Current Biology

The end of a dogma: Bipolar cells generate action potentials

To make information transmission to the brain reliable, the retina first has to "digitize" the image. Until now, it was widely believed that this step takes place in the retinal ganglion cells, the output ...

Medical research created Dec 19, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Brain cells activated, reactivated in learning and memory

(Medical Xpress)—Memories are made of this, the song says. Now neuroscientists have for the first time shown individual mouse brain cells being switched on during learning and later reactivated during memory recall. The ...

Neuroscience created Dec 13, 2012 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Could high insulin make you fat? Mouse study says yes

When we eat too much, obesity may develop as a result of chronically high insulin levels, not the other way around. That's according to new evidence in mice reported in the December 4th Cell Metabolism, a Cell ...

Medical research created Dec 04, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Hand use improved after spinal cord injury with noninvasive stimulation

By using noninvasive stimulation, researchers were able to temporarily improve the ability of people with spinal cord injuries to use their hands. The findings, reported on November 29th in Current Biology, a Cell ...

Neuroscience created Nov 29, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Biologists announce unique spinal nerve cell activity discovery

Scientists from the University of Leicester have hit upon unique forms of spinal nerve activity that shape output of nerve cell networks controlling motor behaviours.

Neuroscience created Nov 08, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Anesthesia drugs really do put us to sleep

When patients are put under anesthesia, they are often told they will be "put to sleep," and now it appears that in some ways that's exactly what the drugs do to the brain. New evidence in mice reported online on October ...

Medications created Oct 25, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Sensory neurons identified as critical to sense of touch

While studying the sense of touch, scientists at Duke Medicine have pinpointed specific neurons that appear to regulate perception.

Neuroscience created Oct 25, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers discover neurological link to loneliness

Researchers from UCL have found that lonely people have less grey matter in a part of the brain associated with decoding eye gaze and other social cues.

Neuroscience created Oct 25, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Study demonstrates how fear can skew spatial perception

That snake heading towards you may be further away than it appears. Fear can skew our perception of approaching objects, causing us to underestimate the distance of a threatening one, finds a study published in Current Bi ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Oct 22, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

From the twitching whiskers of babes: Naptime behavior shapes the brain

The whiskers of newborn rats twitch as they sleep, and that could open the door to new understandings about the intimate connections between brain and body. The discovery reinforces the notion that such involuntary movements ...

Neuroscience created Oct 18, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Neuroscientists find Broca's area is really two subunits, each with its own function

A century and a half ago, French physician Pierre Paul Broca found that patients with damage to part of the brain's frontal lobe were unable to speak more than a few words. Later dubbed Broca's area, this ...

Neuroscience created Oct 16, 2012 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Nerve signal discovery backs Nobel winner's theory

Scientists have proved a 60-year-old theory about how nerve signals are sent around the body at varying speeds as electrical impulses.

Medical research created Oct 11, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Alpha wave blocks your mind for distraction, but not continuously

Alpha waves were long ignored, but gained interest of brain researchers recently. Electrical activity of groups of brain cells results in brain waves with different amplitudes. The so called alpha wave, a slow brain wave ...

Neuroscience created Oct 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Researchers create a universal map of vision in the human brain

Nearly 100 years after a British neurologist first mapped the blind spots caused by missile wounds to the brains of soldiers, Perelman School of Medicine researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have ...

Neuroscience created Oct 04, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Eunuchs outlive other men

Castrated men living in Korea centuries ago outlived other men by a significant margin. The findings, reported in the September 25 issue of Current Biology, suggest that male sex hormones are responsible for shortening the li ...

Other created Sep 24, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 2