News tagged with nature neuroscience

Early life stress has effects at the molecular level

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Nov 12, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (11) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study of mice suggests that stress and trauma in early life can have an impact on the genes and result in behavioral problems later in life.

Study reveals second pathway to feeling your heartbeat

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Nov 02, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (5) | 0

A new study suggests that the inner sense of our cardiovascular state, our "interoceptive awareness" of the heart pounding, relies on two independent pathways, contrary to what had been asserted by prominent researchers.

Changes in brain chemicals mark shifts in infant learning

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Oct 26, 2009 | 5 / 5 (3) | 0

When do you first leave the nest? Early in development infants of many species experience important transitions—such as learning when to leave the protective presence of their mother to start exploring the wider world. Neuroscientists ...

Master regulator found for regenerating nerve fibers in live animals

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Oct 25, 2009 | 5 / 5 (11) | 0

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston report that an enzyme known as Mst3b, previously identified in their lab, is essential for regenerating damaged axons (nerve fibers) in a live animal model, in both the peripheral ...

Genetics of patterning the cerebral cortex

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Oct 13, 2009 | 5 / 5 (2) | 0

The cerebral cortex, the largest and most complex component of the brain, is unique to mammals and alone has evolved human specializations. Although at first all stem cells in charge of building the cerebral ...

Nerve cells live double lives

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Oct 06, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (7) | 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (part of the Novartis Research Foundation) have identified a new neural circuit in the retina responsible for the detection ...

New study pinpoints gene controlling number of brain cells (w/ Video)

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Oct 04, 2009 | 5 / 5 (10) | 2

In populating the growing brain, neural stem cells must strike a delicate balance between two key processes - proliferation, in which the cells multiply to provide plenty of starting materials - and differentiation, in which ...

Scientists make paralyzed rats walk again after spinal-cord injury

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Sep 20, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (22) | 3

UCLA researchers have discovered that a combination of drugs, electrical stimulation and regular exercise can enable paralyzed rats to walk and even run again while supporting their full weight on a treadmill.

Scientists find that individuals in vegetative states can learn

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Sep 20, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (11) | 3

Scientists have found that some individuals in the vegetative and minimally conscious states, despite lacking the means of reporting awareness themselves, can learn and thereby demonstrate at least a partial consciousness. ...

Calcium channels optimize learning

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Sep 18, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (10) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Switzerland, have shown how calcium channels in the brain have a positive impact on learning. Their results have been ...

Direct evidence of role of sleep in memory formation is uncovered

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Sep 15, 2009 | 5 / 5 (11) | 1

A Rutgers University, Newark and Collége de France, Paris research team has pinpointed for the first time the mechanism that takes place during sleep that causes learning and memory formation to occur.

Visualizing brain processes with new techniques

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Sep 09, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (3) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The brain's magic is worked by neural circuits, where information is transmitted from one nerve cell to the next. In the heat of the summer, for example, our ability to relish an ice cream ...

Star-shaped cells in the brain aid with learning

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Sep 07, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (8) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Every movement and every thought requires the passing of specific information between networks of nerve cells. To improve a skill or to learn something new entails more efficient or a greater ...

Neuroscientists find brain region responsible for our sense of personal space

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Aug 30, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (16) | 8

In a finding that sheds new light on the neural mechanisms involved in social behavior, neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology have pinpointed the brain structure responsible for our sense ...

Pot shot: Scientists find cannabis trigger for forgetfulness

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

Aug 02, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (9) | 5

Researchers on Sunday said they had pinpointed the biochemical pathway by which cannabis causes memory loss in mice.