In the balmy cloud forests of Central and South America, nightfall is marked by operatic calls of Alston’s singing mouse, a small, short-tailed rodent famous for its courteous communication. These minuscule mice, each of which weighs less than a lightbulb, sing unique, chirp-filled songs to one another that can last as long as 16 seconds….
Researchers at APC Microbiome Ireland, a leading research center at University College Cork, have taken a major step toward understanding how coffee benefits the body. For the first time, scientists have closely examined how coffee interacts with the gut-brain axis, the communication network that links the digestive system and the brain. The findings, published in…
Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have uncovered a built in process that can remove existing amyloid plaques from the brains of mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease while also helping preserve memory and thinking ability. The discovery centers on astrocytes, star shaped support cells in the brain, which can be directed to clear away the…
Over the last century, scientists have mapped several of the body’s sensory systems in microscopic detail, discovering that the cells that process sight, sound and touch are arranged in predictable spatial patterns. It has been much harder to navigate the complex landscape of the nose, with its enormous array of scent receptors. For years, many…
“Our brains are so pharmaceutically inclined,” he said. “This fits into the model of pills.” At the same time, tDCS could also challenge the current, pill-centric paradigm, by pushing psychiatrists to go beyond old notions of serotonin deficiencies and chemical imbalances, and to think more broadly about getting the brain unstuck. The two treatments together,…
Researchers at MIT have identified an unexpected effect in optical physics that could lead to a faster and more detailed way to image living tissue. Under specific conditions, what normally looks like a scattered and disordered laser signal can reorganize itself into a narrow, highly focused “pencil beam.” With this self-formed beam, the team produced…
Before the new obesity drugs came on the market, almost no one used the term food noise. Researchers studying and developing drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound analyzed doses, side effects, weight loss and improvements in conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and sleep apnea. Incessant thoughts about food and internal dialogues about what…
In the middle of a spring afternoon near Lowden-Miller State Forest, Daniel Skinner poured a small pile of dried, yellow corn onto the ground. Shouldering his .308 Remington rifle equipped with a thermal scope, he disappeared into a camouflaged ground blind in the middle of a cornfield. For eight hours, he waited for a white-tailed…
Researchers at McGill University and the Douglas Institute have discovered that two distinct types of brain cells function differently in people with depression. The findings, published in Nature Genetics, offer important clues that could lead to new treatments designed to target these specific cells. They also provide a clearer understanding of depression, a condition that…
Lena Dunham recently told SiriusXM’s “Radio Andy” that she has an idea for a “Girls” movie. She also shared that she made a group chat with the original cast, in which they’ve discussed reuniting when the hit HBO drama is “appropriately missed.” “I would love to do it, and I have to say, I got…
