‘Featured’ Neuroscience Articles
Pavlov’s Electronic Dog
Nanotechnology scientists and memory researchers at the Kiel University redesigned a mental learning process using electronic circuits. The bell rings and the dog starts drooling. Such a reaction was part of studies performed by Ivan Pavlov, a famous Russian psychologist [Read More]
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 [Read More]
Awake Mental Replay of Past Experiences Critical for Learning
Blocking it stumps memory-guided decision-making in rats – NIH-funded study Awake mental replay of past experiences is essential for making informed choices, suggests a study in rats. Without it, the animals’ memory-based decision-making faltered, say scientists [Read More]
Scientists Show How a Gene Duplication Helped Our Brains Become ‘Human’
Extra copy of brain-development gene allowed neurons to migrate farther and develop more connections; findings may offer clue to autism and schizophrenia. What genetic changes account for the vast behavioral differences between humans and other primates? Researchers so far [Read More]
Glycogen Accumulation in Neurons Causes Brain Damage and Shortens Lives of Flies and Mice
Work by IRB Barcelona researchers will further the study of neurodegenerative diseases such as Lafora progressive myoclonic epilepsy. Collaborative research by groups headed by scientists Joan J. Guinovart and Marco Milán at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB [Read More]
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 [Read More]
How Your Eyes Deceive You
Researchers at the University of Sydney have thrown new light on the tricks the brain plays as it struggles to make sense of the visual and other sensory signals it constantly receives. The research has implications for understanding how the brain interprets the world [Read More]
Nano-Devices that Cross Blood-Brain Barrier Open Door to Treatment of Cerebral Palsy, Other Neurologic Disorders
A team of scientists from Johns Hopkins and elsewhere have developed nano-devices that successfully cross the brain-blood barrier and deliver a drug that tames brain-damaging inflammation in rabbits with cerebral palsy. A report on the experiments, conducted at Wayne State [Read More]
Mini-sensor Measures Magnetic Activity in Human Brain
A miniature atom-based magnetic sensor developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has passed an important research milestone by successfully measuring human brain activity. Experiments reported this week in Biomedical Optics Express verify the [Read More]
Single Neuron Observations Mark Steps in Alzheimer’s Disease
Multiple disease-related changes progress in parallel through distinct stages. Studying a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, neuroscientists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen have observed correlations between increases in both soluble and plaque-forming [Read More]
