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A New Technique Reveals the Behavior of OPCs in the Brain

Imagine yourself sometime in the far future aboard a routine rocket to Mars. Someone just spilled their drink. Without gravity, it collects in floating blobs that ripple right before your eyes. Now freeze.

14 Oct 2024

New Research Reveals Link Between Stress Response and C. difficile Severity

The portion of our nervous systems responsible for the "fight or flight" response can shape the severity of potentially deadly C. difficile infections, new research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine reveals.

14 Oct 2024

New Insights Into Early Brain Development and Mental Health

An unparalleled glimpse at how gene regulation changes during human brain development has been provided by a study led by UCLA, which demonstrates the crucial role played by the 3D structure of chromatin, which is made up of proteins and DNA.

10 Oct 2024

Scientists Map the Entire Brain of a Fruit Fly

UC Santa Barbara neuroscientists have reconstructed the entire anterior visual pathway of a fruit fly, a complex series of connections between the insect's eyes and the navigation center of its brain. With the help of artificial intelligence and manual proofreading, systems biologist Sung Soo Kim's research group and collaborators worked out the relationships between more than 3,000 neurons with unprecedented detail.

9 Oct 2024

The Promise of Venomous Crustaceans in Drug Development

Many animals use venoms for self-defense or hunting. The components of such venom, known as toxins, interfere with various physiological processes - which is also the reason why they are so interesting for the development of new pharmacological agents.

7 Oct 2024

Harnessing Bioluminescence for Noninvasive Brain Activation

Researchers at the University of Rochester have demonstrated a noninvasive technique called bioluminescent optogenetics, or BL-OG, that uses light to stimulate brain neurons.

4 Oct 2024

Scientists Successfully Map the Entire Fruit Fly Brain

A team of scientists supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)'s The BRAIN Initiative, including Davi Bock, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neurological Sciences at UVM's Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine, recently made a substantial advancement in neurobiological research by successfully mapping the entire brain of Drosophila melanogaster, more commonly known as the fruit fly.

3 Oct 2024

New Tool START Enables Precision Mapping of Neuronal Connectivity

Scientists at the Salk Institute are unveiling a new brain-mapping neurotechnology called Single Transcriptome Assisted Rabies Tracing (START). The cutting-edge tool combines two advanced technologies-;monosynaptic rabies virus tracing and single-cell transcriptomics-;to map the brain's intricate neuronal connections with unparalleled precision.

1 Oct 2024

Research Reveals How the Brain Encodes Time and Experiences at the Neuronal Level

A landmark study led by UCLA Health has begun to unravel one of the fundamental mysteries in neuroscience – how the human brain encodes and makes sense of the flow of time and experiences.

26 Sep 2024

How Classic Psychedelics Impact Brain Cell Dynamics and Anxiety

A classic psychedelic, similar to LSD, psilocybin and mescalin, was found to activate a cell type in the brain that silences other neighboring neurons, a result that provides insight into how such drugs reduce anxiety, according to a new study.

25 Sep 2024

A New Understanding of How the Brain Adapts to Changing Situations

In a constantly changing world, animals, including humans, need to quickly adapt to their environment and learn to make decisions that lead to the best possible outcomes. In most cases, this type of learning happens through direct experience; when faced with a choice between two particular items or events, animals resort to previous experience involving the same options.

23 Sep 2024

A Novel Biosensor for Calcium Detection in Fruit Flies, Zebrafish, and Mice

In 2021, the Janelia group leaders reported that they had developed a way to combine Schreiter's engineered protein biosensors and Lavis's bright, fluorescent Janelia Fluor dyes.

23 Sep 2024

A New Method to Correct Misplaced Proteins in Cells

Cells are highly controlled spaces that rely on every protein being in the right place. Many diseases, including cancers and neurodegenerative disorders, are associated with misplaced proteins. In some cancers, for instance, a protein that normally stands watch over DNA replicating in the nucleus is sent far from the DNA it is meant to monitor, allowing cancers to grow.

23 Sep 2024

Low Extracellular Sodium Concentrations Can Suppress mRNA Expression in Brain Cells

Brain and mental problems can result from chronic hyponatremia, a disorder marked by low blood salt levels.

19 Sep 2024

Membrane Tension and Calcium Signaling Regulate Phospholipid Scrambling

Researchers at the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (WPI-iCeMS) at Kyoto University have discovered new information regarding how cells control the distribution of lipids in their cell membrane.

16 Sep 2024

New Initiative Targets High-Risk Genes to Understand Neurodevelopmental and Psychiatric Disorders

Neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders (NPD) including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, and depression are detrimental to individuals, their families and society as a whole, and in many cases still lack effective treatments.

13 Sep 2024

Clock Genes Drive Evolutionary Split in Two Moth Species

Investigating moth speciation, this research highlights the impact of clock genes on behavior, providing a rare glimpse into evolutionary processes.

28 Aug 2024

EMBL Researchers Develop Novel Photoacoustic Probes to Monitor Brain Activity

To understand the brain better, we need new methods to observe its activity.

28 Aug 2024

A Breakthrough in RNA Therapy for Heart and Nervous System Diseases

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed new techniques to sculpt RNA molecules into circles that may result in more potent and long-lasting treatments.

27 Aug 2024

New Research Reveals Infrared Radiation as a Mosquito Host-Seeking Trigger

While a mosquito bite is often no more than a temporary bother, in many parts of the world it can be scary. One mosquito species, Aedes aegypti, spreads the viruses that cause over 100,000,000 cases of dengue, yellow fever, Zika, and other diseases every year. Another, Anopheles gambiae, spreads the parasite that causes malaria. The World Health Organization estimates that malaria alone causes more than 400,000 deaths every year. Indeed, their capacity to transmit disease has earned mosquitoes the title of deadliest animal.

23 Aug 2024