Neuroscience
- Genetics
Squid edit their genetic material in a uniquely weird place
Some squids’ seeming ability to edit RNA on the fly could help scientists develop a technique much like the DNA-editing tool CRISPR, but for RNA.
- Artificial Intelligence
An AI that mimics how mammals smell recognizes scents better than other AI
An artificial intelligence modeled after the neural circuitry in mammalian brains can keep learning new aromas without forgetting others.
- Science & Society
New electrodes can better capture brain waves of people with natural hair
Electrodes weren’t designed for people with thick, curly hair. A redesign is needed, says engineer Pulkit Grover.
- Neuroscience
Brain waves common during sleep also show up in awake sheep
Sleep spindles, thought to help solidify memories in people, may do similar work during wakefulness if these daytime ripples occur in humans.
- Neuroscience
Living brain tissue experiments raise new kinds of ethical questions
An ethicist describes the quandaries raised by working with tissue involved in human awareness.
- Neuroscience
Brain cells called microglia eat away mice’s memories
Immune cells that eliminate connections between nerve cells may be one way that the brain forgets.
- Neuroscience
Injecting nanoparticles in the blood curbed brain swelling in mice
Nanoparticles divert inflammation-causing cells away from the brain after a head injury, a mouse study shows.
- Neuroscience
Psilocybin may help cancer patients with depression and anxiety for years
A study hints that a hallucinogen found in magic mushrooms could reshape how people cope with hard diagnoses over the long term.
- Health & Medicine
How one woman became the exception to her family’s Alzheimer’s history
A single mutation in a woman who evaded Alzheimer’s may point to new ways to treat the disease.
- Neuroscience
A parasite that makes mice unafraid of cats may quash other fears too
The parasite Toxoplasma gondii can mess with all sorts of mice behaviors and make the rodents fearless in many situations.
- Neuroscience
Mice watching film noir show the surprising complexity of vision cells
Only about 10 percent of mice’s vision cells behaved as researchers expected they would, a study finds.
- Health & Medicine
A once-scrapped Alzheimer’s drug may work after all, new analyses suggest
An antibody that targets Alzheimer’s sticky protein amyloid showed promise in slowing mental decline, according to the company that’s developing it.
