ScienCentral have an interesting article about a new technique for teaching people to control their pain. Several people with chronic pain who were able to watch their own brain activity while in a MRI gained a certain control over their perception of pain. Not all were able to learn this, and the technique is currently far too expensive and involved for general use, but it does highlight the fact that pain is a product of our brain, and offer promise for those who suffer from chronic pain.

And on a completely different note, a study has found that professional dancers tend to have particular variants of two genes that are involved in the transmission of information between nerve cells: one transports serotonin, a brain transmitter involved in mood regulation, and the other is a receptor of the hormone vasopressin, implicated in social communication and human bonding.