Neuroscience
- Neuroscience
How a scientist-artist transformed our view of the brain
The book ‘The Brain in Search of Itself’ chronicles the life of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, who discovered that the brain is made up of discrete cells.
- Neuroscience
A hit of dopamine sends mice into dreamland
New results are some of the first to show a trigger for the mysterious shifts between REM and non-REM sleep in mice.
- Health & Medicine
A faulty immune response may be behind lingering brain trouble after COVID-19
The immune system’s response to even mild cases of COVID-19 can affect the brain, preliminary studies suggest.
- Neuroscience
Americans tend to assume imaginary faces are male
When people see imaginary faces in everyday objects, those faces are more likely to be perceived as male, a new study shows.
- Neuroscience
‘Feeling & Knowing’ explores the origin and evolution of consciousness
In the book Feeling & Knowing, neuroscientist Antonio Damasio suggests that consciousness evolved as a way to keep essential bodily systems steady.
By JP O'Malley - Neuroscience
50 years ago, scientists were on the trail of ‘memory molecules’
In the 1970s, scientists found the first “memory molecule.” Several other candidates have popped up in the decades since.
By Aina Abell - Neuroscience
Brainless sponges contain early echoes of a nervous system
Simple sponges contain cells that appear to send signals to digestive chambers, a communication system that offer hints about how brains evolved.
- Neuroscience
A blood test may help predict recovery from traumatic brain injury
High levels of a key blood protein point to brain shrinkage and damage to message-sending axons, providing a biomarker for TBI severity and prognosis.
- Health & Medicine
Ripples in rats’ brains tied to memory may also reduce sugar levels
Brain signals called sharp-wave ripples have an unexpected job: influencing the body’s sugar levels, a study in rats suggests.
- Health & Medicine
How Hans Berger’s quest for telepathy spurred modern brain science
In the 1920s, psychiatrist Hans Berger invented EEG and discovered brain waves — though not long-range signals.
- Health & Medicine
Controlling nerve cells with light opened new ways to study the brain
A method called optogenetics offers insights into memory, perception and addiction.
- Neuroscience
A deep look at a speck of human brain reveals never-before-seen quirks
Three-dimensional views of 50,000 cells from a woman’s brain yield one of the most detailed maps yet.