Neuroscience

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.

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.