Genetics

Gene switch for odorant receptors

The olfactory sensory neurons in the nasal mucosa perceive the myriad smells in the air with the aid of odorant receptors. Each sensory neuron chooses one and only one receptor gene for expression. The probability that a ...

Neuroscience

Fish courtship pheromone uses the brain's smell pathway

Research at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan has revealed that a molecule involved in fish reproduction activates the brain via the nose. The pheromone is released by female zebrafish and sensed by smell receptors ...

Medical research

Researchers identify elusive taste stem cells

Scientists at the Monell Center have identified the location and certain genetic characteristics of taste stem cells on the tongue. The findings will facilitate techniques to grow and manipulate new functional taste cells ...

Medications

Pain relief at a lower opioid dose

A team of researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that activating nerve cell receptors along two chemical pathways—one that has previously been linked to how the brain senses "itch"—may improve pain relief when combined ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Sensory cells taste cerebrospinal fluid to fight brain infections

Sensory neurons pick up information from our senses and relay it to the rest of the nervous system. But this is not their only mission. In a new study published in the journal Current Biology, Claire Wyart at the Paris Brain ...

Neuroscience

Mice have distinct subsystem to handle smell associated with fear

A new study finds that mice have a distinct neural subsystem that links the nose to the brain and is associated with instinctually important smells such as those emitted by predators. That insight, published online this week ...

Neuroscience

Here's what music sounds like through an auditory implant

For some people with severe hearing loss, it is possible to restore their hearing with an auditory implant (also known as cochlear implants). These electronic devices are surgically implanted into the inner ear, converting ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Headaches: three tips from a neuroscientist on how to get rid of them

Everyone experiences headaches. From dull throbbing dehydration headaches to incapacitating migraines, a sore head is an extremely common complaint. This is perhaps especially true at the moment. COVID-19 can cause them, ...

Neuroscience

Long-sought 'warm-sensitive' brain cells identified in new study

A new UC San Francisco study challenges the most influential textbook explanation of how the mammalian brain detects when the body is becoming too warm, and how it then orchestrates the myriad responses that animals, including ...

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