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thalamus

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.

Featured Neuroscience

·November 26, 2025·8 min read

Brain Uses Molecular Timers to Decide What We Remember

New research shows that long-term memory is not stored by a single molecular switch, but by a sequence of timed genetic programs unfolding across different brain regions. Using a virtual-reality learning model in mice, scientists found that experiences are promoted or demoted through multiple biological “durability gates.”

Featured Neuroscience

·September 12, 2025·6 min read

Stress Relief Brain Circuit May Drive Alcohol Relapse

A new study highlights how the brain learns to keep alcohol addiction going, not for pleasure but to escape withdrawal stress.

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.

Autism Featured Neuroscience

·April 7, 2025·5 min read

Thalamus Identified As a Hub for Memory and Brain Plasticity

A new study reveals that the thalamus, long overshadowed by the cortex and hippocampus, plays a crucial role in shaping and updating brain connections. Researchers observed plasticity in thalamic neurons in response to visual experiences, independent of the cortex—an unexpected finding.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 3, 2025·6 min read

Key Brain Gateway to Conscious Perception Identified

A new study using intracranial recordings in humans reveals that the thalamus, particularly its higher-order regions, plays a central role in triggering conscious perception. By monitoring brain activity during a visual task, researchers found that the intralaminar and medial thalamic nuclei activated before the prefrontal cortex, suggesting the thalamus initiates conscious awareness.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·May 17, 2024·5 min read

Brain’s Arousal Fine-Tunes Visual Signals

Arousal levels directly influence how the brain processes visual information. Researchers found that the firing patterns of neurons in the thalamus, a key relay station for visual signals, change in response to pupil dilation and constriction, indicators of arousal. This modulation of neural activity provides a mechanistic explanation for how our internal states shape our visual perception.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 1, 2024·4 min read

Key Consciousness Connections Uncovered

Using neuroimaging, researchers identified a brain network crucial to human consciousness. Using advanced multimodal MRI techniques, the team mapped connections among the brainstem, thalamus, and cortex, forming what they call the "default ascending arousal network," which is vital for sustaining wakefulness.

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 Psychology

·October 3, 2023·5 min read

Psilocybin Microdosing Promising for Mental Health Disorders

Researchers delve into the therapeutic potential of psilocybin microdosing, exploring its influence on stress resilience and compulsive behaviors in rats. While high-dose psilocybin therapy has been scrutinized for psychiatric treatment applications, this study focuses on low, repeated doses—commonly known as 'microdosing'—and its burgeoning popularity in self-medication narratives online.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·February 9, 2023·5 min read

Putting the Brake on Risky Behaviors

A newly discovered neural circuit in the thalamus prevented reward-seeking behaviors when activated in a preclinical model. When blocked, this circuit increases high-risk reward-seeking behaviors. The findings could lead to new therapies for addiction and other disorders associated with high-risk reward-seeking behaviors.

Featured Neuroscience

·February 2, 2023·7 min read

Sparse, Small, but Diverse Neural Connections Help Make Perception Reliable and Efficient

Thalamic inputs into superficial layers of the cerebral cortex are both rare and weak, yet surprisingly diverse in their distribution patterns. However, they are reliable and efficient representatives of information.

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thalamus

Losing Myelin Scrambles the Brain’s Sensory Signals

Brain Uses Molecular Timers to Decide What We Remember

Stress Relief Brain Circuit May Drive Alcohol Relapse

Brain’s Sensory ‘Volume Control’ Discovered

Thalamus Identified As a Hub for Memory and Brain Plasticity

Key Brain Gateway to Conscious Perception Identified

Brain’s Arousal Fine-Tunes Visual Signals

Key Consciousness Connections Uncovered

Thalamus Plays a Pivotal Role in Adult Brain Plasticity

Psilocybin Microdosing Promising for Mental Health Disorders

Putting the Brake on Risky Behaviors

Sparse, Small, but Diverse Neural Connections Help Make Perception Reliable and Efficient

Multilingualism Calculator Reveals True Language Strengths

Brain Blends Fast and Slow Signals to Shape Human Thought

Immune Signal Ratio May Predict Progressive Multiple Sclerosis

Early Screen Time Linked to Long-Term Brain Changes, Teen Anxiety

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