that theory as dozens of clinical trials that successfully cleared or halted the production of beta-amyloid failed to make a difference in the patients clinical conditions. It is likely that beta-amyloid is still a significant player in the disease, perhaps related to neuroinflammation, but many researchers have moved away from a direct focus on beta-amyloid.

BACE1 inhibitors like umibecestat block BACE1, an enzyme that helps form amyloid plaques.

Shifting resources away from neuroscience, Amgen plans to prioritize efforts on cardiovascular disease, oncology and inflammatory diseases. About 180 positions will be affected in this decision, with 149 of them in Massachusetts.

We made the difficult decision to end our research in neuroscience, which is largely based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a company spokesperson told Biopharma Dive. We are consolidating our U.S.-based research presence primarily in Thousand Oaks and San Francisco.

The company plans to keep a hand in the field, although less directly. It has partnerships with several groups, including deCODE, a subsidiary that specializes in genetics. We believe that genetics will ultimately drive progress in this area, and well continue to work with deCODE to generate insights, company chief executive officer Bob Bradway said in the conference call.

Amgen will also continue support for its ongoing development of Aimovig (erenumab), its drug approved for migraine.

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Amgen Exits Neuroscience R&D, Plans to Cut 149 Jobs in Boston Area - BioSpace

Sandy and Joan Weill Give $106 Million to Fund Neuroscience Hub  Bloomberg

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Sandy and Joan Weill Give $106 Million to Fund Neuroscience Hub - Bloomberg

Take a moment and think about how well the team at your firm works together. Chances are, there are likely more than a few ways everyone could work together more effectively. But what exactly are the drivers behind this goal of performance-driven firm leaders everywhere?

The answers might surprise you, says Abbie Louie. She's a leadership expert who went from working with Boeing to helping team leaders use neuroscience to enhance productivity at work. She beganher talk at this year's QB Connect in San Jose by referencing Project Aristotle.

In case you've never heard of it, some background: Google keeps data on everything, including the inner workings of their own organization. Over the years, they've tried a couple of unique ways to improve their company. Some have been more successful than others: One measure that involved removing managers, for instance, was quickly reversed after just a couple of months.

This new project looked into exactly what drove effective teams, and the results were, to say the least, surprising. However, they were also incredibly useful. First, they revealed that it's not really who's on the team; rather, it's how the team works together. Louie also noted Google came up with five specific drivers: impact, meaning, structure and clarity, dependability, and, the most important: psychological safety.

What exactly is that? Well, it's pretty simple, says Louie. People want to come to work in a place where they feel mentally safe and accepted. They want to feel like they can show both their strengths and their flaws, ask questions when they need to, and feel relaxed.

So, how healthy is your firm? Is it one where employees generate and voice ideas often, or are they relatively quiet and fearful of criticism? Louie says it's wise to do inventory of what's going on, since employees who are not in a psychologically safe workplace are less likely to be able to be creative and productive. There's a biological reason for this, she adds: The brain actually shuts down when it's in "fight or flight" mode.

You know your firm better than anyone else. Take stock of what's going on, and don't be afraid to make changes to enhance psychological safety.

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The Neuroscience Behind Effective Teams - Accountingweb.com

XconomySan Francisco

These are heady times for neuroscience research. Startups developing new approaches to brain disorders are raising money to advance their discoveries toward clinical trials. One failed neuro drug is getting another shot.

On Nov. 19 in San Francisco, well hold the latest in our Xchange event series. Whats Next in Neuroscience Therapies will take a look at new technologies that are changing how we understand brain diseases and spinal injuries, as well as novel approaches that companies are taking to treat these conditions. One such company, Alector (NASDAQ: ALEC), aims to treat neurodegeneration as an immune system problem. The South San Francisco biotech is developing antibody therapies that bolster immune cells that help the brain clear away proteins and debris associated with neurodegenerative disorders.

Earlier this year, Alector completed a $176 million IPO. The company is now deploying that cash in clinical trials: a drug candidate for frontotemporal dementia and two experimental therapies for Alzheimers disease. Stephanie Yonker, the companys vice president of legal, will talk about her companys approach to neurodegeneration at the upcoming event.

BlackThorn Therapeutics is deploying technologies such as artificial intelligence and brain imaging to help it discover new drugs and enroll the clinical trials to test them. The San Francisco companys focus is neurobehavioral disease. BlackThorn quietly emerged four years ago based on research from the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego. At our forum, Jane Tiller, BlackThorns chief medical officer, and Kristina Burow of ARCH Venture Partners will tell BlackThorns story from its Scripps origins to the present day as a clinical-stage company backed by $130 million in financing. BlackThorn has completed Phase 1 tests of it lead drug in depressionand is preparing for Phase 2; an experimental autism spectrum disorder drug is being readied to start tests in humans next year.

Spinal cord injury continues to pose obstacles to treatment. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine is pursuing new therapies through grants awarded to universities and companies. Much of this research aims to develop ways to use stem cells to heal the injury. Abla Creasey, CIRMs vice president of therapeutics and strategic infrastructure, will discuss these efforts. Meanwhile, the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is raising a venture philanthropy fund to support new research. Ethan Perlstein, the Reeve Foundations chief scientific officer, will talk about the foundations efforts to find new treatments and potential cures for spinal cord injury.

If youd like to hear more about these new efforts to treat brain disorders and spinal cord injury, join us at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco for Whats Next in Neuroscience Therapies. You can see the agenda for the event here. Additional information, including registration details, are here. We hope to see you on Nov. 19.

Photo by Depositphotos

Frank Vinluan is an Xconomy editor based in Research Triangle Park. You can reach him at fvinluan [[at]] xconomy.com.

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Neuroscience Is Taking the Spotlight at Xconomy's Bay Area Xchange - Xconomy

Lakeland University students Tegan Schneider and Mitchel Larsen presented their research at the 50th annual Society for Neuroscience (SfN) meeting in Chicago in October.(Photo: Jered McGivern)

SHEBOYGAN - The woman's skin sample had already been "tricked" to think it was an embryo. The job for two Lakeland University biochemistry students was to make it behave like brain tissue.

Tegan Schneider, of Plymouth, and Mitchel Larsen, of Sheboygan, teamed up for this unusual task during Lakeland's summer research program, hoping to better understand how the brain regulates neurotransmitters.

Now juniors, they continued their work this semester and recently presented their research at the 50th annual Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago.

The sample they worked with came from the Medical College of Wisconsin and had already been directed, using chemicals, to behave like fetal tissue.

To get the sample to think it was brain tissue, Schneider and Larsen added growth factors that those cells would normally see during developmentin the brain.

The purpose of making brain cells in a dish, from skin cells: Donated brain tissue is hard to come by, said Jered McGivern, an assistant professor of biochemistry at Lakeland, who helped them with their research.

"There's a lot of work being done in the medical field to use (this method) for developing treatments and cures," McGivern said.

McGivern said Schneider and Larsen did a great job of trying different techniques to study neurotransmitters with the instrumentation they had, and they did a lot of work outside of the summer program because they were so interested.

One of the biggest challenges was to keep their cells from getting contaminated, sincethey don't have an immune system.

Theresearch is good experience for them to have as they move into bigger labs, McGivern said.

Suzette Rosas didthe foundational work and is now a graduate student at the Medical College of Wisconsin, he added.

McGivern joined Schneider and Larsen at the meeting in Chicago, which was attended by over 27,000 people, and where the students got to learn about work being done in the field.

Schneider and Larsenwere able to attend the meeting because of a gift from 1969 Lakeland graduate Cliff Feldmann.

Contact Diana Dombrowski at ddombrowski@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @domdomdiana

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After 'tricking' skin cells to behave like brain tissue, Lakeland students present at neuroscience megaconference - Sheboygan Press

SAN DIEGO & BELFAST, Northern Ireland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Neurovalens, a global HealthTech company focused on developing innovative neuroscience-powered products to improve lives, today introduces Modius SLEEP. The device follows the success of the Companys first headset, Modius SLIM, which raised $2.5M on Indiegogo in 2017, gaining worldwide popularity with orders from 80+ countries.

Modius SLEEP continues the Companys mission to improve global health and wellness by providing drug-free, neurological solutions for common health problems. Modius SLEEP is available for $249 for the duration of the campaign on Indiegogo and will retail for $499. Campaign Link: https://igg.me/at/modiussleep.

Thousands of Modius SLIM device users around the world found improved sleep was a welcomed bonus reaction and our motivation for making changes to our technology to create Modius SLEEP, said Jason McKeown, CEO of Neurovalens. This new headset taps into the power of the brains hypothalamus, which acts as a mini-computer and influences many areas of the brain, including weight loss and sleep. Our aim is to help people avoid sedatives and sleeping pills as they mask the underlying problem and produce unpleasant side effects. We use neuroscience to improve lives through safe, innovative, non-invasive products and have complete confidence our SLEEP device is just as life-changing as our SLIM device has been.

In a 30-day study, 95% of Modius SLEEP users improved their overall sleep score, with 85% claiming they were satisfied with their improved sleep patterns. Additionally, 71.3% with sleep issues reported positive changes when using Modius SLEEP.

How it Works:

Unlike other sleep headsets that are limited to passively reading brain-wave activity, Modius SLEEP actively stimulates the key sleep neurons in the brain, reducing time it takes to fall asleep and keeping you asleep longer. The Modius SLEEP headset is worn for 30 minutes before bed with no need to wear in bed. It works by sending a safe electrical pulse into the vestibular nerve that influences the areas of the hypothalamus and brain stem that controls the users circadian rhythm and sleep patterns.

About Neurovalens:

Neurovalens is a global healthtech company and leader in the development of non-invasive neurostimulation products which aims to improve global health and wellness using drug-free neurological solutions. Its premier product, Modius SLIM has been sold in 80+ countries and helps people meet their weight loss goals. The Modius SLEEP headset was designed to help people fix their sleep problems for good. Founded by Dr. Jason McKeown in 2015, the Company is currently run from dual-headquarters in Belfast, Northern Ireland and at the University of California San Diegos Centre for Brain & Cognition. For more information visit: https://us.modiushealth.com/pages/modius-sleep

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Neurovalens Unveils Modius SLEEP, a Genius Next-Gen Device Powered by Neuroscience to Optimize Sleep Health and Address the Global Sleep Crisis,...

Sienna Axe, A&E ReporterNovember 14, 2019

What can German literature tell us about the human brain? On Wednesday, Nov. 6, Dr. Sonja Boos, an associate professor in the department of German and Scandinavian at the University of Oregon, showed Whitmans German department along with a few unaffiliated-yet-interested attendees the answer.

Dr. Boos lecture, entitled Learning to See: Neuroanatomy and Cytoarchitectonics in Rilkes Paris, was centered around Austrian writer Rainer Maria Rilkes 1910 novel, The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge.

The novel, argued by some to be more of a long prose poem, is focused less on plot and more on the psyche and thought processes of its first-person narrator, the titular Malte. Dr. Boos used this as an example of the connections between literature and neuroscience, something she has been researching extensively for her current book project, Poetics of the Brain: The Emergence of Neuroscience and the German Novel, which Amazon lists as scheduled to arrive in 2021.

Dr. Boos opened the talk by reading a passage a description of a dilapidated building from the novels original German text and explaining that it showed the effect of industrialization on modern city dwellers, one she called a pervasive feeling of horror. What followed was a deep dive into German literature, the human brain and changes in psychiatric and neuroscientific thought over time.

Emily Jones, assistant professor of German Studies & Environmental Humanities at Whitman, said that Dr. Boos analysis of the neuroscience involved in her lecture was especially impressive.

I think Dr. Booss work is excellent, Jones said. Her depth of research into the history of neuroscience is impressive since its pretty far outside her normal specialty as a literary scholar, and her reading of Rilkes novel especially the scene she close-read with the houses removed facade totally changed how I think about [it].

According to Jones, the German department wanted to bring Dr. Boos to Whitman for her interdisciplinary research.

We especially wanted to invite Dr. Boos because we are interested in how she is bringing together the disciplines of literary criticism and the neuroscience, Jones said. [Whitman German Studies professor] Eva Hoffmann knew Dr. Boos and suggested her as an exciting interdisciplinary scholar.

Sophomore Adam Rosenberg attended the lecture to fulfill a requirement for his German 205 class and came away intellectually inspired.

I just thought that it was really well researched, and clearly a ton of work and effort was put into it, Rosenberg said. The depth of knowledge that she represented was just very impressive, and I would like to do something like that in my academic career.

Sophomore Julien Comardelle, who attended the lecture to fulfill a requirement for his German 105 class, appreciated Dr. Boos discussion of how literature described the neuropsychological schools of thought of the time.

One of the biggest takeaways was her discussion of how Rilke and others talked about the development of the medical gaze, Comardelle said, referring to the shift Boos described from understanding the brain as something more esoteric and spiritual to understanding it as a more scientific organ.

Comardelle was also impressed by Boos argument that literatures understanding of the human brain was sometimes ahead of the scientists of the time.

She talked about brain slides, and how [scientists] were able to reconstruct a human brain from that, whereas in Rilke, who came somewhat before that, their discussion of how the mind is structured is ahead of the scientific understanding, he said.

Jones hopes that the talk helped deepen attendees understanding and appreciation for how different studies can feed into each other.

I hope that attendees at the talk were convinced that studying literatures relationship with science is productive, Jones said. So often we treat these fields as at best tangentially related, but they are really often interacting with one another.

She also hopes that students will be inspired to master a new language, saying that Dr. Boos understanding of the original German contributed to her ability to construct some of her arguments.

Comardelle had a takeaway very similar to what Jones was hoping for.

You can really see how the study of a language can apply to things you wouldnt expect, Comardelle said. Like, you wouldnt expect German literature to talk about brain science but yet it does. And even if you have a basic understanding of the German language, you can get an appreciation for the complexity of that kind of translation it was really interesting how she was able to deal with that kind of problem.

Dr. Boos research not only introduces some interesting points about German literature and neuroscience, but it also acts as a compelling argument for interdisciplinary studies, something very near and dear to many students at this liberal arts school we call home.

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Learning to See explores neuroscience and literature - Whitman Pioneer

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Luis Dias

As aspecies, why are we willing to kill, exploit, or willfully disregard peopleweve never met? This question leapt out of my laptop screen just as I waswinding down and calling it a night.

It struck a chord. It is a question, perhaps differentlyphrased, that troubles me a lot, and Im sure Im not alone: How and why are wecapable of treating others cruelly, of dehumanising a person or a group ofpeople?

The article, in The Economist, was titled Does yourbrain care about other people? It depends, co-written by David Eagleman,neuroscientist at Stanford University and author of several books on cognitionand society; and Don Vaughn, neuroscientist at the University of California LosAngeles.

It begins with the story of Lord George Gordon(1751-1793), British nobleman and politician, who fought against the injusticemeted out to sailors in the Royal Navy at the time, and against the evils ofslavery on the one hand; but was also responsible for instigating several daysof anti-Catholic riots (known even today infamously as the Gordon riots) in1780. Gordon marched a 50,000-strong mob to the Houses of Parliament that wenton over a whole week to destroy Roman Catholic churches and pillage Catholichomes, killing or wounding hundreds of people in what has gone down as themost destructive domestic upheaval in the history of London.

This, then is the conundrum: how can someone have empathyfor one group or groups of people, but simultaneously harbour antipathy towardsanother?

The writers put it down to a fundamental fact of humannature: our tendency to form ingroups and outgroupsthat is, groups that wefeel attached to and those that we dont. Yes, we have empathy, but it isselective. Eagleman and Vaughn cite examples such as a hometown, a school or areligion bonding people within an ingroup. In India, the big bond would alsohave to be caste.

The Second World War had brought into sharp focus howdangerous such divisions into ingroups and outgroups could be, with thedehumanisation of Jews by the Nazis, and American wartime propaganda portrayingthe Japanese as subhuman, while Japanese propaganda depicted Americans asmonsters.

The authors describe a 1954 psychological study dividinga study sample of pre-teen boys into arbitrary groups, and the antagonism andpartisanship sometimes erupting into violence that resulted from this randomdivision.

This is not an isolated study. It has been replicated atdifferent times in different places in different age-groups. I remember readingabout a similar study from about a decade later. The day after Martin LutherKing Jr was assassinated in April 1968, class-teacher Jane Elliott in a smallall-white town of Riceville Iowa decided to teach her third-graders a lesson inthe meaning of discrimination when she realised that they couldnt understandwhy someone should even want to murder an icon that they had recently madeHero of the Month.

She divided her class by eye colour: those with blue andthose with brown eyes. On the first day, one group was told they were smarter,nicer, neater, and better than the other group. The better group were givenprivileges such a longer recess, and being first in cafeteria lunch line. Theother group had to wear a collar around their neck and their behaviour andperformance were criticised and ridiculed by Elliott.

The next day, the tables were turned, and the other groupbecame the dominant group. In each case, the superior group becamemean-spirit and took pleasure in the discrimination against the other group.

Realising that she had created a microcosm of society ina third-grade classroom, Elliott repeated the exercise for two consecutiveyears after that. Fourteen years later, Frontlines A Class Divideddocumented a reunion of the last, 1970 third-grade class, who still rememberedand cherished the lessons from that experiment.

Eagleman and Vaughn relate the results of a ratherbizarre experiment carried out in 2010. Scientists at the University of Zurichrecruited sports fans for a brain imaging study. The fans were first allowed tomeet and exchange trivia. They then underwent a brain scan during which theywatched other fans receiving painful electric shocks to their hands. Watchingthe pain inflicted on others activated parts of the brain as if they wereexperiencing it themselves. This is the neural basis of empathy, the writersexplain.

But there was a darker side to the interpretation of thedata. Participants experienced higher brain activity when watching the painexperienced by those who liked the same sports team they did, and less activitywhen watching pain inflicted to fans of a rival team!

To remove the bias from the sports fans recognising eachother, Eagleman and Vaughn designed another study: Participants lay in an MRIscanner and looked at six hands on a video screen. The computer selected onehand at random, and then a hypodermic needle entered the picture and stabbedinto the flesh of that hand. In a control condition, a long cotton swab touchedthe persons handvisually similar to the needle, but this time with no pain.By contrasting the brains reaction to the needle and the cotton swab, theresearchers felt they could measure the brain networks that became active whenwitnessing anothers pain.

Then came the twist: Each hand became marked with asimple label: Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Scientologist or atheist. Thequestion they wished to answer was: would a participant experience more pain ifh/she belonged to the label hand being stabbed? Would a Christian feel morepain on watching pain inflicted to a Christian hand?

That was indeed their conclusion. Watching an ingrouphand get stabbed evoked more empathic brain activity; an outgroup handtriggered less, despite all the protestations of neutrality on the part ofsome participants.

The authors ask us to reflect: Take a moment to thinkabout your own level of empathy toward others. Imagine that you see a60-year-old man twist his ankle and fall to the ground. Do you feel an empathicsting? Now imagine hes at a rally for a politician that you loathe. Is yourempathy any different? And if so, does that challenge your view of yourself asan empathic person? If you had unequal responses in the two situations, yourenot alone: people generally assess their own empathy by thinking about those intheir ingroup.

I thought the same thing when pictures of the horrific blazeof the Tezgam passenger train travelling between Karachi and Rawalpindi,killing at least 75, appeared on social media. The ha-ha emoticon reactionfrom tens of thousands of people (while many more reacted with concern, to besure) was mind-numbing. How could anyone trivialise a tragedy like this,wherever it may have occurred, and regardless of who the unfortunate victimswere?

Eagleman and Vaughn suggest that rather than feelingdoomed to succumb to our ingrained biases, we can fight them through severalstrategies such as understanding our own biases; building a better model ofothers; and learning to resist the tactics of dehumanisation.

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The neuroscience of empathy - The Navhind Times