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Category: neuroscience – Page 2

Scientists discover learning and memory formation in model membranes

“Science is a conversation,” said John Katsaras, neutron scattering scientist at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source, a Department of Energy Office of Science user facility. “Many years ago, Pat [Collier] and I wanted to see what would happen when we combined our scientific interests. He wanted to explore soft matter systems for neuromorphic computing [computing systems designed to mimic how the brain processes information], and I’ve studied the structure and dynamics of lipid membranes over the past 40 years. We are now applying decades of our soft matter experience to a problem neither one of us would have imagined pursuing five years ago.”

Soft matter includes materials that readily change shape, such as membranes, gels and polymers. Although biological membranes vary in complexity, they all share a common foundation: a lipid bilayer, or double layer of molecules. Each lipid contains a hydrophilic (water-attracting) head and a hydrophobic (water-repelling) tail.

To study membrane properties under electrical stimulation, Katsaras and Collier used water droplets suspended in oil, known as a droplet interface bilayer. These early experiments showed unexpected electrical data, prompting them to shift their attention to membranes surrounding neurons, where many memory and learning processes occur.

Scientists Show That Water Has Memory

A new groundbreaking discovery has been made within the most basic of resources. Scientists have just discovered what they have called “The Discovery of The Millennium”, and a huge revelation in human consciousness.

Scientists from Germany now believe that water has a memory, meaning that what once was seen as a simple commodity has now been closely examined to reveal a scientific revelation, uncovering a mind-blowing truth.

By examining individual drops of water at an incredibly high magnification, scientists were able to physically see that each droplet of water has its own individual microscopic pattern, each distinguishable from the next and uniquely beautiful.

New brain wave theory explains cognition and consciousness

A new theory, published in The Journal of Neuroscience by three scientists in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT, offers an explanation of how the brain produces cognition and consciousness: It uses traveling waves of rhythmic neural activity to coordinate nimble neural networks with analog computations.

The metaphor that the brain operates with “circuits” is incomplete, said Picower Professor Earl K. Miller, the paper’s senior author. Indubitably, the brain’s physically connected circuits provide the infrastructure to store our memories and represent our ongoing needs and goals. But when we need to make improvised use of that knowledge in the rapid-fire, anything goes sensory context the world constantly throws our way, we can’t just depend on the relatively slow chemical process of rewiring those circuit connections called “synapses,” he said. Instead, the brain needs a control system that can coordinate millions of neurons to process information in a fraction of a second. Brain waves, long understood to be the synchronized rhythmic fluctuations of large groups of neurons, turn out to be performing that crucial service, Miller and his colleagues argue, citing years of experimental evidence from his lab and many others.

Circuits and synapses are important and fundamental, that’s the start. But there is more going on. The brain generates waves, and wave dynamics are a highly efficient way to coordinate and perform computation

New brain cell formation stalls in adults with depression, study shows

Findings from a new study by researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons suggest that the trickle of neurons created in the adult hippocampus could be instrumental in preventing depression. Most of the brain’s 100 billion neurons are created before birth.

Published in the journal Nature Medicine, the study shows for the first time that neurogenesis stalls in the brains of adults with major depressive disorder and identifies the molecular programs that control neurogenesis, which may help researchers develop new therapies.

“Historically, depression was thought to be a disease of neurotransmitter deficiency, especially serotonin, but we now think that depression stems from multiple issues that affect our neurons’ ability to adapt to stress and changing environments,” says Maura Dupont, a professor of psychiatry who led the research.

Designing supramolecular therapies to cross the blood-brain barrier

A new Northwestern Medicine study has uncovered key molecular design principles that could help supramolecular therapeutics cross the blood-brain barrier, a major challenge for this novel approach to treating neurological disorders.

Published in ACS Nano, the study examined how subtle changes in the structure of molecules called peptide amphiphiles affect their ability to move through brain endothelial cells and traverse the blood-brain barrier.

The findings provide a roadmap for developing new therapies capable of reaching the brain, including potential treatments for stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and other neurological conditions.

Brain test could predict dementia before doctors can see it, study suggests

Early symptoms include forgetting things or recent events, getting lost or confused even in familiar places, problems following or making conversation, and feeling anxious or angry and exhibiting inappropriate behavior.

There is no cure for dementia, and as the condition progresses, the patient may not be able to recognize loved ones, move around, eat, drink, or control their bladder or bowels.

Now, researchers have suggested that a measure of how old a person’s brain appears on brain scans, compared with their actual age, may be a predictor for developing dementia at a later age, and may predict the risk years before doctors can see it.

When people of different generations create together, brain activity changes

When people of different generations create art together, their brains initially show more synchrony, and the synchrony can predict feelings of loneliness or social connection, according to a study published Aug. 20 in the journal PLOS Biology by Ryssa Moffat from ETH Zurich in Switzerland and colleagues.

Loneliness—a perceived feeling of social isolation—is a growing health risk. Policymakers and health practitioners are working on methods to create meaningful social interactions that bring people together, especially between generations. But while intergenerational interactions can increase well-being in older adults, the physiological changes resulting from them are unknown.

To better understand changes in the brain that might come as intergenerational relationships are formed, the authors of this pre-registered study collected data from 31 intergenerational pairs, recruiting adults older than 70 and pairing them with adults between 18 and 35, and comparing them with 30 same-generation pairs of younger adults.

Scientists Reveal How ADHD Could Fuel Creative Thinking

ADHD-related attention patterns may become a source of creativity and focus when supported through structured creative expression.

How can ADHD create serious everyday challenges for millions of people while also appearing among highly successful creative figures such as Justin Timberlake and Simone Biles?

New research from Constructor University neuroscientist Dr. Radwa Khalil, published in iScience, examines the neuroscience behind that apparent contradiction by looking at how creativity and attention are connected in the brain.

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