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Category: neuroscience – Page 30

Past neuroscience and psychology studies have shown that people’s expectations of the world can influence their perceptions, either by directing their attention to expected stimuli or by reducing their sensitivity (i.e., perceptual acuity) to variations within the categories of stimuli we expect to be exposed to.

While the effects of expectations on perceptions are now well-documented, their remain poorly understood.

Researchers at University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) carried out a study involving songbirds aimed at better understanding how -fueled biases in shape brain activity and behavior.

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People breathing contaminated air over the course of years are at greater risk of developing numerous diseases. This is thought to be due to highly reactive components in particulate matter, which affect biological processes in the body. However, researchers from the University of Basel, Switzerland, have now shown that precisely these components disappear within hours and that previous measurements therefore completely underestimate the quantities in which they are present.

From chronic respiratory problems to cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and dementia, health damage caused by air pollution is wide-ranging and serious. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over six million deaths a year are caused by increased exposure to particulate matter.

The chemical composition of these tiny particles in the air, which come from a wide range of both anthropogenic and natural sources, is highly complex. Which particles trigger which reactions and long-term diseases in the body is the subject of intensive research.

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Naturalistic communication is an aim for neuroprostheses. Here the authors present a neuroprosthesis that restores the voice of a paralyzed person simultaneously with their speaking attempts, enabling naturalistic communication.

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Researchers at the University of Virginia have created the first comprehensive protein-level atlas of brain development, providing unprecedented insight into how the brain forms and potential implications for understanding neurological disorders. The study, published in Nature Neuroscience, analyzed over 24 million individual cells from mouse brains, revealing detailed molecular pathways that guide brain development from early embryonic stages through early postnatal development.

The research team, led by Professors Christopher Deppmann and Eli Zunder, used an innovative technique called mass cytometry to track 40 different proteins across various brain regions and developmental stages. The approach provided a more detailed view of cellular function than previous studies that primarily examined RNA.

“While RNA studies have given us important insights, proteins are the actual workforce of cells,” explained Deppmann, a professor in the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences’ Department of Biology. “By studying proteins directly, we can better understand how cells are functioning and communicating during brain development.”

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The effects of quantum mechanics—the laws of physics that apply at exceedingly small scales—are extremely sensitive to disturbances. This is why quantum computers must be held at temperatures colder than outer space, and only very, very small objects, such as atoms and molecules, generally display quantum properties.

By quantum standards, are quite hostile environments: they’re warm and chaotic, and even their fundamental components—such as cells—are considered very large.

But a group of theoretical and experimental researchers has discovered a distinctly quantum effect in biology that survives these difficult conditions and may also present a way for the brain to protect itself from like Alzheimer’s.

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