#neuroscience

The Potential Cause of Alzheimer’s Disease Has Been Discovered In research done by scientists from Yale University,an overlooked mechanism has been found that can be a possible reason for manifesting Alzheimer’s Disease. This new discovery changes the perspective of experts. Initially believing the predominant hypothesis of the ailment being caused by amyloid plaques. These refer to the tangled clumps of a protein called beta-amyloid that was observed to occur in big amounts in patients that are suffering from the said disease.Now, however, the new discovery points out that the small swellings on neurons can also be a mechanism related to the sickness. Additionally, a newly-identified protein can be used as a biomarker for early detection and future treatments. The study focused on looking at the small, spheroid-shaped swellings that form near the long, wiry part of the neuron. Researchers found out that the swellings can dampen the transmission of electrical signals through other neurons, which may contribute to neurological degeneration. The bigger the swellings get, the more the patient will be prone to the symptoms of Alzheimer’s or other brain-related diseases, such as dementia. “We have identified a potential signature of Alzheimer’s which has functional repercussions on brain circuitry, with each spheroid having the potential to disrupt activity in hundreds of neuronal axons and thousands of interconnected neurons,” said Dr. Jaime Grutzendler, the senior author of the study.Image credit: MART PRODUCTION#Alzheimers #disease #neuroscience #brain #illness #research

A Chunk of Her Brain was Missing, But She was FineA woman who goes by the initials EG has a graduate degree, an accomplished career, and speaks two languages. She is also missing her left temporal lobe, which is considered the seat of language development and processing. EG only found out about her missing chunk of brain as a young adult in 1987, when a scan showed that there was only spinal fluid in that area of her skull. Doctors believe it may have been due to a stroke in her infancy, but she has never suffered from seizures, language problems, or any other expected symptoms.Over the years, she says, doctors have repeatedly told EG that her brain doesn’t make sense. One doctor told her she should have seizures, or that she shouldn’t have a good vocabulary—and “he was annoyed that I did,” she says. (As part of the study at MIT, EG tested in the 98th percentile for vocabulary.) The experiences were frustrating; they “pissed me off,” as EG puts it. “They made so many pronouncements and conclusions without any investigation whatsoever,” she says.EG volunteered for a neuroscience study of how her brain had adapted to the loss of her left temporal lobe. Scientists studied her brain activity as she performed language and non-language tasks. They found that her language skills were processed in the right temporal lobe. But was it always that way for her, or did her brain re-wire itself? Read about the woman who gets along fine with a large part of her brain missing at Wired. And then think about what your own brain might look like if it were ever to be scanned. -via Real Clear Science(Image credit: Evelina Fedorenko, Greta Tuckute/Brain and Cognitive Sciences)#brain #brainplasticity #temporallobe #neuroscience  

Neuroscientists Identify Neurons in the Brain that Light Up When We Hear Human Singing But Not Other Types of MusicScientists, following the same vein of research in specific areas of the brain that work during different tasks, have successfully identified the part of the human brain that lights up when we hear singing. It is important to note that this area only responds when the combination of voice and music is heard. The area, found in the auditory cortex, does not respond to regular speech or instrumental music.Neuroscientists from MIT followed up a 2015 study that they worked on. The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify a population of neurons in the brain’s auditory cortex that responds specifically to music. This new study used a different method to determine brain activity through recordings of electrical activity taken at the surface of the brain to obtain more information. According to Sam Norman-Haignere, the lead author of the study, the recordings gave them a higher resolution where they were able to pick the neurons apart.Image credit: Josh Rocklage#neuroscience #brain #neurons #research #study #science

Dance Your PhDSince she was young, Antonia Gronberg has always been passionate about science and dancing. When she heard about Science's "Dance Your Ph.D." competition, she knew she just had to join. For someone who loves science and dancing, it was a perfect competition.Groneberg's performance, which is based on her doctoral thesis, tells how the motions of groups of zebrafish larvae affected the brain development and behavior of each one of them. The performance video was created with the help of Groneberg's colleagues, dance students, and children of the adult participants.Groneberg's zebrafish dance won the social science category of the competition as well as the overall prize.Here is Groneberg's dance.(Image Credit: DieTonella/ YouTube)#Science #InterpretativeDance #Zebrafish #Neuroscience