News
Learning why spiny mice play well with others
3+ day, 10+ hour ago (525+ words) Aubrey Kelly studies the gregarious mammal to explore how the brain controls complex social behaviors "akin to friendship." Prairie voles have a reputation as one of the most social rodents, but when Aubrey Kelly tried to use them to study…...
Long-sought walking circuit found in fruit flies
2+ week, 6+ day ago (744+ words) The neuronal circuit controlling repetitive locomotion patterns in any animal has been a mystery until now. Many animals, from cockroaches to cats, can walk without input from the brain. Yet scientists have struggled to pinpoint the responsible rhythm-generating circuit, or…...
Processing facial emotions, and more | The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives
4+ week, 53+ min ago (207+ words) Processing facial emotions, and more'The Transmitter Processing facial emotions, and more Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 4 May. Facing emotions: Generative modeling of dynamic neural data makes it possible…...
To understand decision-making, we need to truly challenge lab animals
1+ mon, 1+ week ago (218+ words) Complex, multidimensional tasks that unfold over time could reveal how different brain areas work together to support decisions. Second, animals perform simple tasks quickly, generating only a narrow window of neural activity from which to try to make sense of…...
Arboreal deer mice reveal neural roots of dexterity
1+ mon, 3+ week ago (704+ words) The rodents offered researchers an opportunity to link genetically driven changes in corticospinal abundance and morphology to climbing cachet. Deer mice, common across North America, come in two varieties: One lives in prairies, whereas the other inhabits forests. The life…...
Neuro's ark: Sounding out the evolution of hearing with geckos
2+ mon, 1+ day ago (538+ words) Catherine Carr explains her discovery that geckos retain a vibration-sensing pathway previously thought to be lost when animals moved onto land. Most lizards are mute, but not geckos: They chirp, croak, cackle and hiss to attract mates or ward off…...
Funding for animal research alternatives at inflection point
2+ mon, 6+ day ago (442+ words) The United States and Europe are dedicating hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to advance novel alternative methods, but not all neuroscientists see this as a positive step. Across the United States and Europe, funding is flowing to develop…...
Head direction cells stably orient mice to outside world
2+ mon, 1+ week ago (754+ words) The cells" representations show little drift over time'unlike those of other navigation system neurons'and may provide a "rigid backbone" for more flexible sensory and cognitive responses. The idea that some neural representations can "drift," or change over time, even in…...
The Fox, the Shrew, and You: How Brains Evolved," an excerpt
2+ mon, 3+ week ago (1096+ words) The Transmitter "The Fox, the Shrew, and You: How Brains Evolved," an excerpt In his new book, Rogier Mars provides a detailed account of animal and human brain evolution. In this excerpt from Chapter 1, he starts with the sea squirt'and…...
Two primate centers drop "primate" from their name
3+ mon, 3+ day ago (407+ words) The Washington and Tulane National Biomedical Research Centers'formerly called National Primate Research Centers'say they made the change to better reflect the breadth of research performed at the centers. Two of the seven U. S. National Primate Research Centers have changed their name…...