- Fri, 08/17/2012 - 19:55
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For most Ethiopians where slashing age by at least five years is the norm, this research could come as bad news.
According to The Daily Mail the University of California researchers have found a 'developmental clock' inside our brain that can reveal, to within a year, exactly how old we really are. The 'developmental clock' of sorts within the brain is a biological signature of maturation that captures age differences quite well, regardless of other kinds of differences that exist across individuals.
The researchers say this discovery could have major implications for medicine, and gives new insight into how our brains change over time. They used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the brains of 885 people ranging in age from 3 to 20.
Those brain scans were used to identify 231 biomarkers of brain anatomy that, when combined, could assess an individual's age with more than 92 percent accuracy.
That's beyond what's been possible with any other biological measure, the researchers say.
It's not yet clear how these anatomical changes in the brain will relate to maturity in terms of human behavior, which we all know isn't necessarily reflected by our chronological age.
The research could also help understand the mechanisms underlying disorders such as ADHD and autism.
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