Neuroscience

When a person sustains an injury to the spinal cord, the normal communication between the brain and the spinal circuits below the injury is interrupted, resulting in paralysis. Because the brain is functioning normally, as is the spinal cord below the injury, researchers have been working to re-establish communication to allow for rehabilitation and potentially restore movement.

When a group of friends gets together at a bar or gathers for an intimate dinner, conversations can quickly multiply and mix, with different groups and pairings chatting over and across one another.

New USC research offers an unseen insight into how the brain shifts gears. The researchers have discovered that our innate ability to make quick changes in motor function is the result of a unique brain mechanism.

A new study from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Columbia Butler Aging Center suggests that risk factors and biomarkers related to Alzheimer’s disease are associated with cognition much earlier in life than previously recognized. The study highlights significant associations between cognition and Alzheimer’s disease risk factors as young as ages 24 to 44 and underscores the importance of early prevention.

Multiphoton microscopy is a valuable tool for neuroscience research, allowing scientists to observe functional brain activity in real time through high-resolution imaging. An essential component of many multiphoton microscopy imaging studies is the delivery of chemical compounds, including imaging agents and drugs. However, many compounds cannot cross the blood-brain barrier and, therefore, cannot be delivered to the brain through systemic administration.

Music can evoke intense pleasure, sometimes experienced physically as pleasant “chills.” While the effect of music on pleasure is clear, the brain mechanisms behind musical enjoyment are not yet fully understood. The brain’s opioid system is known to be involved in pleasurable experiences related to survival-critical behaviors, such as eating and sex.

New research from the University of Sydney has revealed poor oral health is significantly associated with higher instances of migraines, abdominal and body pain in women.

Researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine have discovered a new way that neurons act in neurodegeneration by using human neural organoids—also known as “mini-brain” models—from patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD).

Though the sense of touch underlies how we and most other animals interact with the world around us, much remains unknown about how this sense is processed in the brain. Researchers from Heidelberg University and Ludwig Maximilian University Munich in Germany measured the neuronal activity differences between active touch and passive touch in mice.

New research from The University of Manchester may reshape our understanding of what happens to the immune system when we fast. The study on mice shows that the brain’s hypothalamus controls how the immune system adapts during fasting, through a handful of highly specialized neurons responsible for making animals hungry.