DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke researchers have developed a system that allows real-time optical and electrical observations of the gut's nervous system in a live animal.
And if you weren't aware that the gut had its own nervous system, don't worry, you're not alone.
Researchers have successfully reduced the symptoms and slowed the progression of Huntington's disease in mice using healthy human brain cells. The findings, which were published today in the journal Nature Communications, could ultimately point to a new method to treat the disease.
New research from the University of Copenhagen reveals that the glia cells in the brain could be the key to the cure of the serious neurological disease Huntington's disease. The results may be of great importance to future treatment of neurological diseases.
A species of tropical fish has been shown to be able to distinguish between human faces. It is the first time fish have demonstrated this ability.
The research, carried out by a team of scientists from the University of Oxford (UK) and the University of Queensland (Australia), found that archerfish were able to learn and recognize faces with a high degree of accuracy -- an impressive feat, given this task requires sophisticated visual recognition capabilities.
The study is published in the journal Scientific Reports.
HAMILTON, ON, June 6, 2016 - New research into the ringing-ear condition known as tinnitus indicates an alarming level of early, permanent hearing damage in young people who are exposed to loud music, prompting a warning from a leading Canadian researcher in the field.
Many types of sensory information enter the brain at a structure called the primary sensory cortex, where they are processed by different layers of cells in ways that ultimately influence an animal's perception and behavioral response. James Poulet's group at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC) has now watched the flow of information between the different layers of the cortex for the first time in awake, active mice.
WASHINGTON - Hearing loss is a significant public health concern, and efforts should be made to provide adults with easier access to and more affordable options for hearing health care, especially for those in underserved and vulnerable populations, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Compared to other mammals, humans have the largest cerebral cortex. A sheet of brain cells that folds in on itself multiple times in order to fit inside the skull, the cortex is the seat of higher functions. It is what enables us to process everything we see and hear and think.
The expansion of the cerebral cortex sets humans apart from the rest of their fellow primates. Yet scientists have long wondered what mechanisms are responsible for this evolutionary development.
Nicolae Morar and Natalia Washington
JCU Associate Professor Zoltan Sarnyai said it was the first meta-analysis study to compare the level of cortisol in a waking patient's body with the stage of schizophrenia they are suffering.
Dr Sarnyai said it means doctors may be able to eventually identify those who will develop full-blown psychosis from amongst those who present with early stages of the disease.
Scientists at the University of Sussex have discovered how just two neurons in the brain hold the key to explaining how complex behavioural decisions are made.
In the first-of-its-kind study, published today in Nature Communications, scientists from the University studied the brain activity of freshwater snails and discovered how a circuit comprising of just two neurons can drive a sophisticated form of decision making.
How does the cross-talk between brain networks change when working memory - the mental assembly of information needed to carry out a particular task -- is engaged? Investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have found that dopamine signaling within the cerebral cortex can predict changes in the extent of communication between key brain networks during working memory.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] -- Most people encounter most things by sensing them in multiple ways. As we hear the words people speak, we also see their lips move. We smell, see and hear the onions as we chop them -- and we feel them with teary eyes.
It turns out that the ability to judge such sensory inputs as simultaneous, and therefore likely pertaining to the same thing, is something animal brains must develop through experience. A new study using tadpoles as a model organism shows how that appears to happen.
Persons with high psychopathy values are egotistic, scheming, and sabotage their colleagues unscrupulously to look better themselves. For employers they are a super-meltdown - but is that really true? A study by the University of Bonn shows that some people with psychopathic traits are seen by their colleagues as quite helpful and cooperative. One of the prerequisites for this, however, is that they possess marked social skills. The analysis is already available online in the prestigious "Journal of Management"; the print version will be appearing soon.
DALLAS - June 3, 2016 -The mosquito-borne Zika virus linked to microcephaly and other neurological problems in newborns of affected mothers directly infects the brain progenitor cells destined to become neurons, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report in a study published online today in Cell Reports.
The team of researchers used a strain of Zika currently impacting the Americas, and found that the virus infects about 20 percent of cells on average, evades immune system detection, and continues to replicate for weeks.