Neuroscience News and Research

RSS

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

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

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

Bipolar Disorder and Epilepsy Share Genetic Roots

A team of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences has uncovered compelling evidence of a genetic link between bipolar disorder type I (BD-I) and epilepsy, potentially revolutionizing our understanding of these complex neuropsychiatric conditions.

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

Stem Cell Study Reveals Developmental Dance Behind Individual Variation

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have conducted a comprehensive analysis of the variations present in human stem cells. This study sheds light on how the unique “developmental dance” at the molecular level within an individual's cells can shape the formation of the brain and the body.

26 Sep 2024

The Lasting Effects of COVID-19 on the Brain

In the UK’s largest study to date, novel steps have been taken to gain a better understanding of the immediate and long-term effects of COVID-19 on the brain.

25 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

The Neurohormonal Mechanism Behind Starfish Limb Autotomy

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have made a groundbreaking discovery about how starfish manage to survive predatory attacks by shedding their own limbs. The team has identified a neurohormone responsible for triggering this remarkable feat of self-preservation.

30 Aug 2024

Illuminating Plant Defense Mechanisms Through Light-Activated Ion Channels

When it comes to survival, plants have a huge disadvantage compared to many other living organisms: they cannot simply change their location if predators or pathogens attack them or the environmental conditions change to their disadvantage.

29 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

Innovative Stem Cell Research Unveils Glial Cell Dynamics in Multiple Sclerosis

Researchers from The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute and Case Western Reserve University have discovered novel ways in which glia, by using the largest known collection of stem cell models from MS patients, essential brain support cells contribute to the disease.

27 Aug 2024

Revealing Neural Basis of Categorizing and Remembering Novel Information

Scientists at the University of California, Irvine have pinpointed the brain cells involved in remembering specific details of events.

22 Aug 2024

Electrical Recordings Illuminate Neural Basis of Inferential Reasoning

It takes brains to infer how any two things in the world relate to each other, whether it's the way bad weather links to commuting delays or how environmental conditions lead to the evolution of species.

16 Aug 2024

New Imaging Technique Offers Clearer View of Brain Function

Researchers have developed a new two-photon fluorescence microscope that captures high-speed images of neural activity at cellular resolution. By imaging much faster and with less harm to brain tissue than traditional two-photon microscopy, the new approach could provide a clearer view of how neurons communicate in real time, leading to new insights into brain function and neurological diseases.

16 Aug 2024

Spontaneous Brain Activity Drives Early Neural Circuit Formation

In humans, the process of learning is driven by different groups of cells in the brain firing together. For instance, when the neurons associated with the process of recognizing a dog begin to fire in a coordinated manner in response to the cells that encode the features of a dog -; four legs, fur, a tail, etc. -; a young child will eventually be able to identify dogs going forward. But brain wiring begins before humans are born, before they have experiences or senses like sight to guide this cellular circuitry. How does that happen?

16 Aug 2024

Astrocytes Emerge as Key Players in Brain Health and Development

Researchers at the Mechanobiology Institute (MBI) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Duke-NUS Medical School have uncovered a novel mechanism for reawakening dormant neural stem cells, which may lead to the development of new treatments for neurodevelopmental disorders like autism, cerebral palsy, and learning disabilities.

14 Aug 2024

Brain's Co-Rippling Activity Sheds Light on Consciousness

For many years, researchers have been concentrating on how the brain organizes information into hierarchical structures, with distinct regions of the brain designated for distinct functions.

13 Aug 2024