A digital avatar therapy could help treat schizophrenia by controlling the voices patients hear inside their heads while hallucinating, scientists say.
The computer-based system being developed at the University College London (UCL) in the UK could provide quick and effective therapy that is far more successful than current pharmaceutical treatments, helping to reduce the frequency and severity of episodes of schizophrenia.
In an early pilot of this approach involving 16 patients and up to seven, 30 minute sessions of therapy, almost all of the patients reported an improvement in the frequency and severity of the voices that they hear.
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Three-horned dinosaur discovered
Washington: Scientists analysing fossil records have discovered a new three-horned dinosaur, dating back 66 to 80 million years, that sported a hoodie-like growth on the back of its head.
The giant creature may be the oldest known cousin of Triceratops and Toro-saurus, the best-known horned dinosaurs, yet. Judiceratops tigris has been identified based on fossils from north central Montana, further underscoring the diversity of large, plant-eating horned dinosaurs among the fauna of western North America 66 to 80 million years ago.
By now, fossil remains of 18 closely related dinosaurs from the region have been identified as distinct speci-es, and Yale expert Nich-olas Longrich expects others will be found. “We keep finding new species, bec-ause cerotopsids, horned dinosaurs, evolved rapidly,” said Longrich. — PTI