Popular Articles – Knowing Neurons

Understanding Noonan Syndrome

December 12, 2018December 12, 2018 Caitlin Aamodt 1 Comment Brain, bullying, Cell signaling, Charles McDowell, G-protein signaling, Genetics, intellectual disability, kinase, Learning, Long-term potentiation, LTP, Meme, Memory, neurodevelopmental disorer, Neuroscience, noonan syndrome, Novartis, phosphatase, Prison, PTPN11, Ras, Rasopathy

This past November the mug shot of Charles McDowell went viral after viewers noticed that the man in the photo had an unusual phenotype- specifically a larger than average neck.… Read more

52 Brain Facts Did You Know? Popular Articles

It’s Brain Awareness Week!

March 13, 2017June 30, 2017 Kate Fehlhaber 0 Comments 10 Brain Facts, 52 Brain Facts, BAW, Brain Awareness Week, Interviews, Videos, Weird Animal Brains

Every March, Brain Awareness Week (BAW, for short) unifies the world in celebration of the brain and mind! In order to raise awareness about how the brain works, what neuroscientists… Read more

Did You Know? Popular Articles

Our Year in Review

December 21, 2016June 30, 2017 Kate Fehlhaber 0 Comments 2016, Neuroscience, Research, SciArt, SciComm

Knowing Neurons had an amazing year, and we are so thankful for all your support throughout our journey! Here are some highlights from 2016!… Read more

Did You Know? Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Popular Articles

Why Dopamine Makes People More Impulsive

March 10, 2016June 6, 2020 knowingneurons 2 Comments D2 receptors, Dopamine, fMRI, L-dopa, Parkinson's Disease, PD, Temporal discounting, Ventral Tegmental Area, VTA

Over the past few decades, the neurochemical dopamine has earned the reputation of being the brain’s reward molecule. This image is built on observations that when animals and humans experience… Read more

52 Brain Facts Popular Articles

Myth or Fact? Many psychopaths have a poor sense of smell.

March 7, 2016March 23, 2016 knowingneurons 0 Comments 52 Brain Facts, Frontal lobe, Olfaction, olfactory, Olfactory Bulb, Perception, Psychopath, Smell

Big Ideas Brain Basics Did You Know? Neuroscience Technologies Philosophy Popular Articles

How Do We Know? The Value of Scientific Models.

February 24, 2016July 10, 2017 Joel Frohlich 1 Comment Action Potential, DNA, EEG, Hodgkin and Huxley, inverse-source localization, Math, Mathematical, mathematics, Model, modeling, NASA, planet, planet ix, theoretical, theory, Theory of mind, Truth, watson and crick

Last month, astronomers announced the prediction of a new giant planet in our solar system dubbed Planet IX, a genuine ninth planet with ten times the mass of Earth. The… Read more

Did You Know? Popular Articles Sensation and Perception

Digging Out the “Earworms:” Involuntary Musical Imagery Correlates with Cortical Structure

February 11, 2016March 5, 2017 knowingneurons 4 Comments ACC, Anterior cingulate cortex, Auditory cortex, Cingulate, Consciousness and Cognition, Cortical thickness, Default mode network, DMN, Farrugia, frontal cortex, Fronto-temporal network, GM, Gray matter, Heschl's gyrus, HG, Hippocampus, Imagery, Imagine, IMIS, INMI, Involuntary, involuntary musical imagery, Involuntary Musical Imagery Scale, Kelly Jakubowski, Lauren Stewart, Music, OFC, Orbitofrontal cortex, Parahippocampal cortex, Posterior Cingulate Cortex, Prefrontal Cortex, Rhodri Cusack, Teodora Stoica, Tunes stuck in your brain, Voxel-based morphometry

You don’t know you know this song, but you definitely know this song: “Hey Mickey you’re so fine, you’re so fine you…” Did the end of the lyric materialize in… Read more

Brain Basics Did You Know? Popular Articles Sensation and Perception Videos

This is Your Brain on Music

February 10, 2016March 5, 2017 Kate Fehlhaber 7 Comments Amygdala, Anatomy, Auditory cortex, Brain, Cerebellum, Distracting, Dopamine, Emotion, Genius, Health, Hippocampus, Learning, Mozart, Music, Neuroanatomy, Neuroscience, Neurotranmistt, Nucleus accumbens, Prefrontal Cortex

52 Brain Facts Popular Articles

Myth or Fact? The brain is the fattest organ in the body.

February 8, 2016March 23, 2016 knowingneurons 2 Comments 52 Brain Facts, Body, Brain, Fact, Fat, Organ

Big Ideas Brain Basics Did You Know? Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Popular Articles

The Fugue of Life: Why Complexity Matters in Physiology and Neuroscience

February 3, 2016March 5, 2017 Joel Frohlich 5 Comments Autism, Criticality, Distribution, EEG, Epilepsy, Math, Modularity, Power law, Scale, Schizophrenia, Seizure, Self-organized criticality, Simplicity, SOC

People like simplicity. Each decade, corporate logos grow progressively minimalistic, pop songs use ever simpler melodies, and visual art embraces simpler compositions, as Monet gives way to Picasso and Picasso… Read more

Big Ideas Brain Basics Did You Know? Popular Articles

Scale Invariance: A Cautionary Tale Against Reductionism

July 29, 2015September 24, 2017 Joel Frohlich 6 Comments 80-20, Avalanche, Average, Blue Brain Project, Distribution, Fractal, Math, Mathematical, Model, Normal distribution, Power law, Reductionism, Scale Invariance, Self-organized criticality, SOC

How long is the coast of Britain? It doesn’t matter how good your geography is — the answer depends on the size of your measuring stick. The coast of Britain… Read more

Brain Basics Did You Know? Popular Articles SfN 2014

Inhibitory Neurons: Keeping the Brain’s Traffic in Check

November 5, 2014March 5, 2017 knowingneurons 2 Comments 5HT3aR, Basket cells, Epilepsy, Feedforward inhibition, GABAergic neurons, Inhibitory Interneurons, Interneurons, Martinotti cells, Parvalbumin, Reelin, SfN, SfN14, Somatostatin, Vasoactive intestinal peptide

Imagine that you’re driving down a road undeterred, no red lights or stop signs to slow you down. While that may seem like a very exciting idea, it is obviously… Read more

Brain Basics Did You Know? Popular Articles SfN 2014

Hubel and Wiesel & the Neural Basis of Visual Perception

October 29, 2014March 5, 2017 Kate Fehlhaber 1 Comment 1981, Activity, Columns, David Hubel, Electrophysiology, Neurons, Neuroscience, Nobel Prize, Recording, SfN14, Topographical map, Torsten Wiesel, Vision, Visual, Visual cortex

Snap! Crackle! Pop! Those are the sounds that Professors David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel heard in the early 1950s when they recorded from neurons in the visual cortex of a… Read more

Learning and Memory Neuro News Popular Articles Sensation and Perception

Heightened Senses: Cross-Modal Neuroplasticity

February 27, 2014March 5, 2017 Jillian L. Shaw 3 Comments 2014, Autism, Cross-modal plasticity, Learning, Nature Neuroscience, Oxytocin, Oxytocin mediates early experience–dependent cross-modal plasticity in the sensory cortices, Sensory cortex, Sensory deprivation, Visual cortex, Yu, Zheng

Envision this scenario. It’s the end of a grueling hike and you’re racing back to civilization along a trail in the mountains as darkness falls. You’ve become separated from your… Read more

Neuro News Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Neuroscience Technologies Popular Articles

Reverse Inference: Neuroscience’s Greatest Fallacy?

February 12, 2014March 5, 2017 knowingneurons 2 Comments 2006, 2013, Brain, Cognitive, Hutzler, Imaging, James Fallon, Neuroimaging, Poldrack, Psychopath, Reverse Inference

The recent unveiling of the BRAIN Initiative promised a greater understanding of cognition through improved imaging techniques. However, the biggest problem in neuroscience is not the limits of technology, but… Read more

Neuro News Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Popular Articles

One Concussion Could Cause Permanent Brain Damage

March 25, 2013March 5, 2017 Kate Fehlhaber 2 Comments atrophy, Concussion, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, MRI, MTBI, TBI, Traumatic brain injury

Every year, 1.5 million Americans sustain traumatic brain injuries (TBI), which occur when sudden traumas damage the brain. TBI commonly occurs when the head suddenly and violently hits an object,… Read more

How does the brain locate sound sources?

March 15, 2013March 5, 2017 knowingneurons 6 Comments Audition, auditory, Binaural, Doppler effect, Ear, Frequency, Hearing, Horizontal, Monaural, Pinna, Sound, Sound Localization

The brain has an amazing ability to identify the source of sounds around you. When driving, you can tell where an approaching fire truck is coming from and pull over… Read more

Brain Basics Did You Know? Learning and Memory Popular Articles Sensation and Perception

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

February 27, 2013March 5, 2017 Kate Fehlhaber 3 Comments Adrenalin, Amygdala, Cortex, Fear, Hippocampus, Long Route, Medial Prefrontal Cortex, Sensory, Short Route, Sympathetic Nervous System, Thalamus

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

Did You Know? Popular Articles Sensation and Perception

Social Grooming: It’s not just for monkeys and prairie voles!

February 20, 2013March 5, 2017 Kate Fehlhaber 2 Comments #groom, C fibers, Cats, Endorphins, feel-good, Grooming, Humans, Monkeys, Oxytocin, Pair-bond, Prairie Voles, Social Bond, Social grooming

Have you ever noticed how much time cats spend cleaning themselves? I’m sure they believe that “cleanliness is next to Godliness,” but spending 15% of their day grooming seems a… Read more

Did You Know? Popular Articles Sensation and Perception

Why Prairie Voles Fall in Love: A Chemical Romance

February 13, 2013March 5, 2017 JuanVelasquez 1 Comment 2013, Animals models, Hormones, Love, Oxytocin, Pair-bond, Pair-bonding, Prairie Voles, Vasopressin

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, the most romantic day of the year. Couples will stroll down the lane, gaze into each other’s eyes, and experience one of the most enigmatic feelings… Read more

Brain Basics Did You Know? Learning and Memory Popular Articles

LTP: When Neurons Make a Long-term Commitment

January 30, 2013March 5, 2017 Jooyeun Lee 2 Comments AMPA, Ca2+, Calcium, Cascade, Learning, Long-term potentiation, LTP, Memory, NMDA, Plasticity, Second messenger, Synapse, synaptic plasticity

A few months ago, I got a new smart phone that had a bigger screen and a different operating system. For a while, I was annoyed that I made so… Read more

Brain Basics Popular Articles

Brain Battery

December 14, 2012March 5, 2017 Ryan Jones 12 Comments Battery, Brain, Lightening, lipid bilayer, Membrane, Potential, Ryan Jones, The Matrix, Voltage

“The human generates more bio-electricity than a 120-volt battery and over 25,000 BTVs of body heat. There are fields…endless fields, were human beings are no longer born. We are grown… … Read more

Brain Basics Did You Know? Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Popular Articles Sensation and Perception

The Reward Pathway Reinforces Behavior

October 31, 2012March 5, 2017 Kate Fehlhaber 3 Comments Addiction, Brain, Dopamine, Drug, Neuroscience, Reward

If you think about it, most of our daily lives revolve around food: when our next meal will be, what it will be, and how yummy it will be! Evolutionarily,… Read more