A flicker of truth: Piercing the “continuity illusion”
A recent study by the Champalimaud Foundation reveals the superior colliculus’s critical role in processing the continuity illusion, fundamentally altering our understanding of motion perception in animals and humans.
Newly discovered brain cells play a key role in right and left turns
Researchers have discovered a network of neurons in the brain of mice that help them make right and left turns. In the future, the discovery may be used in treatment for Parkinson’s disease.
Oxytocin: the love hormone that holds the key to better memory
Researchers identify specific oxytocin neurons in the mouse brain that modulate object recognition memory
UW-Madison researchers first to 3D-print functional human brain tissue
From University of Wisconsin–Madison 13/02/24 A team of University of Wisconsin–Madison scientists has developed the first 3D-printed brain tissue that can grow and function like typical brain tissue. It’s an achievement with important implications for scientists studying the brain and working on treatments for a broad range of neurological and neurodevelopmental disorders, such as Alzheimer’s […]
Study discovers neurons in the human brain that can predict what we are going to say before we say it
From 06/02/24 By using advanced brain recording techniques, a new study led by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) demonstrates how neurons in the human brain work together to allow people to think about what words they want to say and then produce them aloud through speech. Together, these findings provide a detailed map of […]
New technology lets researchers track brain cells’ “off switches”
From Scripps Research 30/01/24 For decades, scientists have studied the intricate activity patterns in human and animal brains by observing when different groups of brain cells turn on. Equally important to understanding the brain and related diseases, however, is knowing how long those neurons stay active and when they turn off again. Now, scientists at […]
Riding sound waves in the brain
From ETH Zurich 28/12/23 Brain tumours, brain haemorrhages and neurological and psychological conditions are often hard to treat with medication. And even when effective drugs are available, these tend to have severe side effects because they circulate throughout the brain and not just the area they are meant to treat. In light of this situation, […]
New source of stem cells in injury-affected brains of patients
From Helmholtz Munich 18/12/23 Researchers from Helmholtz Munich and the LMU have discovered that, in the case of brain injuries, specific cells in the brain become active in disease situations, exhibiting properties of neural stem cells. The authors further discovered that a specific protein regulates these cells and hence could function as a target for […]
Tracing how the infant brain responds to touch with near-infrared spectroscopy
From Tokyo Metropolitan University 12/12/23 Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have measured how oxygenated hemoglobin levels in the blood change in infants’ brains in response to touch. Using spectroscopy methods with external sensors placed on the scalp of sleeping infants, they found that the time at which levels peak doesn’t change with infant age, but […]
Nanowire network mimics brain, learns handwriting with 93.4% accuracy
From UCLA 29/11/23 FINDINGS An experimental computing system, modeled after the biological brain, achieved a 93.4% accuracy in identifying handwritten numbers. This success is attributed to a novel training algorithm providing real-time feedback during the learning process. This algorithm surpassed the accuracy of traditional machine-learning methods, which train after processing batches of data, achieving only […]