This is your brain without sleep
New research shows attention lapses due to sleep deprivation coincide with a flushing of fluid from the brain — a process that normally occurs during sleep.
Neural activity helps circuit connections mature into optimal signal transmitters
Scientists identified how circuit connections in fruit flies tune to the right size and degree of signal transmission capability. Understanding this could lead to a way to tweak abnormal signal transmission in certain disorders.
Immune-informed brain aging research offers new treatment possibilities, speakers say
Speakers at MIT’s Aging Brain Initiative symposium described how immune system factors during aging contribute to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other conditions. The field is leveraging that knowledge to develop new therapies.
Study finds key role for non-neural brain cells in processing vision
MIT researchers employed a novel application of tools and analysis to show that astrocytes ensure neural information processing by maintaining ambient levels of the neurotransmitter chemical GABA.
How the brain splits up vision without you even noticing
As an object moves across your field of view, the brain seamlessly hands off visual processing from one hemisphere to the other like cell phone towers or relay racers do, a new MIT study shows.
Study explains how a rare gene variant contributes to Alzheimer’s disease
Lipid metabolism and cell membrane function can be disrupted in the neurons of people who carry rare variants of ABCA7.
Alzheimer’s erodes brain cells’ control of gene expression, undermining function, cognition
Study of 3.5 million cells from more than 100 human brains finds Alzheimer’s progression — and resilience to disease — depends on preserving epigenomic stability.
Imaging tech promises deepest looks yet into living brain tissue at single-cell resolution
By combining several cutting-edge imaging technologies, a new microscope system could enable unprecedentedly deep and precise visualization of metabolic and neuronal activity, potentially even in humans.
Connect or reject: Extensive rewiring builds binocular vision in the brain
A first-of-its-kind study in mice shows neurons add and shed synapses at a frenzied pace during development to integrate visual signals from the two eyes.
How an MIT professor introduced hundreds of thousands of students to neuroscience
With an emphasis on approachability, Professor Mark Bear’s “Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain” enters its fourth decade as the text of undergraduate neuroscience classes worldwide.
Different anesthetics, same result: unconsciousness by shifting brainwave phase
MIT study finds an easily measurable brain wave shift may be a universal marker of unconsciousness under anesthesia.
In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity
New evidence suggests sensory stimulation of gamma-frequency brain rhythm may promote broad-based restorative neurological health response.
Dopamine signals when a fear can be forgotten
Study shows how a dopamine circuit enables mice to extinguish fear after a peril has passed, opening new avenues for understanding and potentially treating fear-related disorders.
In kids, EEG monitoring of consciousness safely reduces anesthetic use
Clinical trial finds several outcomes improved for young children when an anesthesiologist observed their brain waves to guide dosing of sevoflurane during surgery.
Response to infection highlights the nervous system’s surprising degrees of flexibility
Upon infection, the C. elegans worm reshuffles the roles of brain cells and flips the functions of some of the chemicals it uses to regulate behavior.