How exactly do anaesthetic drugs shut down the brain? We still don’t have a complete picture, but a new study just got us a step closer.
People with ALS gradually lose the ability to perform voluntary movements due to a loss of communication between the nervous system and the muscles.
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A new study shows that it is possible to reduce the symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis by reducing the inflammation caused by immune cells in the brain.
Thinking builds neural networks, which is why practice improves performance.
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Studying the human brain is difficult because of its vast and intricate network of neural connections. The fruit fly offers a simpler but similar model that researchers can more easily map.
Robots often have a hard time navigating through debris, but robots designed based on worms and snakes could move around obstacles faster, thanks to an idea called mechanical intelligence.
The experimental methods available today allow us to break the brain down into its elementary components in order to understand its functions and dysfunctions.
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Montréal is home to one of the world’s largest brain banks, the Douglas-Bell Canada Brain Bank, where discoveries about different neurological and psychiatric diseases are made.
Itch-sensing neurons in your skin are intertwined with your immune cells. Counterintuitively, the molecule that connects them triggers responses that both worsen and improve skin conditions.
New research hints at how psychedelics can trigger rapid, lasting change.
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Change in the brain usually comes with plenty of effort over time. Neuroscientists are working to understand how psychedelic drugs provide a shortcut that seems to rely on existing brain systems.
A better understanding of dopamine could lead to better treatments for neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental diseases, among others.
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From dopamine hacking to dopamine detoxes, some people have sought to harness this brain chemical to improve their mood and productivity. But it’s far more complicated than that.
Psychedelics can help uncover consciousness.
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When fruit flies see other dead fruit flies, their life spans are cut short. Other species also undergo analogous physiological changes when seeing their dead.
Pinpointing where memories are stored in the brain and how they are transmitted could provide new targets to treat neurological diseases and serve as models for neuromorphic computing.
A class of inhibitory neurons can make long-distance connections across both hemispheres of the brain.
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Learning new rules requires the suppression of old ones. A better understanding of the brain circuits involved in behavioral adaptation could lead to new ways to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Mirror neurons play a fundamental role in learning by imitation and observation or empathy. This is why we should take them into account when developing new educational tools.