Neuroscience News and Research

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Autonomic nervous system directly controls stem cell proliferation, study shows

Somatic stem cells are microscopic workhorses, constantly regenerating cells throughout the body: skin and the lining of the intestine, for example. And to University of Illinois neuroscientists, they represent untapped potential.

17 Oct 2018

Analyzing mouse’s potential as animal model of decision-making

Mice can be used to study the neural circuits underlying complex decision-making, suggests an analysis of more than 500,000 mouse decisions reported in JNeurosci.

From Society for Neuroscience 17 Oct 2018

Down syndrome may hold important clues to onset of Alzheimer's disease

At first glance, Down syndrome and Alzheimer's disease, two severe brain abnormalities, may seem to have little in common. Down syndrome is a hereditary disease, the source of which has long been recognized--a triplication of chromosome 21.

17 Oct 2018

Study to explore bioethics of brain organoids

Research scientists around the world are now able to investigate the structural, cellular, and developmental intricacies of the human brain using bioengineered stem cell-based models called organoids.

16 Oct 2018

Birth mode may have acute effects on neurodevelopment, study suggests

Cesarean-born mice show altered patterns of cell death across the brain, exhibiting greater nerve cell death than vaginally delivered mice in at least one brain area, a finding by Georgia State University researchers that suggests birth mode may have acute effects on human neurodevelopment that may lead to long-lasting changes in the brain and behavior.

16 Oct 2018

Research points to potential new treatment for hearing loss

Researchers have taken an important step toward what may become a new approach to restore the hearing loss. In a new study, out today in the European Journal of Neuroscience, scientists have been able to regrow the sensory hair cells found in the cochlea - a part of the inner ear - that converts sound vibrations into electrical signals and can be permanently lost due to age or noise damage.

15 Oct 2018

Research reveals how the inner ear processes speech

Results from a research study published in Nature Communications show how the inner ear processes speech, something that has until now been unknown. The authors of the report include researchers from Linköping University, Sweden, and Oregon Health & Science University, United States.

15 Oct 2018

Brain oscillations provide insights into the human navigation system

The brain creates a map of our environment, which enables reliable spatial navigation. The Nobel Prize was awarded in 2014 for research into how this navigation system works at the cellular level.

12 Oct 2018

Studies demonstrate effect of Ketogenic Diet on cognitive health in animals

We've all experienced a "gut feeling" -- when we know deep down inside that something is true. That phenomenon and others (like "butterflies in the stomach") aptly describe what scientists have now demonstrated: that the gut and the brain are more closely connected than we once thought, and in fact the health of one can affect the other.

12 Oct 2018

Antidepressants can be used to treat Alzheimer’s disease

Scientists at the University of Waterloo have discovered that antidepressant medications can be used to treat Alzheimer’s disease.

12 Oct 2018

Kent State professor receives grant to study role of oxytocin in the developing brain

Heather Caldwell, Ph.D., a professor in Kent State University's Department of Biological Sciences, recently received a $450,000 grant to study the role that oxytocin plays in the developing brain.

12 Oct 2018

Scientists work to speed regeneration and recovery of your sense of taste

When it's a significant injury, not just a hot pizza, that damages your tongue and taste buds, you appear to need a cell type best known for its inflammation-promoting skills to help restore your sense of taste.

12 Oct 2018

Thalamus controls development of normal sleep and waking states, study finds

Consciousness requires continuous, internally generated activity in the brain. The modulation of this activity is the basis of the electroencephalogram (EEG) and of generation of sleep, dreams, and perception.

12 Oct 2018

Columbia scientist and collaborators receive $11.3 million to find new targets against brain disease

Anthony Fitzpatrick, PhD, a Principal Investigator at Columbia's Zuckerman Institute and Columbia University Irving Medical Center, together with scientists from the Mayo Clinic and Boston Children's Hospital, has been awarded $11.3 million to map the three-dimensional structures of protein tangles that accumulate in the human brain.

11 Oct 2018

Growth of early brain circuits may help predict child's intelligence and emotional health

Growth rates of brain circuits in infancy may help experts predict what a child's intelligence and emotional health could be when the child turns 4, a new study has found.

10 Oct 2018

Functional brain connections for emotional regulation emerge during infancy

Researchers in the UNC Early Brain Development Study tracking the development of the brain's emotion circuitry in infancy found that adult-like functional brain connections for emotional regulation emerge during the first year of life.

10 Oct 2018

Drug treatment at a young age could help reverse autism-like behavior in tuberous sclerosis

New research on autism has found, in a mouse model, that drug treatment at a young age can reverse social impairments. But the same intervention was not effective at an older age.

10 Oct 2018

Seizures start with a hush: A spike in inhibition

Some patients describe epileptic seizures like an earthquake from within, starting slow and growing without their control. To a brain researcher, seizures are an electrical firestorm of neuronal activation in the brain.

10 Oct 2018

Brown researchers uncover new clues about ALS progression

Brown University researchers have uncovered new clues about the progression of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a surprisingly common disease that causes the death of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles such as those involved in walking, talking, chewing or breathing.

10 Oct 2018

Binge drinking history makes male and female mice react differently to stress, study shows

Researchers with the Veterans Affairs Portland Health Care System and Oregon Health & Sciences University found that a history of binge drinking made male and female mice react differently to traumatic stress.

10 Oct 2018