Memories help animals make predictions. A honeybee may remember that the smell of orange blossoms means nectar is nearby. But sometimes memories require updating. “If you know that your fridge is a good source of food, and you go to … Continue reading
Journal Club
Highlighting recently published papers selected by Academy members
Category Archives: Neuroscience
Journal Club: Tracking memories in fruit fly brains
Categories: Animal Behavior | Journal Club | Neuroscience | Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Tagged drosophila, memory, neurons, PTSD
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Journal Club: Neural circuits and social status spur zebrafish to swim or flee
Should I stay or should I go? In the zebrafish (Danio rerio), two competing neural circuits determine whether an animal swims or turns tail and escapes. Social status can tip the balance between these circuits, leading dominant and subordinate animals … Continue reading
Categories: Animal Behavior | Cell Biology | Journal Club | Neuroscience | Systems Biology
Tagged behavior, neural circuit, social hierarchy, social status, zebrafish
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Journal Club: Fruit flies use a protective reflex to kick mites off their wings
Predatory mites are only 200 to 300 micrometers long, but to 3 millimeter-long fruit flies, these tiny arachnids pose as much of a threat as a rat-sized blood-sucking tick would to a human. Now scientists find that fruit flies have … Continue reading
Categories: Journal Club | Neuroscience
Tagged flies, fruit flies, mechanosensing, Nanchung
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Journal Club: Food first—Safety, friends, and water can come later
Suppose you’re hungry, but also cold. Your dog is barking at someone at the door, and you see your spouse heading toward the fridge—you wonder if he will take the last of the leftover pizza. With many competing factors vying … Continue reading
Journal Club: Rats can be trained to “taste” light, sound, touch, and smell
Imagine the sight, sound, smell, taste, and feeling of peeling and eating an orange. Scientists had long thought the brain handled such multisensory experiences via brain regions known as primary sensory cortices that are exclusively unimodal—that is, each devoted solely … Continue reading
Categories: Journal Club | Neuroscience
Tagged cross-modal senses, senses, sensory cortex, taste
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Journal Club: “Sandman” molecule controls when fruit flies wake up
Sleep cuts people off from the outside world, which entails considerable risks and costs that scientists reason must be counterbalanced by a vital but enigmatic benefit. Now scientists have discovered what makes a switch flip in the brains of fruit … Continue reading
Categories: Journal Club | Neuroscience
Tagged circadian, dopamine, fruit flies, homeostat, neurons, optogenetics, sleep
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Journal Club: Experimental technique uncovers new cell types in the brain
The brain is the most complex organ in the body, and presents countless mysteries – including the very nature of all the cells contribute to its function. By using single-cell RNA sequencing to map the genetic activity in more than … Continue reading
Categories: Cell Biology | Journal Club | Neuroscience
Tagged brain, cell types, neurons, RNA sequencing
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First Look: Brains missing key left-right bridge from birth compensate
The right and left halves of the brain are connected by a bridge known as the corpus callosum. When people have their corpus callosum surgically removed, it can lead to disconnection syndrome, where one half of the brain might not … Continue reading
Categories: Neuroscience
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Babies have hard-wired hand-to-mouth movements
Although babies lack much in the way of motor skills, they can still accurately bring their hands toward their mouth in a motion to feed themselves. Now scientists have discovered this self-feeding movement is encoded in a part of the … Continue reading
Categories: Neuroscience
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Differences between viewing light and dark explain old optical illusion
Astronomers and physicists starting with Galileo noticed centuries ago that when one looks at celestial objects — bright objects on a dark background — they appear to be too large. Now scientists have discovered the brain mechanisms underlying this effect. … Continue reading
Categories: Neuroscience
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