Magnetic compasses help pigeons navigate in the dark
Finding your way home in the dark can be challenging, but pigeons have developed surprising navigational strategies to sense magnetic fields to make it home safe.
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Breaking down the brain for everyone to understand
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Faster is not always better: How a faster kinesin motor does more harm than good
Moving cargo along axons requires extreme precision, where timing and pacing are just as critical as raw function. Moving too fast or too slow cause problems. This article explores how a KIF1A motor mutation causes KIF1A to walk faster along the microtubule but disrupts the cell.
Caught a case of the yawns?
Can you make it through this article without yawning? Scientists are still trying to understand the neuroscience behind contagious yawns. Let’s discuss the most prominent theory.
My buddy Claude, friend or foe?
While Claude, ChatGPT and other generative AIs are doing the work, what's happening (or not happening) in your brain?
Becoming man’s best friend: Biology’s survival guide for animals in a world with humans
Many animals have evolved to coexist with—or even rely on—humans. A few key changes in neurobiology may explain how evolution has shaped dogs and other animals into human companions.
Out of thin air: The brain at high altitude
Lower oxygen at high altitude poses a serious danger to climbers, but some populations have adapted to thrive in these conditions. What differences in the brain and body confer protection to inhabitants of these harsh environments?
The missing community in the link between hearing loss and dementia
Acquiring hearing loss later in life is one of the strongest risk factors for dementia, a condition that affects cognitive abilities, like memory, in aging adults. Yet as researchers attempt to understand this connection, one overlooked community could provide new insights: early-deafened people.
Use it or lose it: How a lifetime of challenging our brains may slow the onset of dementia symptoms
Not everyone whose brain shows physical changes associated with dementia experiences symptoms. Some scientists believe that a lifetime of keeping our minds active may make our brains more adaptable, helping to slow the onset of dementia symptoms even after physical brain changes have begun.
All roads lead to Rome: How neurons use different strategies for the same result
Have you ever wondered why, in some cases, people respond differently to the same thing? The answer might lie in crabs! Scientists studying crabs found that neurons doing the same job can be wired differently from animal to animal, like people solving the same puzzle in different ways. Usually it doesn't matter. But when the environment changes, like a sudden temperature shift, or taking a new…
Gyrification: How the brain gets groovy
Why is the human brain wrinkled, rather than smooth like the brain of a mouse? Explore how evolution solved a space problem by folding the cerebral cortex, creating the ridges and grooves that help make human thought possible.