How our brains track where we and others go

Crowd of people (stock image).Credit: © Zoe / stock.adobe.com As COVID cases rise, physically distancing yourself from other people has never been more important. Now a new UCLA study reveals how your brain navigates places and monitors someone else in the same location.advertisement Published Dec. 23 in Nature, the findings suggest that our brains generate a common […]

How cognitive intelligence is a whole brain phenomenon

An international collaborative study led by researchers from the NUI Galway provides findings on the neural basis of intelligence, otherwise known as general cognitive ability (IQ).advertisement This new research uses an imaging technique called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to provide an insight into how small variations in this wiring system is associated with differences in […]

Device brings silicon computing power to brain research and prosthetics

Abstract illustration of neuron and binary code (stock image).Credit: © robsonphoto / Adobe Stock Researchers at Stanford University have developed a new device for connecting the brain directly to silicon-based technologies. While brain-machine interface devices already exist — and are used for prosthetics, disease treatment and brain research — this latest device can record more data […]

Ritalin and similar medications cause brain to focus on benefits of work, not costs

Common assumption has long held that Ritalin, Adderall and similar drugs work by helping people focus.advertisement Yet a new study from a team led in part by Brown University researchers shows that these medications — usually prescribed to individuals diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but often used by otherwise healthy people as a “study […]

Early evolution of the brain’s cortex revealed in new study

Lamprey (stock image).Credit: © Andrei Nekrassov / Adobe Stock A new study on the lamprey brain has enabled researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden to push the birth of the cortex back in time by some 300 million years to over 500 million years ago, providing new insights into brain evolution. The study is published in […]

Design of inorganic materials for brain-like computing

Brain-like computing abstract illustration (stock image).Credit: © Sergey Tarasov / Adobe Stock Ever wish your computer could think like you do or perhaps even understand you?advertisement That future may not be now, but it’s one step closer, thanks to a Texas A&M University-led team of scientists and engineers and their recent discovery of a materials-based mimic […]

The brains of shrimps and insects are more alike than we thought

Shrimp swimming (stock image).Credit: © mary / Adobe Stock New research shows that crustaceans such as shrimps, lobsters and crabs have more in common with their insect relatives than previously thought — when it comes to the structure of their brains.advertisement Both insects and crustaceans possess mushroom-shaped brain structures known in insects to be required for […]

New study allows brain and artificial neurons to link up over the web

Brain-digital interface concept illustration (stock image).Credit: © knowhowfootage / Adobe Stock Brain functions are made possible by circuits of spiking neurons, connected together by microscopic, but highly complex links called synapses. In this new study, published in the scientific journal Nature Scientific Reports, the scientists created a hybrid neural network where biological and artificial neurons in different […]

Learning difficulties due to poor connectivity, not specific brain regions

Different learning difficulties do not correspond to specific regions of the brain, as previously thought, say researchers at the University of Cambridge. Instead poor connectivity between ‘hubs’ within the brain is much more strongly related to children’s difficulties.advertisement Between 14-30% of children and adolescents worldwide have learning difficulties severe enough to require additional support. These […]

What birdsong tells us about brain cells and learning

Zebra finch (stock image).Credit: © thawats / Adobe Stock Most scientists who study the brain believe that memories are stored through networks of synapses, or connections that form between neurons. Learning takes place as neurons form new connections and strengthen or weaken existing ones, giving the brain its so-called synaptic plasticity. There is growing evidence, however, […]