Hundreds of times during a baseball game, the home plate umpire must instantaneously categorize a fast-moving pitch as a ball or a strike. In new research from the University of Chicago, scientists have pinpointed an [...]
Tag Archives | nature neuroscience
Balls & Strikes: Where visual categories live in the brain
Failing sense of smell can be reversed
In a new study scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center have shown that the sense of smell can be improved. The new findings, published online November 20, 2011, in Nature Neuroscience, suggest possible ways to [...]
NJIT math professor illuminates cellular basis of neural impulse transmission
NJIT Associate Professor Victor Matveev, PhD, in the department of mathematical sciences, was part of a research team that published “N-type Ca2+ channels carry the largest current: Implications for nanodomains and transmitter release,” in Nature N…
Neuronal diversity makes a difference, says Carnegie Mellon study
PITTSBURGH — Much like snowflakes, no two neurons are exactly alike. But it’s not the size or shape that sets one neuron apart from another, it’s the way it responds to incoming stimuli. Carnegie Mellon University researchers have discovered …
New technique ID's parts of brain most crucial to 'normal' functioning
A team of researchers has developed a novel new brain imaging technique that produces maps that “light up” the relationship between the severity of a behavioral deficit and the voxels (similar to pixels in computer images) in the brain that contribute the most to that deficit. Discovery of the new technique, known as Voxel-based Lesion-Symptom Mapping (VLSM) will give researchers an invaluable new tool for pinpointing the specific areas of the brain that are most crucial for normal functioning during critical brain activities, starting with the measures of language comprehension and production that were used for the first demonstration in Nature Neuroscience, but moving on to many different language and non-language functions.
Controlling Neurons May Ease Parkinson's Disease
Blocking or eliminating a specific potassium channel in a small group of brain cells may improve or prevent the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, a debilitating and progressive neurodegenerative disease that afflicts over 1 million people in the United States. In Parkinson’s disease, neurons that release dopamine die. The loss of dopamine causes an array of debilitating symptoms that include resting tremor, muscle rigidity and slowed movement. Although the cause of the disease remains uncertain, James Surmeier and colleagues at Northwestern University have discovered a way of potentially lessening the symptoms and progression of the disease. The investigators describe their findings in the March issue of Nature Neuroscience.<
Controlling 'badly' behaving neurons may ease Parkinson's disease
Blocking or eliminating a specific potassium channel in a small group of brain cells may improve or prevent the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, a debilitating and progressive neurodegenerative disease that afflicts over 1 million people in the United States. In Parkinson’s disease, neurons that release dopamine die. The loss of dopamine causes an array of debilitating symptoms that include resting tremor, muscle rigidity and slowed movement.