Posts Tagged ‘synaptic plasticity’
Scientists Boost Memory by Stimulating Key Site in Brain
Mechanism holds potential for improving recall in dementia patients. Have you ever gone to the movies and forgotten where you parked the car? New UCLA research may one day help you improve your memory. UCLA neuroscientists have demonstrated that they can strengthen memory [Read More]
Molecular Path from Internal Clock to Cells Controlling Rest and Activity Revealed
The molecular pathway that carries time-of-day signals from the body’s internal clock to ultimately guide daily behavior is like a black box, says Amita Sehgal, PhD, the John Herr Musser Professor of Neuroscience and Co-Director, Comprehensive Neuroscience Center, at [Read More]
Sharp Images from the Living Mouse Brain
Max Planck scientists in Göttingen have for the first time made finest details of nerve cells in the brain of a living mouse visible. To explore the most intricate structures of the brain in order to decipher how it functions – Stefan Hell’s team of researchers at the [Read More]
Patients’ Brains May Adapt to ADHD Medication
New research reveals how the brain appears to adapt to compensate for the effects of long-term ADHD medication, suggesting why ADHD medication is more effective short-term than it is long-term. The study, from the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King’s College London is [Read More]
Scientists Turn Skin Cells Into Neural Precursors, Bypassing Stem Cell Stage
Mouse skin cells can be converted directly into cells that become the three main parts of the nervous system, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The finding is an extension of a previous study by the same group showing that mouse and [Read More]
Short-term Memory is Based on Synchronized Brain Oscillations
Scientists have now discovered how different brain regions cooperate during short-term memory. Holding information within one’s memory for a short while is a seemingly simple and everyday task. We use our short-term memory when remembering a new telephone number if there [Read More]
Making Memories Last
Stowers researchers discovered that a prion-like protein plays a key role in storing long-term memories. Memories in our brains are maintained by connections between neurons called “synapses”. But how do these synapses stay strong and keep memories alive for decades? [Read More]
Envelope for an Artificial Cell
Chemists have taken an important step in making artificial life forms from scratch. Using a novel chemical reaction, they have created self-assembling cell membranes, the structural envelopes that contain and support the reactions required for life. Neal Devaraj, assistant [Read More]
Study: Men at Higher Risk for Mild Memory Loss than Women
Men may be at higher risk of experiencing mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or the stage of mild memory loss that occurs between normal aging and dementia, than women, according to a study published in the January 25, 2012, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of [Read More]
Walk This Way: Scientists and MBL Physiology Course Students Describe How a Motor Protein “Steps Out”
Just like people, some proteins have characteristic ways of “walking,” which (also like human gaits) are not so easy to describe. But now scientists have discovered the unique “drunken sailor” gait of dynein, a protein that is critical for the function of every cell [Read More]
