Max Planck Society

Cold plasma successful against brain cancer cells

For the first time, physicists from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), biologists and physicians demonstrated the synergistic effect of cold atmospheric plasma - a partly ionized ...

Cancer created May 23, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Researchers analyse hunting behaviour of fish larvae in virtual reality

Moving objects attract greater attention – a fact exploited by video screens in public spaces and animated advertising banners on the Internet. For most animal species, moving objects also play a major ...

Neuroscience created May 22, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Babies' ability to detect complex rules in language outshines that of adults: study

New research examining auditory mechanisms of language learning in babies has revealed that infants as young as three months of age are able to automatically detect and learn complex dependencies between ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Sep 10, 2012 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1

Scientists succeed in making the spinal cord transparent

(Medical Xpress) -- In the event of the spinal cord injury, the long nerve cell filaments, the axons, may become severed. For quite some time now, scientists have been investigating whether these axons can ...

Medical research created Dec 26, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (15) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

In the insect brain, dopamine-releasing nerve cells are crucial to the formation of both punished, rewarded memories

Children quickly learn to avoid negative situations and seek positive ones. But humans are not the only species capable of remembering positive and negative events; even the small brain of a fruit fly has ...

Genetics created Jul 18, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Putting the brakes on Parkinson's: Anle138b prevents clumping of synunclein protein

The earliest signs of Parkinson's disease can be deceptively mild. The first thing that movie star Michael J. Fox noticed was twitching of the little finger of his left hand. For years, he made light of the ...

Parkinson's & Movement disorders created Apr 23, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Rare neurons discovered in monkey brains

Max Planck scientists discover brain cells in monkeys that may be linked to self-awareness and empathy in humans.

Neuroscience created May 21, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Multiple sclerosis is remote controlled

(Medical Xpress)—Autoimmune diseases are triggered by immune cells that attack the body's own tissue. In multiple sclerosis (MS) immune cells succeed in invading nervous tissue and sparking off a destructive inflammation ...

Immunology created Sep 11, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Short-term memory is based on synchronized brain oscillations

Scientists have now discovered how different brain regions cooperate during short-term memory.

Neuroscience created Jan 31, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

The seat of meta-consciousness in the brain

Studies of lucid dreamers visualize which centers of the brain become active when we become aware of ourselves.

Neuroscience created Jul 27, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (14) | comments 12 | with audio podcast

Glial cells assist in the repair of injured nerves

When a nerve is damaged, glial cells produce the protein neuregulin1 and thereby promote the regeneration of nerve tissue.

Neuroscience created Jan 28, 2013 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The brain's circuit diagram: New method facilitates the mapping of connections between neurons

(Medical Xpress)—The human brain accomplishes its remarkable feats through the interplay of an unimaginable number of neurons that are interconnected in complex networks. A team of scientists has now developed ...

Neuroscience created Oct 18, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Learning requires rhythmical activity of neurons

The hippocampus represents an important brain structure for learning. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich discovered how it filters electrical neuronal signals through an input ...

Neuroscience created Sep 26, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Live from the thymus: T-cells on the move

T-cells are the immune system's security force. They seek out pathogens and rogue cells in the body and put them out of action. Their precursors are formed in the bone marrow and migrate from there into the ...

Medical research created Feb 17, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Decision-making can and must be learned -- new test measures risk intelligence

(Medical Xpress) -- Tests exist for evaluating personality, intelligence and memory. However, up to now, it was not easily possible to find out how good someone is at making decisions in risky situations.

Psychology & Psychiatry created Apr 11, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast