The act of exploring helps shape the brain and adventuring is what makes each individual different, according to a study out Thursday by researchers in Germany. The findings published in the US journal Science may offer new paths to treating psychiatric diseases, scientists said. Researchers sought to pin down why identical twins are not perfect replicas of each other, even when they have been raised in the same environment, and studied the matter using 40 genetically identical mice.

Researchers have successfully implanted pacemaker electrodes into the brains of patients suffering from major depression, with symptoms of six out of seven of them improving considerably and rapidly. Dr Volker Arnd Coenen, neurosurgeon at the Department of Neurosurgery at the Bonn University Hospital in Germany, implanted electrodes into the medial fore-brain bundles in the brains of subjects suffering from major depression with the electrodes being connected to a brain pacemaker. The nerve cells were then stimulated by means of a weak electrical current, a method called Deep B

Scientists in Japan said Friday they had found a way to "read" people's dreams, using MRI scanners to unlock some of the secrets of the unconscious mind. Researchers have managed what they said was "the world's first decoding" of night-time visions, the subject of centuries of speculation that have captivated humanity since ancient times.

(Refiles to add dropped quote mark in headline) By Sharon Begley NEW YORK, Feb 28 (Reuters) - The scientists call it a "brain link," and it is the closest anyone has gotten to a real-life "mind meld": the thoughts of a rat romping around a lab in Brazil were captured by electronic sensors and sent via Internet to the brain of a rat in the United States.