Brain to music to brain!

It has been implicitly understood that culture and music as collective products of human brain in turn influence the brain itself. Now, imaging and anatomical data add substance to this notion. The impact of playing piano on the brain of musicians and its possible effects on cultural and neurological evolution are briefly discussed.     

Psycho-education to enhance couples' transition to parenthood

A substantial proportion of couples struggle to adapt to parenthood, feel stress in caring for their infant, and experience a significant decline in their couple relationship adjustment. Moreover, there is a substantial association between effective parenting of infants and sustaining a mutually satisfying couple relationship. This paper reviews randomized controlled trials of psycho-education to assist new parent couples with parenting and their couple relationship. The majority of programs target either the couple relationship or parenting, with few programs addressing both areas. The best outcomes seem to be achieved when programs are accessible by couples at home, when skill-training is provided, and possibly when programs target couples at high-risk of maladjustment to parenthood.     

Mysticetes to MiniConference to Manuscripts: Introduction to Thematic Issue on Mysticete Anatomy

This issue of the Anatomical Record is focused on the theme of Mysticete Anatomy. There are six included articles that explore the anatomy of the nasal region (Marquez et al., 2018; Maust-Mohl et al., 2018), larynx (Damien et al., 2018), lungs (Fetherston et al., 2018), sublingual fascia (Werth et al., 2018), and brain (Raghanti et al., 2018). These papers document anatomical features exhibited by mysticetes (baleen whales) and their related cousins (including other whales, and the semiaquatic moose and hippopotamus). This theme stems from a 2-day MiniConference on Mysticete Anatomy, hosted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City on May 2016. Anatomy is explored in the contexts of function and evolution of aquatic adaptations. Anat Rec, 2019. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Anat Rec, 302:663–666, 2019. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.