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Neuroscience

Neuroscience research articles are provided.

What is neuroscience? Neuroscience is the scientific study of nervous systems. Neuroscience can involve research from many branches of science including those involving neurology, brain science, neurobiology, psychology, computer science, artificial intelligence, statistics, prosthetics, neuroimaging, engineering, medicine, physics, mathematics, pharmacology, electrophysiology, biology, robotics and technology.

The image shows 11 year old pianist, Danny Barenboim playing at a concert in 1956.

Featured Neuroscience

·February 12, 2013·3 min read

Early Music Lessons Boost Brain Development

A new study suggests early musical training has a significant effect on the development of the brain. Practicing instruments before the age of seven boosts the normal maturation of connections between motor and sensory regions of the brain, researchers suggest.

The image shows a capillary regeneration model. The caption best describes the image.

Featured Neuroscience

·February 11, 2013·4 min read

Simulations Show how Blood Vessels Regroup after Stroke

By simulating patterns of microvasculature cell growth and compare the results with real networks grown in lab, researchers hope to direct how they grow into the tiny blood vessels that feed the brain and help people regain functions lost to stroke and disease.

The image is The Fruit Vendor by painter J W Godward. The image shows a woman sleeping next to a statue of a lion and a table of fruit.

Featured Neuroscience

·February 6, 2013·4 min read

Eat to Dream: Study Shows Dietary Nutrients Associated with Certain Sleep Patterns

A study shows for the first time that certain nutrients may play an underlying role in short and long sleep duration and that people who report eating a large variety of foods; an indicator of an overall healthy diet, had the healthiest sleep patterns.

Featured Neuroscience

·February 5, 2013·3 min read

Grooming Helps Insects Keep Their Senses Sharpened

Studying the functions of the grooming behavior, researchers discover grooming helps insects maintain acute olfactory senses, as well as removing both environmental pollutants and chemicals produced by the insects themselves.

The image shows a synaptic cleft. The caption best describes the image.

Featured Neuroscience

·February 4, 2013·4 min read

Finding the Way to Memory

A new study reveals DCC, the receptor for a crucial protein in the nervous system known as netrin, plays a key role in regulating the plasticity of nerve cell connections in the brain.

The FMRI image shows regions of activation including primary visual cortex (V1, BA17), extrastriate visual cortex and lateral geniculate body.

Featured Neuroscience

·February 3, 2013·3 min read

Pioneering Research Helps to Unravel the Brain’s Vision Secrets

A new study has identified the two areas of the brain responsible for our perception of orientation and shape. Research found that the two neighbouring areas, known as human visual field maps, process the different types of visual information independently.

The image shows Dr. Lin Mei , Drs. Yongjun Chen and Chengyong Shen; the researchers involved in this study.

Featured Neuroscience

·January 30, 2013·3 min read

Scientists Learn more about how Inhibitory Brain Cells get Excited

New research discovers an early step in how the brain's inhibitory cells get excited. Erbin, a protein critical to brain development, is also crucial for the excitement of inhibitory cells.

The image shows an oligodendrocyte transfected with GFP (Green Fluorescent Protein).

Featured Neuroscience

·January 30, 2013·2 min read

New Drug Target Identified for Multiple Sclerosis and Alzheimer’s Disease

Researchers report that the protein Klotho plays an important role in the health of myelin, the insulating material allowing for the rapid communication between nerve cells. These findings may lead to new therapies for multiple sclerosis (MS) and Alzheimer's disease (AD).

The image shows Courney Miller, the lead researcher for this memory research.

Featured Neuroscience

·January 30, 2013·2 min read

Scientists Uncover a Previously Unknown Mechanism of Memory Formation

A recent study indicates microRNAs may play a far more important role in memory formation than previously thought. The research suggests microRNA—miR-182 is involved in developing memory in the amgydala.

Brain image with the basal ganglia and other brain areas.

Featured Neuroscience

·January 30, 2013·2 min read

NIH Study Advances Understanding of Movement Control

Voluntary movements involve the coordinated activation of two brain pathways that connect parts of deep brain structures called the basal ganglia, according to a study in mice.

Cultured cells are shown and described in the caption.

Featured Neuroscience

·January 29, 2013·5 min read

A Better Way to Culture Central Nervous Cells

A protein associated with neuron damage in Alzheimer's patients provides a superior scaffold for growing central nervous system cells in the lab.

The image shows Seth Tomchik, Ph.D, the lead researcher of this study.

Featured Neuroscience

·January 29, 2013·2 min read

Study Shows how Brain Cells Shape Temperature Preferences

A new study shows a complex set of overlapping neuronal circuits works in concert to drive temperature preferences in the fruit fly Drosophila by affecting a single target, a heavy bundle of neurons within the fly brain known as the mushroom body. These nerve bundles play critical roles in learning and memory.