FeaturedNeurology·October 24, 2012·3 min readLike a Noisy Political Campaign, “Grassroots” Neurons Wire and Fire Together for Dominance in the BrainResearchers found that neurons team up together to sway particular outcomes in the brain and take over the nervous system in the name of their preferred action or behavior.Read More
Brain CancerFeaturedNeurology·October 22, 2012·3 min readAggressive Brain Tumors Can Originate from a Range of Nervous System CellsScientists have long believed that glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive type of primary brain tumor, begins in glial cells that make up supportive tissue in the brain or in neural stem cells. Researchers found that the tumors can originate from other types of differentiated cells in the nervous system, including cortical neurons.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·October 19, 2012·2 min readHow the Brain Forms CategoriesNeurobiologists investigated how the brain is able to group external stimuli into stable categories. They found the answer in the discrete dynamics of neuronal circuits.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·October 17, 2012·2 min readDiscovery of Two Opposite Ways Humans Voluntarily Forget Unwanted MemoriesIf only there were a way to forget that humiliating faux pas at last night's dinner party. It turns out there's not one, but two opposite ways in which the brain allows us to voluntarily forget unwanted memories, according to research.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·October 16, 2012·3 min readAttack! Silent Watchmen Charge to Defend the Nervous SystemResearch provides the first evidence that mechanisms regulated by the Runx1 gene control the balance between the surveillant versus activated microglia states.Read More
FeaturedPsychology·October 5, 2012·4 min readWhat 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.Read More
FeaturedPsychology·September 20, 2012·2 min readFear Can Be Erased from the BrainNewly formed emotional memories can be erased from the human brain.The findings may represent a breakthrough in research on memory and fear. This is shown by researchers from Uppsala University in a study being published by Science.Read More
FeaturedGeneticsNeurology·September 13, 2012·3 min readNeural Stem Cells Regenerate Axons in Severe Spinal Cord InjuryResearchers were able to regenerate an astonishing degree of axonal growth at the site of severe spinal cord injury in rats. Results were then replicated using two human stem cell lines, one already in human trials for ALS. “We obtained the exact results using human cells as we had in the rat cells,” said Tuszynski.Read More
FeaturedNeurology·September 10, 2012·3 min readHer Vision is 20/20, But She Can’t Make Sense of What She SeesA rare and baffling neurological disorder called Bálint syndrome, which badly impairs a patient's ability to make sense of what he or she sees is discussed. The article describes, in novelistic detail, the difficult adjustments two patients have had to make in their lives.Read More
ElectrophysiologyFeaturedNeuroscience·September 10, 2012·3 min readResearchers Create Short-Term Memories In-VitroResearchers have discovered how to store diverse forms of artificial short-term memories in isolated brain tissue. Using isolated pieces of rodent brain tissue, the researchers demonstrated that they could form a memory of which one of four input pathways was activated.Read More
FeaturedGeneticsNeuroscience·August 24, 2012·2 min readAstrocytes Control the Generation of New Neurons from Neural Stem CellsNeuroscience researchers show how astrocytes control the generation of new neurons in the brain. “In the brain, astrocytes control how many new neurons are formed from neural stem cells and survive to integrate into the existing neuronal networks. Astrocytes do this by secreting specific molecules but also by much less understood direct cell-cell interactions with stem cells”, says Prof. Milos Pekny.Read More
NeurologyPsychology·August 8, 2012·2 min readOne Week of Therapy May Help Reorganize Brain, Reduce StutteringJust one week of speech therapy may reorganize the brain, helping to reduce stuttering, according to a study published in the August 8, 2012, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.Read More
