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Health Check: Worrying Signs of Disease in American Footballers’ Brains

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2017/08/02 GMT

Worrying Signs of Disease in American Footballers’ Brains

BBC World Service - Health Check, Worrying Signs of Disease in American Footballers’ Brains

New research on players’ brains: is American football too dangerous?

Research on players’ brains questions whether American football is too dangerous; can a Amazonian hallucinogenic plant help or harm mental health?; why first impressions matter.

High-impact collisions are all part of the game for American footballers. But new research has found a worrying amount of disease in footballers’ donated brains – similar to changes found in Alzheimer’s disease. Jesse Mez, Assistant Professor of Neurology at Boston University, was shocked by the widespread presence of tangles of tau proteins, which signal the progressive brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy. 
 
Ayahuasca is said to be the strongest psychedelic drug in the world. A potent brew is made from the vine which grows in the Amazon – where shamans use it for medical and spiritual purposes. It can produce terrifying hallucinations and seems to trigger mental health problems in some people. Now some doctors are calling for more research to establish whether it could be used as a treatment for a wide range of psychological and physical disorders.
 

First impressions count. When we see a person’s photograph we make our minds up quickly, whether it’s for a job application or voting in an election. 
We rate trustworthiness and competence from looking at faces – but it doesn’t mean we are right in those assumptions according to Professor Alexander Todorov from Princeton University who’s written a book called Face Value.

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