Journal Club

Highlighting recently published papers selected by Academy members

Category Archives: Neuroscience

Journal Club: Mouse microbiome findings offer insights into why a high-fat, low-carb diet helps epileptic children

Posted on June 28, 2018 by Carolyn Beans

For nearly a century, doctors have found that a strict high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet can limit seizures in children with epilepsy when medications fail. But exactly how this ketogenic diet works has remained largely a mystery. Now, researchers at the University … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Proprioceptive neurons offer new insights into a “sixth sense”

Posted on June 25, 2018 by Jessica P. Johnson

Proprioception allows people to know the position of parts of the body without seeing them, enabling us to touch type, walk in the dark without falling over, or drive a car while looking at the road. Defects in this sensory … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Fruit flies’ internal circadian clocks continually check the temperature

Posted on March 2, 2018 by Amber Dance

As a fruit fly sails from sunshine into a patch of shade, its temperature drops by 10 degrees F or so. Immediately, certain neurons in its brain spring into action, telling the fly’s circadian clock about the temperature change. By … Continue reading →

Journal Club: New clues in the mystery of the mechanism of general anesthetics

Posted on January 26, 2018 by Jessica P. Johnson

Anesthetics have been used in surgery since the mid-1800s, but their exact mechanisms of action continue to be the subject of intense investigation. Past studies have suggested they block neurotransmitter receptors postsynaptically. Now a new study, published January 9 in … Continue reading →

Journal Club: New technique lights up the connectome, tracking signals across neuronal populations

Posted on December 21, 2017 by Amber Dance

Neuroscientists still possess an incomplete understanding of how different neurons interface and communicate throughout the brain’s wiring diagram, called the connectome. In a recent eLife article, Caltech molecular neurobiologist Carlos Lois and colleagues introduce a new tool to screen for such … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Illuminating the neurons that help fruit fly larvae escape danger

Posted on September 5, 2017 by Carolyn Beans

Disturb fruit fly larvae with sharp jabs or intense heat and they’ll respond the same way every time. “They always roll two or three times, and then stop rolling and land away from the noxious thing,” says neuroscientist Kazuo Emoto … Continue reading →

Categories: Animal Behavior | Journal Club | Neuroscience | Tagged drosophila, fruit flies, neural circuit, neurons, optogenetics, reflex | Leave a comment

Journal Club: New roles found for protein key to neurotransmission

Posted on August 11, 2017 by Carolyn Beans

Scientists know many of the proteins that make neurotransmission possible, but they don’t have a handle on how all the pieces work together. “As someone who has studied the synapse for a long time, I still find it frustrating … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Tracking memories in fruit fly brains

Posted on April 13, 2017 by Carolyn Beans

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: Neural circuits and social status spur zebrafish to swim or flee

Posted on January 28, 2017 by Helen Shen

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 →

Journal Club: Fruit flies use a protective reflex to kick mites off their wings

Posted on December 19, 2016 by Charles Choi

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 | Leave a comment