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Neuroscience

Articles about different approaches to study the nervous system at different scales. Neuroscience strives for the understanding of the biological basis of learning, memory, behavior, perception, and consciousness.

How old are your organs? To scientists' surprise, organs are a mix of young and old cells: Scientists discover cellular structures with extreme longevity, leading to insights for age-associated diseases

"We were quite surprised to find cellular structures that are essentially as old as the organism they reside in," says Salk Vice President, Chief Science Officer Martin Hetzer, senior author and professor. "This suggests even greater cellular complexity than we previously imagined and has intriguing implications for how we think

Small cluster of neurons is off-on switch for mouse songs: With precise control, researchers could make a mouse sing or not on command

In fact, they now understand these neurons well enough to be able to make a mouse sing on command or to silence it so that it can't sing, even when it wants to impress a mate.

Brain's insular cortex processes pain and drives learning from pain

We've known for a while that a brain area called amygdala is important for threat learning.

Flexibility of working memory from random connections

Working memory is your ability to hold things 'in mind.' It acts as a workspace in which information can be held, manipulated, and then used to guide behavior.

Meditation needs more research: Study finds 25 percent suffer unpleasant experiences

The research, published in PLOS ONE, also found those who had attended a meditation retreat, those who only practiced deconstructive types of meditation, such as Vipassana (insight) and Koan practice (used in Zen Buddhism), and those with higher levels of repetitive negative thinking, were more likely to report a 'particularly

Step towards light-based, brain-like computing chip

The researchers were able to demonstrate, that such an optical neurosynaptic network is able to "learn" information and use this as a basis for computing and recognizing patterns -- just as a brain can. As the system functions solely with light and not with traditional electrons, it can process data

These trippy images were designed by AI to super-stimulate monkey neurons

"When given this tool, cells began to increase their firing rate beyond levels we have seen before, even with normal images pre-selected to elicit the highest firing rates," explains co-first author Carlos Ponce, then a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of senior author Margaret Livingstone at Harvard Medical School and

Magnets can help AI get closer to the efficiency of the human brain: New brain-like networks could help robots approach human-like efficiency at object recognition tasks

Purdue University researchers and experts in brain-inspired computing think part of the answer may be found in magnets..

Want to learn a new skill? Take some short breaks: NIH study suggests our brains may use short rest periods to strengthen memories

"Everyone thinks you need to 'practice, practice, practice' when learning something new.

Eelectrostimulation can improve working memory in people: As memories fade, can we supercharge them back to life?

Reinhart and Nguyen's research targets working memory -- the part of the mind where consciousness lives, the part that is active whenever we make decisions, reason, and recall our grocery lists.

I feel you: Emotional mirror neurons found in the rat

Why is it that we can get sad, when we see someone else crying? Why is it that we wince, when a friend cuts his finger? Researchers from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience have found that the rat brain activates the same cells when they observe the pain of others

Researchers discover the source of new neurons in brain's hippocampus: Findings extend understanding of how a continuous supply of neurons throughout life is connected with learning and memory

Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have shown, in mice, that one type of stem cell that makes adult neurons is the source of this lifetime stock of new cells in the hippocampus. Published this week in Cell, these findings may help neuroscientists figure

The brain's auto-complete function: New insights into associative memory

The researchers presented participants with a number of different scene images.Importantly, they paired each scene image with one of two different objects, such as a raspberry or a scorpion.

Microglia, cells thought restricted to central nervous system, are redefined in new study

Inside the central nervous system (CNS), a region that includes the brain and spinal cord, it is the job of certain cells, called microglia, to clean up that cellular debris.

Blocking protein's activity restores cognition in old mice

A paper describing the finding will be published online April 3 in Nature.Tony Wyss-Coray, PhD, professor of neurology and neurological sciences, is the senior author..