Neuroscience News - AI, Neuroscience, Psychology Research

·April 28, 2020·4 min read

COVID-19: Study recommends social distancing stay in place until summer

Despite the push for the country to reopen, researchers warn social distancing measures should remain in effect until the summer to avoid a potential deadly resurgence of coronavirus. A new model shows that as more emphasis is placed on relaxing social distancing, a resurgence of COVID-19 infections becomes more likely and will be more difficult to control later in the year.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 28, 2020·2 min read

People with brown fat may burn 15% more calories

Study reports short-term cold exposure activates brown fat and energy metabolism, helping people with brown adipose fat burn calories 15% more than those without.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·April 28, 2020·3 min read

How the heart affects our perception

Brain activity alters over the heartbeat cycle, helping us make sure certain information is kept out of our conscious experience. The findings provide a conceptual framework to explain how internal signals integrate into our conscious perception of the world.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·April 28, 2020·3 min read

Rat spinal cords control neural function in biobots

Researchers combined intact neurons from a rat's spinal cord with a tissue-engineered 3D muscle system, creating a biohybrid robot, or biobot. After culturing the system for seven days, the motor neurons from the spinal cord produced electrical activity, causing contractions in the artificial muscles and mimicking the behavior of the peripheral nervous system. The findings could have positive implications for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders that affect motor control.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·April 28, 2020·4 min read

Offspring may inherit legacy of their father’s Toxoplasma infection

Mouse study reveals the sperm of males infected with Toxoplasma carries an altered epigenetic signature that impacts the brain of the offspring. While the effects of T. gondii infections in pregnant women are fairly well documented, this is a novel study looking at the impact of male infection and its impact on offspring. The study raises the question as to whether T. gondii infections in men before conception impact the health and development of future generations.

This shows the brain scans and the people cuddling in the mri

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·April 28, 2020·3 min read

Two-person MRI reveals how touching is perceived in the brain

A novel two-person MRI study reveals what goes on in the brain when two people touch and cuddle. During the interaction, the subjects' brain activity synchronized.

Autism Featured Neuroscience

·April 27, 2020·5 min read

Vasopressin levels could be a potential biomarker for autism in babies

Lower levels of vasopressin were present in the cerebrospinal fluid of infants who later went on to be diagnosed with autism.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 27, 2020·3 min read

Antibiotics may increase risk for opioid abuse

Researchers administered antibiotics to rats for two weeks, depleting their gut microbiome. They then administered oxycodone. Compared to rats given only the opioid, those given the antibiotics had profound changes in how their brains responded to the pain killers.

This shows a woman in a facemask smelling a flower

Featured Neuroscience

·April 27, 2020·5 min read

Loss of smell associated with milder clinical course and less hospitalizations in COVID-19

COVID-19 patients who reported smell loss as a symptom of their infection are ten times less likely to be hospitalized for coronavirus than those who do not report anosmia.

Brain Cancer Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·April 27, 2020·4 min read

A promising new treatment for recurrent pediatric brain cancer

Administering medulloblastoma specific CAR T cells into the cerebrospinal fluid was more effective than administering via the blood.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·April 27, 2020·5 min read

How general anesthesia works

Rodent studies reveal how general anesthesia dampens high-frequency brain activity by weakening synapses.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·April 27, 2020·4 min read

Patterns of common coronavirus infections could aid understanding of COVID-19

Examining different types of coronaviruses, researchers report the viral infections coexist in most winter seasons, although they exhibit structured seasonal patterns with some appearing to generate illnesses in the community at the same time. Others appear to circulate in their own unique patterns. Findings suggest SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, may find itself in competition with other seasonal coronaviruses and either struggle to persist in the longterm or may eliminate one or more seasonal coronavirus.