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Zuckerman Institute

·September 10, 2025·5 min read

Brain ‘Dial’ That Controls Urge to Eat Discovered

Researchers have uncovered a brain circuit in mice that acts as a “dial” for consumption, controlling the urge to eat sweets, fats, salt, and other foods. The circuit links the amygdala to the BNST, a region tied to feeding and reward.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 9, 2025·6 min read

Map of Sugar Receptor Could Curb Our Cravings

For the first time, scientists have mapped the 3D structure of the human sweet taste receptor, offering critical insights into how we perceive sweetness and why we crave sugar. This detailed map, created using cryo-electron microscopy, reveals how sweeteners bind to a key receptor component, TAS1R2, which resembles a Venus flytrap.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·November 8, 2020·6 min read

Brain Region Implicated in Predicting the Consequences of Actions

The anterior cingulate cortex plays a key role in how the brain can simulate the results of different actions and make the best decisions.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·April 20, 2020·7 min read

Early exposure to cannabis boosts young brains’ sensitivity to cocaine

Cannabis use during youth enhances sensitivity to cocaine from the first exposure, a new rat study finds.

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Brain Cancer Featured Neurology Neuroscience Neuroscience Videos Open Neuroscience Articles

·April 14, 2020·6 min read

How advancing glioma cells scramble brain function and blood flow

Glioma brain tumors disrupt neural synchrony between bilateral cortical regions. The findings provide new insight into the association between seizures and tumor progression.

Featured Genetics Neurology Neuroscience

·March 27, 2020·6 min read

Gene that first slows, then accelerates, progression of ALS in mice identified

The TBK1 gene regulates the disease progression of ALS in mouse models of the neurodegenerative disease. Loss of the TBK1 gene in motor neurons increases SOD1 aggregation and accelerates the onset of the disease.

Electrophysiology Featured Neuroscience

·February 27, 2020·6 min read

How does the brain put decisions in context?

The anterior lateral motor cortex appears to play a significant role in context-based decision making.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·January 29, 2020·5 min read

Sex pheromone named after Jane Austen character alters brain in mouse courtship

Darcin, a sex pheromone named after Jane Austen's famous Mr. Darcy, alters cells in the brain's emotional center of female mice, giving them the power to assess sexual readiness and help with mate selection.

This shows neurons in the fly visual cortex

Electrophysiology Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Visual Neuroscience

·January 12, 2020·5 min read

How do fruit flies see in color?

Researchers have identified a circuit in the brains of fruit flies, which enables them to see in color. The network is similar to that which allows human color vision. The findings could help in the development of AI technologies.

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Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·November 27, 2019·5 min read

Why do we freeze when startled? New study points to serotonin

When fruit flies experience an unexpected change in its surroundings, serotonin produced in the ventral nerve cord slows the insect down. The findings may shed light on the neurobiological mechanisms of human startle response.

This shows the outline of two heads with a brain in between them

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience

·October 21, 2019·5 min read

How the brain dials up the volume to hear someone in a crowd

When a person listens to another person talking, their brain waves alter to select specific features of the speaker's voice and tune out other voices.

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Featured Neuroscience Neuroscience Videos Open Neuroscience Articles Visual Neuroscience

·May 29, 2019·5 min read

Hands that see, eyes that feel? Brain study reveals the mathematics of identifying objects

Our brains need only perform a few fast statistical calculations to detect the key properties of an unknown object. Findings challenge existing views of how our brains extract and learn about our environment.