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sensory perception

This shows a neuron with a broken myelin sheath.

·December 11, 2025·7 min read

Losing Myelin Scrambles the Brain’s Sensory Signals

New research reveals that even a small loss of myelin—the protective coating around neurons—can severely disrupt how the brain sends and interprets sensory information. Studying corticothalamic circuits in mice, scientists found that when the first segment of myelin closest to the neuron’s cell body was degraded, nerve signals slowed and lost their crucial “first wave,” altering how sensory information was encoded.

This shows a person holding their head while watching a movie.

Featured Neuroscience Pain

·November 27, 2025·6 min read

Watching Pain on Screen Can Make Your Body Flinch

Watching someone experience pain on screen activates your own brain’s touch-processing system in a highly organized, body-specific way. Visual regions of the brain contain hidden maps of the body that allow sight alone to trigger sensations normally produced by physical contact.

This shows a finger with the sensor on it.

Featured Neuroscience

·November 19, 2025·9 min read

Ultra-Thin Finger Patch Recreates Touch With Human-Level Precision

Engineers have created VoxeLite, the first wearable haptic device capable of matching the sensitivity of the human fingertip. Built as a paper-thin, flexible bandage for the finger, it uses high-density electroadhesive “pixels of touch” to recreate fine textures and directional cues with lifelike accuracy.

Featured Neuroscience

·November 17, 2025·4 min read

Brain Splits Smell Into “What It Is” and “How It Feels”

New research shows that the brain separates “what an odor is” from “how it feels,” with each processed at distinct times. Shortly after an odor is presented, the brain activates a fast, objective signal that tracks molecular features and supports accurate odor discrimination.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Neuroscience Videos

·October 27, 2025·9 min read

Hungry Brains Rewrite the Senses

When fruit flies lack essential amino acids, their brains rewire their sense of smell to help them find food rich in the nutrients they need. Researchers discovered that two genes—Or92a and Ir76a—boost the flies’ sensitivity to smells linked with fermented foods and bacteria that produce beneficial amino acids.

This shows a woman meditating in a field.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·October 26, 2025·6 min read

Music and Nature Work in Harmony to Ease Stress and Lift Mood

The viral phrase “touch grass” may be more than internet humor—science shows that engaging with nature and music can significantly boost emotional and physical well-being. A new review found that combining these experiences—such as listening to music outdoors, gardening while singing, or caring for animals—can improve mood, reduce stress, and ease symptoms of anxiety and depression.

This brain image shows the thalamus highlighted.

Featured Neuroscience

·July 30, 2025·6 min read

Brain’s Sensory ‘Volume Control’ Discovered

Our sense of touch can feel sharp one moment and muted the next. New research reveals this inconsistency may be due to a feedback loop between the thalamus and somatosensory cortex, where thalamic input subtly changes how sensitive cortical neurons are to incoming stimuli.

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience

·January 30, 2025·4 min read

How the Brain Adapts to New Sensory Contexts

New research reveals how the brain rapidly adapts to sensory changes using a feedback loop between the olfactory cortex and the olfactory bulb. Scientists trained mice to associate rewards with specific sounds and smells, then switched the rules to test their adaptability.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·January 6, 2025·4 min read

How the Brain Blends Senses to Understand Social Cues

New research reveals how smell and hearing interact in the brain during maternal behaviors like pup retrieval in mice. Signals from the basal amygdala (BA) merge with auditory inputs in the auditory cortex (AC), influencing responses to social sounds.

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience

·December 18, 2024·7 min read

The Brain Combines Touch and Sound to Enhance Sensory Experiences

The inferior colliculus, a midbrain region known for sound processing, also plays a role in touch sensation by integrating tactile and auditory signals. Pacinian corpuscles, highly sensitive skin mechanoreceptors, relay high-frequency vibrations to this brain area, amplifying sensory experiences. This mechanism explains phenomena like feeling music vibrations during a concert and highlights the brain's adaptability in processing multisensory information.

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·December 6, 2024·4 min read

How the Brain Sorts Noise from Signal to Maintain Stable Perception

New research reveals how the brain separates internally generated noise from sensory signals, ensuring stable perception. The study shows that in lower visual areas, spontaneous brain activity and stimulus-evoked responses are similar, but in higher cortical areas, they become increasingly independent, a process known as orthogonalization.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 11, 2024·5 min read

How the Brain Turns Sensory Input Into Action

Neuroscientists have uncovered how sensory input is transformed into motor action across multiple brain regions in mice. The study shows that decision-making is a distributed process across the brain, where neurons link sensory evidence to actions.