Neuroscience

In our day-to-day lives, we’re constantly making a slew of decisions, from immediate matters to prospects on the far horizon. But the evolutionary nuts-and-bolts of how our brains weigh these numerous daily decisions and what role is played by the neurotransmitter serotonin has been shrouded in mystery.

A research group led by Takumi Kagawa and Masashi Kato at Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine has discovered that using “a unique sound stimulation technology”—a device that stimulates the inner ear with a specific wavelength of sound—reduces motion sickness. Even a single minute of stimulation reduced the staggering and discomfort felt by people that read in a moving vehicle.

Scientists have discovered a new mechanism that acts via an immune cell and points toward a different way of treating chronic pain. Female hormones can suppress pain by making immune cells near the spinal cord produce opioids, a new study by researchers at UC San Francisco has found. This stops pain signals before they get to the brain.

A new interdisciplinary study by researchers from the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Technion reveals a surprising insight: local release of dopamine—a molecule best known for its role in the brain’s reward system—is a key factor in acquiring new motor skills

In military service members with a history of repetitive blast exposure, researchers found that higher blast exposure correlated with changes in the functional connectivity between brain regions, according to a new study published in Radiology.

More and more people are worried about the long-term effects of contact sports on the brain. In football (soccer), studies have found that repeatedly heading the ball can lead to memory problems and an increased risk of serious brain diseases. This has led to rules limiting heading the ball in youth leagues and calls to protect professional players in similar ways.

When you hear a song from your youth—maybe a high school slow dance or a road trip anthem—you’re not just reminiscing. You’re lighting up key regions of your brain.

As animals experience new things, the connections between neurons, called synapses, strengthen or weaken in response to events and the activity they cause in the brain. Neuroscientists believe that synaptic plasticity, as these changes are called, plays an important role in storing memories.

A team of researchers from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) has developed the world’s most advanced software to study the human cerebellum using high-resolution NMR images.

Early-life adversity affects more than half of the world’s children and is a significant risk factor for cognitive and mental health problems later in life. In an extensive and up-to-the-minute review of research in this domain, scholars from the University of California, Irvine illuminate the profound impacts of these adverse childhood experiences on brain development and introduce new paths for understanding and tackling them.