Latest

KNAW

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·February 27, 2024·6 min read

New Vision: A Leap Toward Visual Prostheses

Researchers developed a groundbreaking simulator that offers a glimpse into artificial visual observations, crucial for advancing visual prosthesis research. This simulator, designed to mimic the potential vision provided by stimulating the brain's visual cortex with electrodes, is a step toward restoring sight in individuals with severe visual impairments.

Featured Neuroscience

·January 10, 2024·5 min read

Surprising Neurons React to Unexpected Situations

New research reveals chandelier cells, a mysterious type of brain cell, become active during unexpected events. These cells play a crucial role in signaling and adaptation when the brain encounters unexpected changes, a fundamental aspect of learning.

Featured Neuroscience

·November 14, 2023·6 min read

Brain Predicts Actions: Rethinking Perception in Social Interactions

Researchers uncovered that our brain relies more on internal predictions than sensory input when observing others' actions. This groundbreaking study challenges the classical view that visual perception primarily drives understanding of others' actions.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 6, 2023·6 min read

Thalamus Plays a Pivotal Role in Adult Brain Plasticity

Researchers spotlight the thalamus, typically regarded merely as a relay station, as a pivotal entity in adult brain plasticity. Contrasting prior beliefs focusing largely on the cortex, the thalamus demonstrates a significant role in adapting sensory and motor information, as illuminated through mouse models in vision studies.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 18, 2023·5 min read

Live Imaging Reveals Axon Adaptability in Neuroplasticity

For the first time, researchers observed nerve plasticity within the axon in real-time. This adaptability focuses on the axon initial segment (AIS), a vital nerve cell component initiating electrical signals.

Featured Genetics Neurology Neuroscience

·June 15, 2023·5 min read

microRNA-132: A Tiny Molecule with Potential Impact on Alzheimer’s Disease

Researchers discovered a small molecule, microRNA-132, might play a significant role in Alzheimer's disease. In Alzheimer’s patients, levels of microRNA-132 are often disrupted and notably decreased.

Featured Neuroscience

·June 6, 2023·7 min read

Dopamine Plays Double Duty in Learning and Motivation

A novel study suggests that dopamine, a neurotransmitter, plays dual roles in learning and motivation. In the study, male rats underwent Pavlovian or operant conditioning while their dopamine release was measured.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·May 25, 2023·6 min read

Loosely Wrapped Myelin Marks Early Stages of Multiple Sclerosis, Even Before Inflammation

Structural abnormalities in white matter, even before the onset of inflammation, may serve as a new therapeutic target for multiple sclerosis (MS). The study, focusing on 'normal-appearing white matter', identified early changes in myelin, an insulating substance around nerve fibers.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 22, 2023·5 min read

Microglia Less Active in Those With Depression

Researchers have uncovered a crucial link between depression and the immune system. A new study reveals microglial cells, a type of immune cell in the brain, are less active in individuals with depression.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·April 8, 2023·6 min read

How Do We Know if Our Brain Is Capable of Repairing Itself?

A new study examines the regenerative potential of the human brain in aging and neurological diseases, which could provide an alternative to conventional strategies for enhancing or restoring brain function. Recent single-cell transcriptomic studies in the adult human hippocampus yielded conflicting results, and the researchers found that the design, analysis, and interpretation of these studies in the adult human hippocampus can be confounded by specific issues that require particular attention and would greatly profit from an open discussion in the field.

This is a drawing of a man holding a heart and a brain

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·March 6, 2023·6 min read

Juggling Morality While We Learn

Study reveals how the brain juggles morally conflicting outcomes while learning, finding people who opt to make decisions for personal gain at the expense of others can comprehend and empathize with potential negative outcomes, but still ultimately choose to pursue options that benefit them.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·February 23, 2023·3 min read

Trained Brains Rapidly Suppress Visual Distractions

Following training, the brain's visual center can suppress neuronal responses to pop-out distractors that are usually enhanced compared to other, non-distracting stimuli.