Calculations show that nerve fibres in the brain could emit pairs of entangled particles, and this quantum phenomenon might explain how different parts of the brain work together.
Category: neuroscience – Page 138
Everyone knows that exercise helps both body and mind, but high-intensity interval training (HIIT) offers older adults an even greater boost for long-term brain health, compared to less intense workouts.
FINDING THAT CONNECTION ©
This is my laboratory work, please see copyright details at bottom.
You’re watching two neurons that I saw under the microscope sensing one another and connecting.
There are 86 billion neurons in the brain — how do they know how to connect to other neurons or body parts when our bodies are developing?
They use these webbed hand-like structures that you can see in this video. The finger like projections actively sense the environment around it.
When we are developing in utero, you’ll find these “growth cones,” at the tip of every growing neuron, actively searching their way between cells, trying to find the right spot to connect to. When they make their connection, they become resorbed and disappear.
I know — it’s heartbreaking that the video ends right when we get to the exciting part, but see the black wavering line in the bottom right? That’s what they look like after they’ve connected together in a Petri dish.
Researchers have developed a new approach for describing the shape of the cerebral cortex, and provide evidence that cortices across mammalian species resemble a universal, fractal pattern.
At the mere flick of a magnetic field, mice engineered with nanoparticle-activated ‘switches’ inside their brains were driven to feed, socialize, and act like clucky new mothers in an experiment designed to test an innovative research tool.
While ’mind control’ animal experiments are far from new, they have generally relied on cumbersome electrodes tethering the subject to an external system, which not only requires invasive surgery but also sets limits on how freely the test subject can move about.
In what is claimed to be a breakthrough in neurology, researchers from the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) in Korea have developed a method for targeting pathways in the brain using a combination of genetics, nanoparticles, and magnetic fields.
Aging is a universal experience, evident through changes like wrinkles and graying hair. However, aging goes beyond the surface; it begins within our cells. Over time, our cells gradually lose their ability to perform essential functions, leading to a decline that affects every part of our bodies, from our cognitive abilities to our immune health.
To understand how cellular changes lead to age-related disorders, Calico scientists are using advanced RNA sequencing to map molecular changes in individual cells over time in the roundworm, C. elegans. Much like mapping networks of roads and landscapes, we’re charting the complexities of our biology. These atlases uncover cell characteristics, functions, and interactions, providing deeper insights into how our bodies age.
In the early 1990s, Cynthia Kenyon, Vice President of Aging Research at Calico, and her former team at UCSF discovered genes in C. elegans that control lifespan; these genes, which influence IGF1 signaling, function similarly to extend lifespan in many other organisms, including mammals. The genetic similarities between this tiny worm and more complex animals make it a useful model for studying the aging process. In work published in Cell Reports last year, our researchers created a detailed map of gene activity in every cell of the body of C. elegans throughout its development, providing a comprehensive blueprint of its cellular diversity and functions. They found that aging is an organized process, not merely random deterioration. Each cell type follows its own aging path, with many activating cell-specific protective gene expression pathways, and with some cell types aging faster than others. Even within the same cell type, the rate of aging can vary.
Ending Alzheimer’s Disease Everywhere — Dr. Tim MacLeod, PhD & Dr. Vaibhav Narayan, PhD, Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative.
Summary: A new study reveals that the epigenetic state of neurons determines their role in memory formation. Neurons with open chromatin states are more likely to be recruited into memory traces, showing higher electrical activity during learning.
Researchers demonstrated that manipulating these epigenetic states in mice can enhance or impair learning. This discovery shifts the focus from synaptic plasticity to nuclear processes, offering potential new avenues for treating cognitive disorders.