Neuroscientists from Cedars-Sinai have unlocked the mechanisms behind performance monitoring, which gives people the ability to learn from their successes and failures. Researchers have uncovered how signals from a group of neurons in the brain’s frontal lobe simultaneously give humans the flexibility to learn new tasks — and the focus to develop highly specific skills. … Read more
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Up to 30% of people with depression do not respond to treatment with antidepressants. This may be down to differences in biology between patients and the fact that it often takes a long time to respond to the drugs – with some people giving up after a while. So there is … Read more
Around 15 percent of the world’s population suffers from tinnitus, a condition which causes someone to hear a sound (such as ringing or buzzing) without any external source. It is often associated with hearing loss. Not only can the condition be annoying for sufferers, it can also have a serious effect on mental health, often … Read more
Credit: CC0 Public Domain. People with addiction lose control over their actions. They crave and seek out drugs, alcohol, or other substances no matter what the cost — even at the risk of damaging friendships, hurting family, or losing jobs. What is it about addiction that makes people behave in such destructive ways? And why … Read more
The human brain is said to be the most complex biological structure ever to have existed. And while science does not fully understand the brain yet, researchers in the expanding field of neuroscience have been making progress. Neuroscientists have made substantial inroads towards mapping the complex functions of the brain’s 85 billion or so neurons … Read more
A shortcut between the skull and the brain could be a possible way for the human immune system to bypass the blood-brain barrier. Researchers recently discovered a series of tiny channels in mice and human skulls, and in mice at least, these little pathways represent an unexpected source of brain immunity. Previously, scientists assumed that … Read more
Microscopy images reveal significant differences in size and structure between brain organoids derived from a patient with Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome (right) and from a control (left). Credit: UC San Diego Health Sciences The University of California San Diego (UCSD) study uses lab-grown human brain tissue to identify neural abnormalities in Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome and test gene therapy … Read more
A combination of microscopy, tissue preparation, and data innovations could yield first-of-their-kind brain atlases that specify the locations and types of all of the brain’s 180+ billion cells. Credit: Hillman Lab / Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute Columbia-led team wins $ 9.1 million research grant to create fundamentally new maps that will chart cell diversity throughout the … Read more
New research from a European collaboration paves the way for innovative strategies to fight atherosclerosis. A new research study shows the existence of a connection between atherosclerotic plaques and the central nervous system. This previously unknown “circuit” involves three systemically acting tissues, the immune system, the nervous system, and the cardiovascular system. This crosstalk is … Read more
Researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine have discovered a previously unknown function performed by a type of cell that comprises nearly half of all cells in the brain. Researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine have discovered a previously unknown function performed by a type of cell that comprises nearly half of all cells … Read more