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locomotion

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·June 11, 2025·4 min read

How Serotonin Circuits Learn from Motion to Regulate Behavior

Scientists have uncovered how serotonergic neurons in larval zebrafish process visual information tied to movement to determine when and how much serotonin to release. This neuromodulator fine-tunes the fish’s swimming effort, adjusting behavior based on the effectiveness of past actions.

Featured Neuroscience

·June 11, 2024·5 min read

Virtual Rat with AI Brain Mimics Real Rodent Movement

Researchers created a virtual rat with an AI brain to study how real rats control movement. Using data from real rats, they trained the AI to mimic behaviors in a physics simulator. The virtual rat's neural activations closely matched those of real rats, offering new insights into brain function. This innovation could revolutionize neuroscience and improve robotic control systems.

Featured Neuroscience

·February 8, 2024·5 min read

Neural Insights Reveal the Secrets of Locomotion

Researchers made a breakthrough in understanding how stick insects control their leg muscles during walking, challenging previous assumptions about motor neuron activation. Their study reveals that neurons activating the depressor muscle in a stick insect's leg receive a unique rhythmic excitation, unlike other leg muscles.

Featured Neuroscience

·January 29, 2024·4 min read

Ancient Skulls Unveil Secrets of Human Bipedalism

A recent study using three-dimensional CT scans of the 6-million-year-old ape, Lufengpithecus, offers new insights into the evolution of human bipedalism. By analyzing the ape's bony inner ear region, researchers discovered a connection between its semicircular canals and locomotor behavior, suggesting a three-step evolution of human bipedalism from ancestral arboreal and terrestrial movements.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 8, 2023·9 min read

Dancing Neurons: Unlocking the Secrets of Movement

Zebrafish, with their transparent bodies, are offering neuroscientists a unique insight into the intricacies of brain-controlled movement. Researchers zoomed in on the zebrafish's brain to understand the neural choreography of motion.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 4, 2023·4 min read

The Brain’s Hidden Locomotion Command Center

Researchers uncovered key mechanisms in the brain that control movement initiation. The mesencephalic locomotor region (MLR) in the brain, an ancient and conserved region across various vertebrates, plays a pivotal role in starting movements such as walking, flying, and swimming.

Featured Neuroscience

·January 20, 2023·5 min read

High Frequency Brain Wave Patterns in the Motor Cortex Can Predict an Upcoming Movement

Spatially organized recruitment of neural activity across the motor cortex informs details of planned movements.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·January 10, 2023·5 min read

Cat Locomotion Could Unlock Better Human Spinal Cord Injury Treatment

Somatosensory feedback from specialized sensors helps inform the spinal cord about ongoing movement and keeps a cat from falling when they encounter obstacles.