Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Announces Recipients of Nation’s First Gender Equity Grants
Annual Distinguished Scholar Award Aims to Break Down Barriers to Equity in Medical Research
Neuroscience
Calculated Surprise Leads to Groundbreaking Discovery in Cognitive Control Research
To better understand how motivational control processes help maximize performance when faced with task challenges, researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and provide fascinating insights into the role of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) as a component network of brain regions that support motivated behavior. They have unified conflicting findings by discovering that the single mechanism of surprise best accounts for activity in dACC during a task requiring motivated control.
Read moreGut Microbes May Improve Stroke Recovery
New research by the University of Kentucky’s College of Medicine reveals that supplementing the body’s short chain fatty acids could improve stroke recovery.
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Objective Subtle Cognitive Difficulties Predict Amyloid Accumulation and Neurodegeneration
Researchers report that accumulating amyloid protein occurred faster among persons deemed to have “objectively-defined subtle cognitive difficulties” (Obj-SCD) than among persons considered to be “cognitively normal,” offering a potential new early biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease.
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New MSU study corrects ‘fake news’ on social media
A Mississippi State University researcher and a recent graduate are publishing their new study on how the dissemination of correct information on social media platforms can shift public perception amid a wave of “fake news.”
Read moreIn Some Children with Autism, “Social” and “Visual” Neural Circuits Don’t Quite Connect
Researchers combined eye gaze research with brain scans to discover that in a common subtype of autism, in which ASD toddlers prefer images of geometric shapes over those of children playing, brain areas responsible for vision and attention are not controlled by social brain networks, and so social stimuli are ignored.
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Neuroscientists reveal the basis of confirmation bias
Neuroscientists at Virginia Tech, University College London, and the University of London revealed brain mechanisms that underlie confirmation bias — a phenomenon where people strongly favor information that reinforces existing opinions over contradictory ones.
The study, published this week in Nature Neuroscience, provides insight into a fundamental property of belief formation that has been documented by psychologists and economists, as well as in popular literature, including George Orwell’s “1984.”
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Flashing lights may provide vital first test of MS drug success
Measuring changes in the speed of electrical signals along nerves connecting the eyes to the brain may accurately reflect recovery from myelin loss in multiple sclerosis (MS), according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and could be used to evaluate new treatments for the disease.
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Scientists Show How Tiny, Mutated Neuron Antennae Impair Brain Connectivity
Even before we’re born, we need axons to grow in tracts throughout gray matter and connect properly as our brains develop. UNC School of Medicine researchers have now found a key reason why connectivity goes awry and leads to rare but debilitating neurodevelopmental conditions.
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Lily and Yuh-Nung Jan Named 20th Perl-UNC Neuroscience Prize Recipients
The UNC School of Medicine has awarded the 20th Perl-UNC Neuroscience Prize to Lily Jan, PhD, and Yuh-Nung Jan, PhD, both at UC San Francisco, for the “discovery and functional characterization of potassium channels.”
Read moreA common drug could help restore limb function after spinal cord injury
Long-term treatment with gabapentin, a commonly prescribed drug for nerve pain, could help restore upper limb function after a spinal cord injury, new research in mice suggests.
Read moreExploring humanity’s final frontier
The brightest minds in neuroscience came together Nov. 21 for the UCI Brain Launch Event, an interdisciplinary academic initiative set to define and expand the horizons of brain research at UCI and beyond. More than 700 attended the day-long symposium at the Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences & Engineering, where Michael Yassa, director of UCI Brain, introduced a host of new technologies that redefine brain research, including a collaboration with the Claire Trevor School of the Arts.
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