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neurobiology

·October 11, 2012·4 min read

Engineered Flies Spill Secret of Seizures

Scientists have observed the neurological mechanism behind temperature-dependent febrile seizures by genetically engineering fruit flies to harbor a mutation analogous to one that causes epileptic seizures in people. Their new study also highlights the first use of genetic engineering to swap a human genetic disease mutation into a directly analogous gene in a fly.

An image of fly spinal cord equivalent is shown.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 11, 2012·6 min read

Novel Mechanisms Underlying Major Childhood Neuromuscular Disease Identified

A study suggests that spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a genetic neuromuscular disease in infants and children, results primarily from motor circuit dysfunction, not motor neuron or muscle cell dysfunction, as is commonly thought. In a second study, the researchers identified the molecular pathway in SMA that leads to problems with motor function.

A statue of a child playing an accordion is shown.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 9, 2012·2 min read

Neuroscientists Launch 5 Year Study of Music Education and Child Brain Development

Researchers at USC Brain and Creativity Institute will explore the effects of intense music training on cognitive development in LA Phil's YOLA at HOLA program. The five-year research project will offer researchers an opportunity to provide new insights and add data about the role of early music engagement in learning and brain function.

Electrophysiology Featured Neuroscience

·October 8, 2012·2 min read

Discovery of Gatekeeper Nerve Cells Explains the Effect of Nicotine on Learning and Memory

Researchers discovered a new group of nerve cells that regulate processes of learning and memory. These cells act as gatekeepers and carry a receptor for nicotine, which can help explain our ability to remember and sort information. The newly discovered gatekeeper nerve cells, also called OLM-alpha2 cells, provide an explanation to how the flow of information is controlled in the hippocampus.

Entorhinal cortical neurons and traces are shown and described in the caption.

Electrophysiology Featured Neuroscience

·October 8, 2012·5 min read

Researchers Discover that the Sleeping Brain Behaves as if it’s Remembering Something

UCLA researchers have for the first time measured the activity of a brain region known to be involved in learning, memory and Alzheimer's disease during sleep. They discovered that the entorhinal cortex behaves as if it's remembering something, even under anesthesia, a finding that counters conventional theories about memory consolidation during sleep.

The numbers 1 through 9 are shown over a brain with two question marks over 3 and 5.

Featured Psychology

·October 5, 2012·4 min read

What Number is Halfway Between 1 and 9? Is it 5 or 3?

A new information-theoretical model of human sensory perception and memory sheds light on some peculiarities of the nervous system. Ask adults from the industrialized world what number is halfway between 1 and 9, and most will say 5. But pose the same question to small children, or people living in some traditional societies, and they're likely to answer 3.

A brain image is next to a drawing of a 1918 brain map.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 4, 2012·2 min read

Researchers Create a Universal Map of Vision in the Human Brain

Researchers create a map of vision in the brain based upon an individual's brain structure, even for people who cannot see. Their result can, among other things, guide efforts to restore vision using a neural prosthesis that stimulates the surface of the brain.

Featured Neurology

·October 3, 2012·3 min read

Drug Reverses Abnormal Brain Function in Rett Syndrome Mice

in a mouse model of Rett syndrome, researchers were able to reverse abnormalities in brain activity and improve neurological function by treating animals with an FDA-approved anesthesia drug, ketamine.

Schizophrenia fMRI brain scans are shown.

Featured Genetics Psychology

·October 3, 2012·4 min read

New de novo Genetic Mutations in Schizophrenia Identified

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have identified dozens of new spontaneous genetic mutations that play a significant role in the development of schizophrenia, adding to the growing list of genetic variants that can contribute to the disease. The schizophrenia study was the largest and most comprehensive of its kind.

Drawing of a human head with gears and computer parts on it.

Featured Genetics Psychology

·October 2, 2012·2 min read

Intelligence Is in the Genes, but Where?

A new study reveals that most of the specific genes long thought to be linked to intelligence probably have no bearing on one’s IQ. And it may be some time before researchers can identify intelligence’s specific genetic roots.

Scientists in front of computer monitors examine microscope images showing the growth of axons.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 2, 2012·4 min read

Study Suggests Immune System Can Boost Regeneration of Peripheral Nerves

Research seeks the 'master knob' to turn on nerve repair. Modulating immune response to injury could accelerate the regeneration of severed peripheral nerves, a new study in an animal model has found. By altering activity of the macrophage cells that respond to injuries, researchers dramatically increased the rate at which nerve processes regrew.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 21, 2012·4 min read

Research Identifies Protein that Regulates Key Fate Decision in Cortical Progenitor Cells

Researchers solved an important piece of one of neuroscience's outstanding puzzles: how progenitor cells in the developing mammalian brain reproduce themselves while also giving birth to neurons that will populate the emerging cerebral cortex, the seat of cognition and executive function in the mature brain.