Neuroscience News

Heavy smoking has a damaging effect on facial aging. Image credit: Jui Magicman.

Moderate Cannabis Use Has Adverse Effects on Cognitive Functioning, Study Suggests

Sep 7, 2020 by News Staff

Moderate adolescent cannabis use may have adverse effects on cognitive functioning, specifically verbal memory, that cannot be explained by familial factors,...

Coronal section of the human brain; amygdala is colored in purple; from Anatomy of the Human Body by Henry Gray.

Depression in Association with Anxiety Makes Amygdala Bigger

Aug 10, 2020 by News Staff

According to a new review of previous studies, published July 29 in the Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, depression is linked to areas of the brain...

The suprachiasmatic nucleus of a mouse. Image credit: McGill University.

Sodium Regulates Circadian Clock in Mice, New Study Shows

Jul 10, 2020 by News Staff

A new study published this week in the journal Nature shows that injecting mice with a salt solution (hypertonic saline) leads to the activation of neurons...

Posterior view of the 3D reconstructed male rat heart: (A) whole-heart view showing the context, extent, and distribution of the intrinsic cardiac neurons (ICN), located on superior and posterior surfaces of the atria; (B-F) a higher-resolution view of the atria and blood vessels that are shown in (B), with various contoured features of heart anatomy that are selectively removed to appreciate the anatomical relationship of the ICN to (C) the pulmonary artery and superior vena cava (SVC), (D) the interatrial septum, (E) the left atrium and pulmonary veins, (F) the right atrium, where clusters #1 and #2 appear to be on the surface of both atria, whereas cluster #3, which is located around the border of the superior vena cava, left atrium, and right atrium, appears on the right atrium. Scale bars - 1,000 μm (A), 500 μm (B-F). Image credit: Achanta et al, doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101140.

Scientists Create 3D Map of Rat Heart’s Neurons

May 27, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has created a comprehensive anatomical 3D map and molecular profile of the rat intracardiac nervous system (ICN). Posterior...

Positive effects of aerobic exercise in Alzheimer’s disease may be mediated by redistribution of blood flow and neural activity in Alzheimer’s disease-sensitive regions of brain. Image credit: Mabel Amber.

Aerobic Exercise Improves Memory in Older Adults, New Study Finds

May 21, 2020 by News Staff

Aerobic exercise boosts blood flow into two key regions of brain associated with memory: the anterior cingulate cortex and the hippocampus, according to...

Heller et al reveal a previously unknown connection between our daily physical environments and sense of well-being. Image credit: Frank MoreLight.

Study Reveals Link between Diversity in Daily Experiences and Sense of Well-Being

May 20, 2020 by News Staff

New and diverse daily experiences are linked to enhanced happiness, according to a study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience. Heller et al reveal...

Wang et al built a detailed map of the mouse brain from tiny virtual 3D blocks, or voxels. Image credit: Benedicte Rossi.

Neuroscientists Create High-Resolution 3D Atlas of Mouse Brain

May 7, 2020 by News Staff

Neuroscientists at the Allen Institute for Brain Science have released the third version of their Allen Mouse Brain Common Coordinate Framework (CCFv3). Wang...

Huang et al reveal region-specific transcriptional dependencies for astrocytes and identify astrocytic NFIA as a key transcriptional regulator of hippocampal circuits. Image credit: Huang et al, doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.03.025.

Study Reveals New Role of Astrocytes in Brain Function

Apr 27, 2020 by News Staff

Astrocytes play a direct role in the regulation of neuronal circuits involved in learning and memory, according to new research from Baylor College of...

Auditory dorsal and ventral pathway strength and lateralization in macaques, chimpanzees and humans. Left: bar plots showing the individual results and mean fiber counts for the left and right dorsal and ventral pathways for each of the three species. Right: schematic summary of the dorsal (purple) and ventral (dark green) pathway results in macaques, chimpanzees and humans, overlaid on previous observations (light yellow and light green). Image credit: Balezeau et al, doi: 10.1038/s41593-020-0623-9.

Human Brain’s Language Pathway Much Older than Thought

Apr 22, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers led by Newcastle University Medical School has discovered an earlier evolutionary origin to the human language pathway...

Reconstructed sagittal 5-mm orthogonal midline images in the brain using the sagittal 3D T1-weighted data set: (left) preflight baseline image and (right) matching postflight image (postflight day 1) in the same astronaut; the black arrowheads show upward expansion of the anterior, middle, and posterior superior margins of the lateral ventricle with associated narrowing of the marginal sulcus of the cingulate sulcus (white arrowhead); there is subtle expansion of the third ventricle (indicated by a 3), which has displaced the thalamus (T) from midline, making it less visible; there is thickening of the intermediate signal scalp soft tissues (arrows). Image credit: Kramer et al, doi: 10.1148/radiol.2020191413.

Study: Long-Duration Spaceflight Affects Brain Volume

Apr 16, 2020 by News Staff

A new study led by Professor Larry Kramer from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston suggests that the impact of microgravity is far-reaching,...

Intracortical grafts of human long-term self-renewing neuroepithelial-like stem (lt-NES) cell-derived cortical neurons project extensively in stroke-injured rat brain: (A) location of illustrated areas; (B-D) fibers immunoreactive for human cytoplasmic marker STEM121 in the transplant core (B), corpus callosum (C), and peri-infarct area (D). Scale bar - 200 μm. Image credit: Palma-Tortosa et al, doi: 10.1073/pnas.2000690117.

Scientists Restore Mobility and Sensation of Touch in Stroke-Injured Rats

Apr 13, 2020 by News Staff

In a new experiment on rats, a team of researchers at Lund University has shown that by transplanting human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell-derived...

Hu et al reveal a novel mechanism regulating reversal learning and provide potential targets for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders characterized by cognitive inflexibility. Image credit: Alexas Fotos.

Newly-Discovered Gene Mutation Improves Cognitive Flexibility in Mice

Apr 1, 2020 by News Staff

A team of U.S. researchers has discovered a genetic mutation that improves cognitive flexibility in mice. Hu et al reveal a novel mechanism regulating...

A tissue section from a human nasal biopsy. The red staining outlines olfactory neurons and the blue staining is counterstain for cell nuclei. Image credit: Brad Goldstein.

Scientists Find Neuron ‘Nursery’ in Adult Human Nose Tissue

Mar 12, 2020 by News Staff

Researchers from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Duke Institute for Brain Sciences say they have discovered a thriving neuron ‘nursery’...

Genome-wide transcriptomics analysis of anatomically dissected regions in mammalian brains uncovers regional and species-specific expression: multiple regions of the human, pig, and mouse brain were dissected and analyzed; a uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP) analysis (middle) shows the global expression patterns of 1,710 samples in the human brain, with the cerebellum as the outlier; the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) Brain Atlas (right) shows the expression of individual genes, for example, synaptosomal-associated protein 25 (SNAP25), in the different brain regions in the three mammalian species. Image credit: Sjöstedt et al, doi: 10.1126/science.aay5947.

Researchers Create Atlas of Protein-Coding Genes in Mammalian Brain

Mar 10, 2020 by News Staff

The Brain Atlas explores the protein expression in the mammalian brain by visualization and integration of data from three species of mammals: human, pig...

A honeybee (Apis mellifera). Image credit: Vijaya Narasimha.

New Study Reveals Link between Bee and Human Brains

Mar 2, 2020 by Natali Anderson

A team of researchers from New Zealand and Germany has demonstrated that the honeybee brain generates oscillations which share characteristics of ‘alpha’...

Märtin et al define the molecular identity of striatal projections neurons, focusing on the characterization of the patch and matrix compartments; genetic labeling of mu opioid receptor (Oprm1)-expressing neurons reveals the identity of neuron subtypes, and also establishes spatial markers for the identification of subregions in striatum. Image credit: Märtin et al, doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.11.096.

Scientists Create Molecular Map of Striatum

Dec 24, 2019 by News Staff

Striatum, the inner part of the brain, is considered central to decision-making and the development of various addictions. In mouse models and with methods...

Forensic facial reconstruction of another Australopithecus species - A. afarensis. Image credit: Cicero Moraes / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Living Great Apes are Smarter than Australopithecines, New Research Suggests

Nov 18, 2019 by News Staff

New research challenges the long-held idea that, because the brain of human ancestors called australopithecines was larger than that of many modern great...

Healthy sleep linked to brain-wave bursts that mathematically mimic earthquakes. Image credit: Wang et al.

Animal Study Links Healthy Sleep to Earthquake-Like Brain-Wave Bursts

Nov 15, 2019 by News Staff

Cortical arousals and brief awakenings during sleep exhibit non-equilibrium dynamics and complex organization across time scales necessary for spontaneous...

A male zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) in Karratha, Pilbara, Western Australia. Image credit: Jim Bendon / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Neuroscientists Identify Song-Learning Neurons in Birds

Nov 8, 2019 by News Staff

A team of researchers from Japan and South Korea has found that a set of neurons called corticobasal ganglia projecting neurons are important for vocal...