Neuroscience

Nerve cells let others 'listen in'

How many 'listeners' a nerve cell has in the brain is strictly regulated. This is shown by an international study led by the University College London and the universities of Bonn, Bordeaux and Milton Keynes (England). In ...

Neuroscience

Novel technique helps explain why bright light keeps us awake

In recent decades, scientists have learned a great deal about how different neurons connect and send signals to each other. But it's been difficult to trace the activity of individual nerve fibers known as axons, some of ...

Neuroscience

Dopamine primes the brain for enhanced vigilance

Imagine a herd of deer grazing in the forest. Suddenly, a twig snaps nearby, and they look up from the grass. The thought of food is forgotten, and the animals are primed to respond to any threat that might appear.

Neuroscience

Brain 'noise' keeps nerve connections young

Neurons communicate through rapid electrical signals that regulate the release of neurotransmitters, the brain's chemical messengers. Once transmitted across a neuron, electrical signals cause the juncture with another neuron, ...

Neuroscience

Novel method aims to demystify communication in the brain

From sunrise to sunset, the flow of communication across brain areas helps to facilitate every move we make. Seeing, hearing, walking, and singing, for example, are made possible by interactions between large collections ...

Neuroscience

Researchers identify 'switch' for long-term memory

Neurobiologists at Heidelberg University have identified calcium in the cell nucleus to be a cellular "switch" responsible for the formation of long-term memory. Using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model, the ...

Neuroscience

Researchers model how neurons work together

A newly-developed, highly accurate representation of the way in which neurons behave when performing movements such as reaching could not only enhance understanding of the complex dynamics at work in the brain, but aid in ...

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