Knowing Neurons

Development

Big IdeasBrain BasicsBrain DevelopmentMental HealthNeurological and Psychiatric DisordersNeuroscience TechniquesNeuroscience Technologies

Cerebral Organoids Reveal New Angles for Understanding the Human Brain

When you think of researchers growing “mini-brains,” you might picture a mad scientist out of a sci-fi or horror movie. But the reality looks quite different. Cerebral organoids, often colloquially… Read More
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 DevelopmentNeurological and Psychiatric Disorders

Dialogues in Music Therapy and Social Neuroscience: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Clinical Progress

In his book “Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain”, the neurologist Oliver Sacks stated that music can “calm us, animate us, comfort us, thrill us, or serve to organize… Read More
InfographicsBrain DevelopmentNeurological and Psychiatric Disorders

What is Alexander Disease?

Alexander disease is an extremely rare neurological disorder that severely impairs the functions of nervous system leading to intellectual disability and developmental delay. In this infographic, neuroscientist Rajamani Selvam explains… Read More
Brain BasicsBrain Development

Neuronal Migration: A “Sliding Door” for the Future of the Brain

Have you ever wondered how each cell of our body reaches its correct place? It is even more astounding when you realize that our body is formed from only two… Read More
Brain DevelopmentCulture

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

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 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
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
Brain DevelopmentNeuro News

Mind the Gap: New Evidence on How Neurons Connect Left and Right Brain Halves

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]ur brains are split into two halves, a left hemisphere and a right hemisphere. While the left brain specializes in languages, the right brain specializes in faces. But the two… Read More
Neuroscience TechnologiesBrain BasicsBrain DevelopmentDid You Know?Learning and MemoryNeuro NewsSensation and Perception

How does fundamental research help you?

Sometimes it’s hard to understand why scientists do what they do. Why spend a career studying cells, fungus, or flies? Other than being nerdy and wanting to learn about our… Read More
Sensation and PerceptionDid You Know?

When the blind can see again: A critical question of perception

Our sense of sight is arguably our most important sense.  Imagine how different your life would be if soon after birth, you lost the ability to see.  For over 1.4… Read More
Brain DevelopmentDid You Know?Videos

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore Discusses the Mysterious Workings of the Adolescent Brain

What brain regions are employed when we interact with other people?  Cognitive neuroscientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore explains the “social brain” in her TED talk and sheds light on the complex networks… Read More
AgingBrain Development

Smells Like Teen Synapses: A Look Inside Adolescent Brains and Behaviors

“I would there were no age between sixteen and three-and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out the rest; for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child,… Read More
Brain DevelopmentLearning and MemoryNeuro NewsNeurological and Psychiatric Disorders

Genetic Tricks To Reverse Schizophrenic Symptoms

The human brain continues to develop and form new connections from birth until as late as the mid-20s. During this time, billions of connections are made and broken as the… Read More
Neuro NewsSensation and Perception

Hearing is Believing: Cells that Enable Hearing after Birth

The sense of hearing is a critical part of how we experience life and the world around us. It is so important, in fact, that the ears are fully formed… Read More
Brain DevelopmentDid You Know?Learning and MemorySensation and Perception

What Songbirds Tell Us About Human Nature

Every once in a while, we hear of amazing scientific feats about how some new drug successfully reduces weight without dieting or exercise in monkeys, or how scientists slowed aging… Read More