Neuroscience

Neuroscience

The unique neural wiring of the human hippocampus may maximize memory

Living tissue from the memory centers of people’s brains reveals sparse nerve cell connections that provide strong, reliable signaling between cells.

Neuroscience

The message-sending part of neurons may be blobby, not smooth

Axons can be shaped like strings of pearls, research in mice and people show. How that shape may influence brain signaling is not yet clear.

Anthropology

Humans have linked emotions to the same body parts for 3,000 years

3,000-year-old clay tablets show that some associations between emotion and parts of the body have remained the same for millennia.

Neuroscience

Electronic ‘tattoos’ offer an alternative to electrodes for brain monitoring

A standard EEG test requires electrodes that come with pitfalls. A spray-on ink, capable of carrying electrical signals, avoids some of those.

Neuroscience

Like brain cells, kidney cells can form memories

Scientists found memory’s molecular machinery at work in cells outside the nervous system.

Neuroscience

Some people don’t have a mind’s eye. Scientists want to know why

The senses of sight and sound are usually mingled in the brain, but not for people with aphantasia.

Neuroscience

Your brain can perceive subtle odor changes in a single sniff

The speed at which our brain can tell smells apart is on par with color perception, a new sniff device shows.

Neuroscience

Hair pulling prompts one of the fastest known pain signals

The ouch of hair pulling is transmitted with the help of a protein used to sense light touches. These details could lead to new treatments.

Neuroscience

Semaglutide saps mice’s motivation to run

Mice given semaglutide, the key ingredient in drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, lost weight, but they also voluntarily ran less on a wheel.

Neuroscience

Scientists have traced all 54.5 million connections in a fruit fly’s brain

By tracing every single connection between nerve cells in a single fruit fly’s brain, scientists have created the “connectome,” a tool that could help reveal how brains work.

Neuroscience

A study in mice hints at a new way to treat spinal cord injuries

The finding suggests that a drug to ease swelling can speed recovery and stop cell death.

Psychology

A brain network linked to attention is larger in people with depression

Brain scans revealed that teenagers with larger attention-driving networks were more likely to develop depression.