reader comments 16 Human brains (and the brains of other vertebrates) are able to process information faster because of myelin, a fatty substance that forms a protective sheath over the axons of our nerve cells and speeds up their impulses. How did our neurons evolve myelin sheaths? Part of the answer—which was unknown until now—almost ..
Tag : neurobiology
Enlarge / A jackdaw tries to remember what color it was thinking of. reader comments 76 Humans tend to think that we are the most intelligent life-forms on Earth, and that we’re largely followed by our close relatives such as chimps and gorillas. But there are some areas of cognition in which homo sapiens and ..
reader comments 14 Indian elephants have larger brains than we do (obviously). Mice have a higher brain-to-body mass ratio, and long-finned pilot whales have more neurons. So what makes humans—and more specifically, human brains—special? As far as organs go, human brains certainly consume a ton of energy—almost 50 grams of sugar, or 12 lumps, every ..
Enlarge / No brain, but still some smarts. reader comments 37 with They don’t have a brain or spinal cord. They float around in a way that often appears aimless. Though jellyfish lack a central nervous system, these gelatinous creatures again show that they might think more than we think they do. Jellyfish, or medusae, ..
reader comments 51 with We have various ways of seeing what the brain is up to, from low-resolution electrodes that track waves of activity that ripple across the brain, to implanted electrodes that can follow the activity of individual cells. Combined with a detailed knowledge of which regions of the brain are involved in specific ..
reader comments 11 with Share this story Nine brains, blue blood, instant camouflage: It’s no surprise that octopuses capture our interest and our imaginations. Science-fiction creators, in particular, have been inspired by these tentacled creatures. An octopus’s remarkable intelligence makes it a unique subject for marine biologists and neuroscientists as well. Research has revealed the ..
reader comments 86 with Share this story Psychedelic drugs are often used for entertainment purposes. But there have been some recent indications that they can be effective against PTSD and treatment-resistant depression. Figuring out whether these substances work as medicinal drugs can be challenging because (as one researcher helpfully pointed out) it’s difficult to do ..
Enlarge / The on-stage demo of the surgical robot practically extended into the audience. reader comments 220 with 0 posters participating Share this story On Wednesday night, Elon Musk hosted an update from his brain-computer interface company, Neuralink. Most of the update involved various researchers at the company providing overviews of the specific areas of ..
reader comments 17 with 12 posters participating Share this story One of the unfortunate realities of science is that small data sets often produce unreliable results, as any minor, random fluctuations can have a large impact. One solution to this issue has been building ever-larger data sets, where these fluctuations tend to be small compared ..
Enlarge / The protein that allows us to sense touch is big and complicated. reader comments 25 with 22 posters participating Share this story Today’s Nobel Prize is in “Physiology or Medicine,” which often means “biology” these days. And 2021 is no exception, as two researchers have won for their discoveries of how humans detect their ..