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Preschool-aged biomarker discovered for autism spectrum disorder
Researchers led by Takeo Yoshikawa at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science in Japan have discovered a biomarker that can detect autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in preschool-aged children. Published in Brain Communications, the new study found that levels of the protein FABP4 were much lower in four- to six-year-old children with ASD than they were […]
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Brain stimulation reduces dyslexia deficits
Dyslexia is a frequent disorder of reading acquisition that affects up to 10% of the population, and is characterised by lifelong difficulties with written material. Although several possible causes have been proposed for dyslexia, the predominant one is a phonological deficit, a difficulty in processing language sounds. The phonological deficit in dyslexia is associated with […]
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What Makes Memories So Detailed and Enduring
The study, published in Nature Communications, describes a newly discovered mechanism of learning in the brain shown to stabilize memories and reduce interference between them. Its findings also provide new insight into how humans form expectations and make accurate predictions about what could happen in future.
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Study Suggests Unconscious Learning Underlies Belief in God
Individuals who can unconsciously predict complex patterns, an ability called implicit pattern learning, are likely to hold stronger beliefs that there is a god who creates patterns of events in the universe, according to neuroscientists at Georgetown University.
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ranscriptional Reprogramming of Distinct Peripheral Sensory Neuron Subtypes after Axonal Injury
Primary somatosensory neurons are specialized to transmit specific types of sensory information through differences in cell size, myelination, and the expression of distinct receptors and ion channels, which together define their transcriptional and functional identity. By profiling sensory ganglia at single-cell resolution, we find that all somatosensory neuronal subtypes undergo a similar transcriptional response to […]
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Cashew shell compound appears to mend damaged nerves
In laboratory experiments, a chemical compound found in the shell of the cashew nut promotes the repair of myelin, a team from Vanderbilt University Medical Center reported Aug. 17 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Becoming a nerve cell: Timing is of the essence
Mitochondria are small organelles that provide the energy critical for each cell in our body, in particular in the high fuel-consuming brain. In this week’s edition of Science, a Belgian team of researchers led by Pierre Vanderhaeghen (VIB-KU Leuven, ULB) finds that mitochondria also regulate a key event during brain development: how neural stem cells […]
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Young children would rather explore than get rewards
Young children will pass up rewards they know they can collect to explore other options, a new study suggests.Researchers found that when adults and 4- to 5-year-old children played a game where certain choices earned them rewards, both adults and children quickly learned what choices would give them the biggest returns.
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Clear Contrast: Q&A with Mikhail Shapiro, Ph.D
One of the most challenging aspects of studying the brain is that it’s so hard to access within living organisms. Mikhail G. Shapiro, PhD, TCCI®-affiliated, Professor of Chemical Engineering and Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator was recently interviewed by the Dana Foundation about his team’s recent discovery of an “erasable” contrast agent which makes it easier to study […]
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Stress, sleep, and immunity
Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) and Stanford University have pinpointed the circuit in the brain that is responsible for sleepless nights in times of stress—and it turns out that circuit does more than make you toss and turn. Their study, done in mice, ties the same neuronal connections that trigger insomnia to stress-induced […]