Neuroscience

Neuroscience

Gene adds wrinkle to brain development

Mutations in the gene GPR56 results in misshapen folds in the brain tied to intellectual and language disabilities.

Neuroscience

Ways of seeing the brain inspire notions of how it works

As scientists have developed more sophisticated methods and ideas, their understanding of how the brain works has shifted too.

Neuroscience

Cataloging the connections

Though a complete map of the brain’s connections is many years away, the mathematical theory of networks can help fill in some of the blank spots.

Neuroscience

Brain shot

Deciphering how the brain’s circuitry produces thought and behavior is an ambitious and enticing goal on the scale of the Apollo Program or the Human Genome Project. But the neuroscientists involved in a new federal effort have many challenges ahead.

Neuroscience

Diuretic may treat autism, study in rodents suggests

Drug that lowers chloride levels in brain cells staves off symptoms in mice and rats.

Neuroscience

Prosthetic provides sense of touch to man who lost hand

A new prosthetic hand restores a sense of touch by stimulating nerves in the arm.

Neuroscience

Football helmet redesign can reduce concussion risk

No helmet will ever eliminate the risk of sustaining a concussions during a football game. But tweaking the design may slow the speed of head movements after a hit and reduce the risk of brain trauma.

Neuroscience

‘Unique’ human brain regions similar to monkeys’ brains

Monkeys may have rudimentary brain wiring that later evolved into the connections that gave humans the ability to understand language, think flexibly and make decisions.

Neuroscience

Famous brain surgery patient H.M. retained a chunk of hippocampus

The patient's amnesia was probably due to the loss of other regions and neural connections.

Neuroscience

Big science for lean times

The greatest promises of brain research — a cellular description of thought and behavior and, even more importantly, strategies to battle disorders of the brain — have yet to be fulfilled. Making good on those promises is the motivation behind the federal BRAIN Initiative.

Animals

Mantis shrimp’s bizarre visual system may save brainpower

The mantis shrimp sees each color separately with one of a dozen kinds of specialized cells, a system that may help the animal quickly see colors without a lot of brainpower.

Neuroscience

Caffeine’s little memory jolt garners a lot of excitement

A new study claims that caffeine can perk up memory consolidation in students without a caffeine habit. But concerns about the effect size and the statistics in the paper require a little extra shot of replication.