Neuroscience

Health & Medicine

New tests screen for lethal prion disease

Urine and nasal swabs can detect small amounts of the abnormal prions that cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Psychology

Addiction showcases the brain’s flexibility

People with substance abuse disorders are not just chasing a high. Their brains are adapting to the presence of drug, evidence of humans’ impressive neural plasticity.

Neuroscience

Part of brain’s pleasure network curbed in mice with chronic pain

Part of brain’s pleasure network is muffled in mice with chronic paw injuries, a new study finds.

Neuroscience

Study linking narcolepsy to autoimmunity retracted

Data linking disorder to immune cells couldn’t be replicated, scientists say.

Neuroscience

Hippocampus may help homing pigeons explore

When researchers remove pigeons’ hippocampi, birds fly straighter on early parts of journey home.

Health & Medicine

Long-term Parkinson’s treatment sheds bad rep

Prolonged used of levodopa doesn’t increase the severity of side effects from the Parkinson’s drug, new research shows.

Neuroscience

For rats, a break from stress isn’t worth the relief

An unplanned vacation from stress might seem like a good idea, but a new study in rats shows that unpredictable escapes from pressure produce more strain on the first day back.

Genetics

Hints about schizophrenia emerge from genetic study

From thousands of genomes, researchers pinpoint dozens of DNA changes that may underlie schizophrenia

Animals

Termite soldiers locate battles with vibrational clues

To locate invasions, termite soldiers listen for millisecond-long delays in vibrational distress signals sent out by other soldiers.

Neuroscience

Obese women struggle to learn food associations

In a lab experiment, women fail to connect color signal with tasty reward, a deficit that may contribute to obesity.

Neuroscience

Electrode turns consciousness on and off

Woman lost awareness, though appeared awake, when her brain was stimulated near an area called the claustrum.

Neuroscience

In female flies, sex is more complex than yes or no

A female fruit fly’s role in mating has appeared to be a simple yes or no. But now three new papers show the behavior is far more subtle, and intricate, than first thought.