Between the Ear and Brain, an Orderly Orchestra of Synapses
A new study finds that the ear delivers sound information to the brain in a surprisingly organized fashion. The brain receives information from the ear in a surprisingly orderly fashion, according to a University at Buffalo study scheduled to appear June 6 in the Journal of Neuroscience. The research focuses on a section of the [...]
Neuroscientists Explore Innovative Way to Help People Who are Blind
When people close their eyes, they can form mental images of things that exist only in their minds. Neuroscientists studying this phenomenon at medical schools in the Texas Medical Center believe that there may be a way to use these mental images to help some of the estimated 39 million people worldwide who are blind. [...]
Revealing the Stars of Brain Adaptability
Star-shaped brain cells called astrocytes are found to bridge the gap between global brain activity and localized circuits. Global network activity in the brain modulates local neural circuitry via calcium signaling in non-neuronal cells called astrocytes, according to research led by Hajime Hirase of the RIKEN Brain Science Institute. The finding clarifies the link between [...]
Robot Reveals the Inner Workings of Brain Cells – Robotic Whole-Cell Patch Clamping
New method offers automated way to record electrical activity inside neurons in the living brain. Gaining access to the inner workings of a neuron in the living brain offers a wealth of useful information: its patterns of electrical activity, its shape, even a profile of which genes are turned on at a given moment. However, [...]
Learning Mechanism of the Adult Brain Revealed
They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Fortunately, this is not always true. Researchers at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN-KNAW) have now discovered how the adult brain can adapt to new situations. The Dutch researchers’ findings are published on Wednesday in the prestigious journal Neuron. Their study may be significant in [...]
New Brain-Machine Interface Moves a Paralyzed Hand
New technology bypasses spinal cord and delivers electrical signals from brain directly to muscles. A new Northwestern Medicine brain-machine technology delivers messages from the brain directly to the muscles – bypassing the spinal cord – to enable voluntary and complex movement of a paralyzed hand. The device could eventually be tested on, and perhaps aid, [...]
Fragile X Syndrome Can Be Reversed in Adult Mouse Brain
A recent study finds that a new compound reverses many of the major symptoms associated with Fragile X syndrome (FXS), the most common form of inherited intellectual disability and a leading cause of autism. The paper, published by Cell Press in the April 12 issue of the journal Neuron, describes the exciting observation that the [...]
Molecular Duo Dictate Weight and Energy Levels
Yale University researchers have discovered a key cellular mechanism that may help the brain control how much we eat, what we weigh, and how much energy we have. The findings, published in the Feb. 28 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, describe the regulation of a family of cells that project throughout the nervous system [...]
Memory Formation Triggered by Stem Cell Development
Researchers at the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics have discovered an answer to the long-standing mystery of how brain cells can both remember new memories while also maintaining older ones. They found that specific neurons in a brain region called the dentate gyrus serve distinct roles in memory formation depending on whether the neural [...]
An Off Switch for Pain
Chemists build light-controlled neural inhibitor. The notion of a pain switch is an alluring idea, but is it realistic? Well, chemists at LMU Munich, in collaboration with colleagues in Berkeley and Bordeaux, have now shown in laboratory experiments that it is possible to inhibit the activity of pain-sensitive neurons using an agent that acts as [...]
