Scienceblogtwo

The neocortex of our brains is where we get the ability to reason, choose, recall recent events, and do other things. Now, crucial components of the mechanisms behind these functions have been uncovered by neuroscientists at the University of California, Irvine. Their research may eventually lead to better treatments for some neuropsychiatric conditions and brain damage. Their research is published in Neuron.                                                                                                          Long known to scientists, feedforward and feedback information streams are integrated by the neocortex. The sensory systems of the brain transmit feedforward information to the higher order regions of the neocortex fro...

Researchers have long been motivated by the query of what distinguishes contemporary humans from earlier species. The Neanderthals, our nearest living ancestors, offer fascinating insights in this regard. The expansion of the brain and the synthesis of new neurons throughout brain development are thought to be key contributors to the evolution of higher cognitive functions in humans. Although modern humans and Neanderthals both have brains of a similar size, little is known about whether the creation of neurons in modern human and Neanderthal brains throughout development may have varied. The protein TKTL1, which differs from the Neanderthal variant only by one amino acid, is now known to increase basal radial glia, a type of brain progenitor cell, in the modern human brain, according to research from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) in Dresden. The bulk of the neurons in the growing neocortex, an area of the brain essential for many cognitive f...

Birds exhibit a high level of intellect and have excellent cognitive abilities. Birds' brains also have much more neurons than those of mammals of a similar size. Now, a new study published on September 8 in Current Biology sheds light on how birds can sustain more brain cells since their neurons require less glucose to function. According to Kaya von Eugen of Ruhr University Bochum in Germany, "What astonished us the most is not that the neurons use less glucose per se — this could have been expected by changes in their neurons' sizes." "The size difference can't be the only issue, though, because the magnitude of the change is so great. This suggests that the ability of the bird brain to keep expenses so low must be due to further differences." According to a seminal study published in 2016, the bird brain contains far more neurons than a brain of a comparable size in a mammal. It highlighted a crucial question: how are birds able to support so many ne...

Hector Gomez, professor of mechanical engineering and lead researcher, explained that when a bubble bursts inside a liquid, it creates pressure shock waves. We refer to cavitation as the formation and collapse of a vapor cavity. According to Pavlos Vlachos, the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering's director and the St. Vincent Health Professor of Healthcare Engineering, "Cavitation has been investigated since the 1800s." "The non-equilibrium thermodynamics, continuum mechanics, and numerous other factors on a scale of micrometers and microseconds make it a tremendously complex subject of research. We have been studying these occurrences for hundreds of years, yet we are only now beginning to grasp them."                                                                      There is even less information av...

The chemical route that transforms frightening sights, sounds, and odors into the single message "Be terrified" has been discovered by Salk scientists. Neurons in two different regions of the brain can combine dangerous sensory cues into a single signal using the chemical CGRP, classify it as negative, and send it to the amygdala, which interprets it as fear. The study, which will be published in Cell Reports on August 16, 2022, may result in new treatments for hypersensitive illnesses like autism, migraines, and fibromyalgia as well as fear-related disorders like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to senior author Sung Han, an assistant professor in Salk's Clayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology, "the brain route we uncovered functions as a central alert system." "We were thrilled to discover that negative sensory inputs from all five senses—sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch—activate the CGRP neurons. Understanding how to mana...

Brain cells with the same "birthdate" are more likely to wire together into cooperative signaling circuits that carry out many functions, including the storage of memories, a new study finds. Led by researchers from NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the new study on the brains of mice developing in the womb found that brain cells (neurons) with the same birthdate showed distinct connectivity and activity throughout the animals' adult lives, whether they were asleep or awake. Published online August 22 in Nature Neuroscience, the findings suggest that evolution took advantage of the orderly birth of neurons -- by gestational day -- to form localized microcircuits in the hippocampus, the brain region that forms memories. Rather than attempting to create each new memory from scratch, the researchers suggest, the brain may exploit the stepwise formation of neuronal layers to establish neural templates, like "Lego pieces," that match each new experience to an existing...