Neuroscience
Mice may ‘catch’ each other’s pain — and pain relief
Healthy mice mirror a companion’s pain or morphine-induced relief. Disrupting certain connections in the brain turns off such empathetic behaviors.
Neuroscience
More Stories in Neuroscience
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Health & MedicineProtecting the brain from infection may start with a gut reaction
In mice, immune cells in the meninges are trained to battle infections in the gut before migrating to the brain.
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NeuroscienceFDA advisory panel declines to support a controversial Alzheimer’s treatment
The fate of an Alzheimer’s drug, developed by pharmaceutical company Biogen, remains up in the air.
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AnimalsA fish’s fins may be as sensitive to touch as fingertips
Newfound parallels between fins and fingers suggest that touch-sensing limbs evolved early, setting the stage for a shared way to sense surroundings.
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AnthropologyThese human nerve cell tendrils turned to glass nearly 2,000 years ago
Part of a young man’s brain was preserved in A.D. 79 by hot ash from Mount Vesuvius’ eruption.
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LifeOgre-faced spiders catch insects out of the air using sound instead of sight
A new study finds that ogre-faced spiders can hear a surprisingly wide range of sounds.
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NeuroscienceYour dog’s brain doesn’t care about your face
Comparing brain scans of people and pups shows that faces hold no special meaning to the brains of dogs, a new study suggests.
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NeuroscienceTiny, magnetically controlled robots coax nerve cells to grow connections
Research using microrobots and nerve cells from rats could point to new treatments for people with nerve injuries.
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NeuroscienceA mother mouse’s gut microbes help wire her pup’s brain
The pups of mice lacking gut microbes, and the compounds they make, have altered nerve cells in part of the brain and a lowered sensitivity to touch.
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NeuroscienceNewly discovered cells in mice can sense four of the five tastes
Some cells in mice can sense bitter, sweet, sour and umami. Without the cells, some flavor signals don’t get to the ultimate tastemaker — the brain.