Related topics: brain , memory , brain cells , learning , nerve cells
Neuron
hideA neuron (pronounced /ˈnjʊərɒn/ N(Y)OOR-on, also known as a neurone or nerve cell) is an excitable cell in the nervous system that processes and transmits information by electrochemical signalling. Neurons are the core components of the brain, the vertebrate spinal cord, the invertebrate ventral nerve cord, and the peripheral nerves. A number of specialized types of neurons exist: sensory neurons respond to touch, sound, light and numerous other stimuli affecting cells of the sensory organs that then send signals to the spinal cord and brain. Motor neurons receive signals from the brain and spinal cord and cause muscle contractions and affect glands. Interneurons connect neurons to other neurons within the same region of the brain or spinal cord. Neurons respond to stimuli, and communicate the presence of stimuli to the central nervous system, which processes that information and sends responses to other parts of the body for action. Neurons do not go through mitosis, and usually cannot be replaced after being destroyed, although astrocytes have been observed to turn into neurons as they are sometimes pluripotent.
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News tagged with neurons
Machine Translates Thoughts into Speech in Real Time
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 21, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (44) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- By implanting an electrode into the brain of a person with locked-in syndrome, scientists have demonstrated how to wirelessly transmit neural signals to a speech synthesizer. The "thought-to-speech" ...
You can control your Marilyn Monroe neuron
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 22, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (26) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In a scientific first, researchers have been able to demonstrate the ability of humans to control the activity of individual brain cells.
Ageing Brains Show Great Promise for Rejuvenation
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Jun 24, 2009 |
4.7 / 5 (24) |
4
(PhysOrg.com) -- UQ neuroscientists have, for the first time, been able to demonstrate that moderate exercise significantly increases the number of neural stem cells in the ageing brain.
Team reports major step forward in cell reprogramming
Oct 08, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (18) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers has made a major advance toward producing induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, that are safe enough to use in treating diseases ...
Researchers identify dominant chemical that attracts mosquitoes to humans
Oct 26, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (18) |
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Scientists at the University of California, Davis, have identified the dominant odor naturally produced in humans and birds that attracts the blood-feeding Culex mosquitoes, which transmit West Nile virus ...
On the move: 'Jumping genes' create diversity in human brain cells
Aug 05, 2009 |
5 / 5 (14) |
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Rather than sticking to a single DNA script, human brain cells harbor astonishing genomic variability, according to scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. The findings, to be published in ...
Scientists give flies false memories
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 15, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (13) |
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By directly manipulating the activity of individual neurons, scientists have given flies memories of a bad experience they never really had, according to a report in the October 16th issue of the journal Cell.
Function of a neglected structure in neurons revealed after 50 years
Sep 08, 2009 |
5 / 5 (12) |
4
(PhysOrg.com) -- Fifty years after it was originally discovered, scientists at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Switzerland, have elucidated the function of a microscopic network of ...
Active ingredients in marijuana found to spread and prolong pain
Aug 13, 2009 |
2.7 / 5 (22) |
24
Imagine that you're working on your back porch, hammering in a nail. Suddenly you slip and hit your thumb instead — hard. The pain is incredibly intense, but it only lasts a moment. After a few seconds (and a few unprintable ...
Researchers regenerate axons necessary for voluntary movement
Apr 06, 2009 |
5 / 5 (10) |
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For the first time, researchers have clearly shown regeneration of a critical type of nerve fiber that travels between the brain and the spinal cord and which is required for voluntary movement. The regeneration was accomplished ...
Ants on the brain
Biology /
Feb 25, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
3
(PhysOrg.com) -- Colonies of social insects such as ants and bees could collectively make decisions using mechanisms similar to those used in primate brains, according to new research from the University of ...
Ego City: Cities organized like human brains
Sep 03, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (11) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Cities are organized like brains, and the evolution of cities mirrors the evolution of human and animal brains, according to a new study by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Scientists propose new theory of autism
Apr 01, 2009 |
4.1 / 5 (11) |
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Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have proposed a sweeping new theory of autism that suggests that the brains of people with autism are structurally normal but dysregulated, meaning symptoms ...
Calcium channels optimize learning
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Sep 18, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (10) |
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(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 ...
Sleep helps build long-term memories
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Jun 24, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (9) |
1
(PhysOrg.com) -- Experts have long suspected that part of the process of turning fleeting short-term memories into lasting long-term memories occurs during sleep. Now, researchers at the RIKEN-MIT Center for ...
