Knowing Neurons

Brain Basics Brain Development Language 

Do People With Dyslexia Read and Write Backwards?

September 13, 2018September 13, 2018 Brainfacts.org 0 Comments Brain development, Cognition, cognitive development, Development, Dyslexia, neuroscience myths, Reading

Dyslexia is an unexpected difficulty in learning to read despite normal intelligence and vision and access to good instruction. Today, scientists generally agree that people with dyslexia struggle to read… Read more

Big Ideas Learning and Memory Movement Space Neuroscience 

How Weightlessness Changes Our Brains

September 5, 2018September 8, 2018 Alexa Erdogan 0 Comments Analog Spaceflight, Astronaut, Cerebellum, Frontal lobe, Gray matter, Head-Down Tilt Bed Rest, ISS, Mars, Microgravity, Motor cortex, MRI, Musculoskeletal, Neurodegeneration, Neuroplasticity, Preconditioning, Semantic memory, Somatosensory, Space, Space neuroscience, Space Shuttle, Spaceflight, Weightlessness

Astronauts are no strangers to the harsh and wild conditions of outer space. From ionizing radiation to microgravity, these space explorers are exposed to a myriad of stressors that play… Read more

Brain Development Culture 

What Were You Thinking!?: Teenagers show different processing of positive and negative consequences across adolescence

August 23, 2018August 23, 2018 Jack-Morgan Mizell 0 Comments Adolescence, Adolescent, Adults, Aging, Anterior insula, Brain, Brain activity, Brain vulnerability, Cognitive neuroscience, Consequences, Decision-making, Development, Experience, Harvard, Insula, neurobiology, Neurodevelopment, Neuroscience, Sensory systems, Spindle neuron, Striatum, Teenagers, Teens, Von Economo neuron, WHO, World Health Organization

Anyone who has spent time around teenagers knows they don’t always consider the full consequences of their actions. Just consider the dozens of YouTube videos involving falling dressers or fireworks… Read more

Brain Development Learning and Memory 

A Tale of Plasticities

August 15, 2018September 7, 2018 Cameron McKay 0 Comments Adult neurogenesis, Axon, Axons, Basic science, Brain, Cells, Connections, Cortex, Dendrite, Dendrites, Dendritic spine, Development, environment, Experience-dependent plasticity, Gray matter, Hippocampus, Human memory, Humans, Juggling, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Marian Diamond, Memories, Memory, MRI, MRI research, Neurodevelopment, Neurogenesis, Neurons, Neuroplasticity, Plasticity, Rats, Research, Science, Synapse, Synaptic pruning, Synaptogenesis, Taxi drivers, TBI, Traumatic brain injury, White matter

You may have heard it repeated in the media and pop culture that humans’ brains don’t change at all after birth. However, the past several decades of neuroscience research have… Read more

Big Ideas Consciousness Philosophy 

Measuring Consciousness in Bits

August 1, 2018August 1, 2018 DanielToker 1 Comment Brain, Claude Shannon, Communication, Consciousness, David Chalmers, Entropy, Giulio Tononi, Information, Information theory, Integrated Information Theory, Neuroscience, philosophy, Psychology, Research, Science, Sensory experience

Consciousness is an ambiguous concept. It can mean a lot of different things, depending on the context. For example, I can say that I am conscious of something, as in, “I am… Read more

Brain Development Culture Language 

The Bilingual Brain: Why One Size Doesn’t Fit All

July 25, 2018July 26, 2018 Angela Grant 0 Comments bilingual, diffusion tensor imaging, DTI, early nutrition, English, fractional anisotropy, immigrant, immigration, language, Maria Konnikova, native language, Patricia Kuhl, polyglot, radial diffusivity, Spanish, stress

Over the past few years, you might have noticed a surfeit of articles covering current research on bilingualism. Some of them suggest that it sharpens the mind, while others are… Read more

Big Ideas Consciousness Interviews Neuro SciFi Philosophy Podcast 

[Podcast] Uploading the Human Brain

July 19, 2018July 19, 2018 Alexa Erdogan 0 Comments Alzheimer, Alzheimer's, Alzheimer’s disease, Brain, Calcium imaging, Cnidarians, connectome, Consciousness, Cortex, EEG, Epilepsy, Interview, Jurrasic Park, Knowing Neurons, LEGO, long term depression, Long-term potentiation, LTD, LTP, Microscopy, Neuron, Neuroscience, Neurotransmitters, Parkinson's, Parkinson's Disease, Research, Sci-fi, Science, Science Fiction, SOMA, Upload

n a brand new episode of the Knowing Neurons podcast, we explore the concept of “mind uploading”. How would something like a mind upload really work?… Read more

Brain Basics Neuro primer 

Neuro Primer: Neurodevelopment

July 13, 2018July 13, 2018 Gabrielle Torre 1 Comment Apoptosis, Axons, Biology, Brain, Brain development, Brain growth, Cell death, Cells, Cortex, Dendrites, Development, Infancy, Knowing Neurons, Learning, neurobiology, Neurodevelopment, Neuron, Neurons, Neuroplasticity, Neuroscience, Plasticity, Science, Synapse, Synapses

How does your brain become a brain? Neurodevelopment is the crucial process through which every brain is formed.… Read more

Consciousness Sleep 

Our Dreams Have Many Purposes, Changing Across the Lifespan

July 5, 2018 Patrick McNamara 0 Comments Brain, Brain Disorders, Cognition, Cognitive neuroscience, Consciousness, Cortex, Dream, Dream state, Dreaming, dreams, EEG, Inception, Multiple personality disorder, Neuroscience, NREM sleep, REM sleep, Research, Science, Science of sleep, Sex differences, Sleep, Sleep disorders, sleep-wake cycle

lthough radically different in terms of their content and feel, the range of dream states are just as complex as waking states. If we look across an individual’s lifetime, we… Read more

Brain Basics Neuro primer 

Neuro Primer: Cerebral Organoids

June 27, 2018June 27, 2018 Caitlin Aamodt 3 Comments Biology, Brains in a dish, Cell, Cell cultures, Cell signaling, Cells, Chimeras, Microcephaly, Nature, Neuroscience, Organoids, Rodent, Rodents, Sentience, Zika, Zika virus

t may sound like something Dr. Frankenstein himself would be envious of, but scientists can now create miniature “brain” organoids in a dish.… Read more

Did You Know? Sensation and Perception Weird Animal Brain 

Weird Animal Brain: Dung Beetle

June 18, 2018June 14, 2018 Kayleen Schreiber 0 Comments Fact, Neuron, Neuroscience, Perception, Science, Vision

he dung beetle has more interesting characteristics than you might think! If you’d like to learn about more animals with amazing vision, check out this article.… Read more

Brain Basics Culture Sleep 

The Wisdom of the Sloth: Is Sleep a Lost Virtue?

June 14, 2018July 12, 2018 Joel Frohlich 5 Comments Alzheimer’s disease, amyloid plaques, beta-amyloid, circadian rhythm, dreams, Health, PET, Positron emission tomography, Sleep, sloth

n the sixth century, Pope Gregory I compiled an infamous list of seven deadly sins. Of these seven, sloth is the only sin named for an animal in English. But… Read more

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