Using a fluorescent probe that lights up when brain cells are electrically active, MIT and Boston University researchers have shown that they can image the activity of many neurons at once, in the brains of mice.
Oct 9, 2019
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Rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep is a fascinating period when most of our dreams are made. Now, in a study of mice, a team of Japanese and U.S. researchers show that it may also be a time when the brain actively forgets. ...
Sep 19, 2019
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372
To understand our brains, scientists need to know their components. This theme underlies a growing effort in neuroscience to define the different building blocks of the brain—its cells.
Jun 17, 2019
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701
Feeding behavior and social stimulation activate intermingled but distinct brain circuits, and activating one circuit can inhibit the other, according to a new study by researchers at Stanford University.
Jan 16, 2019
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81
The big day has come: You are taking your road test to get your driver's license. As you start your mom's car with a stern-faced evaluator in the passenger seat, you know you'll need to be alert but not so excited that you ...
Jan 14, 2019
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126
The mouse brain contains roughly 80 million neurons, all packed into a space about the size of a hazelnut. Those cells come in a vast assortment of shapes and sizes, and their connections with one another number in the billions—at ...
Oct 31, 2018
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83
There is no cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disease that gradually kills off the motor neurons that control muscles and is diagnosed in nearly 6,000 people per year in the United States.
Oct 10, 2018
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28
To see under starlight and moonlight, the retina of the eye changes both the software and hardware of its light-sensing cells to create a kind of night vision. Retinal circuits that were thought to be unchanging and programmed ...
Sep 13, 2018
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279
Human immune cells in blood can be converted directly into functional neurons in the laboratory in about three weeks with the addition of just four proteins, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have ...
Jun 4, 2018
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A set of three nearly identical genes found only in humans appear to play a critical role in the development of our large brains, according to a study led by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
May 31, 2018
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