Knowing Neurons

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Brain DevelopmentScience Policy

Compartmentalizing A Culture War: A Stem Cell Biologist’s Relationship With Abortion Policy

The use of fetal tissue for scientific research has long been at the intersection of political polarization and medical breakthroughs. In 2019, the Trump administration passed restrictions on human fetal… Read More
Big IdeasBrain BasicsBrain DevelopmentCulture

Brain, Healthy Fats, and the Importance of Fitting Into Your Genes

Our brains are extremely rich in fat. Indeed, about two thirds of the human brain is composed of fat, 35% of which consists of essential polyunsaturated fatty acids. What are… Read More
AgingBrain BasicsNeuro PrimerNeurological and Psychiatric Disorders

Neuro Primer: Aging

What happens to the brain in aging? Normal aging comes with many changes in brain structure and function. As individuals approach the age of 65 years and above, they experience… Read More
Brain DevelopmentLearning and Memory

A Tale of Plasticities

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
PodcastBig IdeasConsciousnessInterviewsNeuro SciFiPhilosophy

[Podcast] Uploading the Human Brain

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]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
Neuro PrimerBrain Basics

Neuro Primer: Neurodevelopment

Spanish Translation also available here: Neuro Cartilla: Neurodesarrollo ~~~ How does your brain become a brain? Neurodevelopment is the crucial process through which every brain is formed.… Read More
SleepConsciousness

Our Dreams Have Many Purposes, Changing Across the Lifespan

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]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
Big IdeasConsciousnessPhilosophy

Consciousness: The Final Frontier

When I walk through my kitchen, I smell fresh food and feel warmth radiating off of it. These internal, subjective experiences are called qualia. I assume that my refrigerator, my… Read More
Brain BasicsNeurological and Psychiatric DisordersSleep

The inescapable nightmare of fatal familial insomnia

A family curse During the early 1980’s, an Italian physician was investigating a mysterious and dreadful disease that had long plagued his family. In earlier generations, this disease had killed… Read More
Neurological and Psychiatric DisordersDid You Know?Movement

Bite-size science: Cell replacement therapy for Parkinson’s Disease

In Parkinson’s Disease, specific cells in the brain die. Over time, this makes basic movements like walking and reaching for a cup impossible. Researchers are racing to find effective treatments.… Read More
Neuroscience TechnologiesBig IdeasNeuroscience ArtSensation and Perception

How Neuroimaging Changes Our View of Science & Humanity

Magritte’s comments on our fascination with the unknown rings true not just in artistic surrealism, but also in many of our scientific research endeavors. The human mind is continually fascinated… Read More
Neuroscience ArtDid You Know?InterviewsSensation and Perception

Self Reflected: The Best of Neuroscience and Art

The phrase, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” seems especially true for scientists. What we study becomes not only intellectually beautiful, but also literally beautiful: the form is… Read More
AgingDid You Know?Learning and MemoryMovementNeuro News

Bite-size Science: Epigenetics help protect the aging brain

Epigenetics change which genes are active and which are inactive. Research over the past few years has shown that these changes are important for protecting the brain from neurodegeneration and… Read More
Neuroscience TechnologiesDid You Know?

Stimulating Neural Circuits with Magnetism

Brain stimulation might sound like some Frankensteinian demonstration from a Victorian science fair. But in reality, it is a contemporary technique making a huge impact in neuroscience by addressing a… Read More
Brain Basics

How to Give Thanks Like a Neuroscientist

You’re on your way to the traditional Thanksgiving family get-together. You drive down a familiar street, locate your familiar house, and park in a familiar spot.… Read More
Sensation and PerceptionNeuroscience TechnologiesVideos

Meet our newest team member Kayleen Schreiber

We have someone new joining our team!  She is a neuroscience PhD student at the University of Iowa, and she studies speech perception – but let’s let the animation she created… Read More
Brain Basics

Brain Waves and Beta Buzz: The Wild Story of Neural Oscillations

What are brain waves?  It’s no wonder the term sounds like science fiction.  In the 1920s, a German psychiatrist embarked on a highly personal quest to discover the supposed medium… Read More
Big IdeasBrain BasicsConsciousnessDid You Know?Philosophy

Ghost in the Machine: The Neuroscience of Consciousness

Some questions cannot be addressed by science.  Like parallel universes, the consciousness of others is not something that can be directly observed, measured, or experienced.  Rene Descartes famously said, “I… Read More
Did You Know?InterviewsSensation and PerceptionSfN 2014

Understanding the Visual System: A Conversation with Botond Roska

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/174013562″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /] When we see the world, there is a huge amount of processing that occurs in the neural circuits of the retina, thalamus, and… Read More
Brain BasicsDid You Know?Learning and MemoryPopular ArticlesSensation and Perception

The amygdala: a full brain integrator in the face of fear

You are sitting at your computer quietly reading this article when – BOOM! – there is a sharp loud noise behind you! You instinctively stop what you are doing, jump… Read More