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KNAW

·May 15, 2024·5 min read

Resilience to Dementia: Having Alzheimer’s Pathology with No Symptoms

A new study found that some individuals show no Alzheimer's symptoms despite having the disease's brain processes. This "resilient" group has unique molecular and cellular characteristics, including higher antioxidant production by astrocytes and less active microglia pathways.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 13, 2024·6 min read

Parasomnia: What Happens in the Brain During Sleepwalking?

Researchers made significant advances in understanding parasomnias—complex sleep behaviors where individuals are semi-conscious, often interacting with their environment. The team explored brain activity during these episodes, revealing that dreams and unconscious actions can occur during non-REM sleep, challenging previous assumptions about sleep stages and dream occurrence.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 8, 2024·6 min read

Healing Touch: Mental Health Improved with Touch Intervention

Touch interventions significantly benefit both physical and mental health, with particular advantages for individuals facing health challenges. The study, aggregating hundreds of individual studies, demonstrates that the nature of the touch, the person providing it, or the duration matters less than the frequency, suggesting even brief interactions like hugs can be profoundly impactful.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·March 13, 2024·5 min read

AI Maps Brain Tissues to Disease Symptoms

A groundbreaking AI language model is illuminating the complex relationship between clinical symptoms and brain tissue abnormalities. By analyzing medical summaries and tissue samples from the Netherlands Brain Bank, the model provides new insights into disease progression and the challenge of diagnosing brain diseases accurately.

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.