Genetics

Brain Basics Consciousness Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Sensation and Perception Sleep 

Sleep Paralysis: What Is It and What Causes It?

December 30, 2019December 30, 2019 Mira Rakicevic 2 Comments Anxiety, Cataplexy, circadian rhythm, EEG, Electromyogram, Genetics, Hallucination, hypnagogic hallucination, Hypnopompic, Insomnia, Narcolepsy, NREM sleep, parasomnia, PER2, Polysomnography, REM sleep, Sleep, Sleep Apnea, Sleep Atonia, Sleep paralysis, stress, Vestibular-motor Hallucination

Sleep paralysis is a type of REM parasomnia or abnormal behavior that takes place during the REM sleep cycle. Also known as sleep atonia, this condition refers to the feeling… Read more

Big Ideas Brain Basics Brain Development Culture 

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

November 27, 2019November 27, 2019 Marco Travaglio 0 Comments Attention, Brain Fat, Cortex, dementia, depression, DHA, Diet, Dopamine, Dorsal Attention Network, EPA, Evolution, Fat, Fish Oil, Frontoparietal Network, Genetics, Monounsaturated Fat, Neurological Disorder, Neurotransmitters, Omega-3, Omega-6, Polyunsaturated Fat, serotonin, supplements

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

Brain Basics Brain Development 

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

February 6, 2019February 6, 2019 Ilaria Vitali 0 Comments Autism, Development, developmental disorders, excitatory, Genetics, glia, Lissencephaly, Neural Progenitor Cells, Neurodevelopment, neuronal migration, Reelin, Schizophrenia, ventricular zone, Wnt

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 Books 

Book Review: Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are

January 23, 2019January 23, 2019 Gabrielle Torre 1 Comment Brain Books, Chromosomes, CRISPR, Gene editing, Genetics, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Neurodevelopment

Around the world, all populations of humans are essentially the same. The differences that make us who we are lie in differences among individuals, which result from only 0.1% of… Read more

Learning and Memory Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Popular Articles 

Understanding Noonan Syndrome

December 12, 2018December 12, 2018 Caitlin Aamodt 0 Comments 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

Evolution of Cognition Language Neuro News 

Study Sheds New Light on FOXP2 in the Evolution of Language

November 16, 2018April 18, 2019 Caitlin Aamodt 1 Comment Evolution, FoxP2, Genetics, Human, language

Language is a uniquely human trait, and how it evolved is one of the greatest unanswered questions in neuroscience. Spoken and written language facilitate much of what makes up human… Read more

Aging Brain Basics Neuro Primer Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders 

Neuro Primer: Aging

October 10, 2018October 8, 2018 Gabrielle Torre 0 Comments AD, Age-related cognitive decline, Aging, ALS, Alzheimer's, Alzheimer’s disease, Amyloid, amyloid plaques, Baby Boomers, beta-amyloid, Brain activation, Brain cells, Cardiovascular health, Childhood, Cognition, Cognitive performance, Cortex, dementia, Disease, Executive function, Exercise, Genetics, glutamate, Hippocampus, Longevity, Memory, Memory decline, myelin, Nervous System, Neurogenesis, Neuroimaging, Neurons, Neuroplasticity, Neuroscience, Neurotransmitters, Normal aging, Parkinson's, Parkinson's Disease, Plasticity, Quality of life, Research, Science, Sleep, Sleep habits, Ventricles, Working memory

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 Basics Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Sleep 

The inescapable nightmare of fatal familial insomnia

October 31, 2017October 31, 2017 Sean Noah 1 Comment Brain, Cortex, Disease, Disorders, Fatal Familial Insomnia, FFI, Genetics, Insomnia, Molecular neuroscience, Neuroscience, Prions, Psychiatry, Sleep, Sleep disorders

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

Did You Know? Interviews Neuroscience Art Sensation and Perception 

Self Reflected: The Best of Neuroscience and Art

July 19, 2017July 16, 2017 Kayleen Schreiber 0 Comments Art, Brain, Color, Consciousness, Cortex, Genetics, Interview, Knowing Neurons, Learning, Neuron, Neurons, Neuroscience, Perception, Prefrontal Cortex, Science

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

Aging Did You Know? Learning and Memory Movement Neuro News 

Bite-size Science: Epigenetics help protect the aging brain

June 19, 2017June 30, 2017 Kayleen Schreiber 4 Comments Alzheimer’s disease, Brain, Cortex, DNA, Epigenetics, gene, Genetics, Infographic, Knowing Neurons, Learning, Memory, Nature, Nature Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration, Neuron, Neurons, Neuroscience, Prefrontal Cortex, Receptor, Research, Science

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

Brain Basics Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders 

The Epigenetic Legacy of Trauma

March 8, 2017June 30, 2017 Eric Harvey 2 Comments Anxiety, depression, DNA, Epigenetics, Genetics, Holocaust, Kristallnacht, Methylation, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, Rachel Yahuda, Trauma

The evening of November 9th, 1938, began with typical fall solemnity for many Jews living across Germany: closing up their shops and businesses, returning home from school, and preparing family… Read more

Did You Know? Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders 

Copy Number Variants: A Window into Psychiatric Illness

September 21, 2016March 18, 2018 Rachel Jonas 0 Comments ADHD, Autism, Bipolar, Brain, CNV, Copy number variant, Deletion, DNA, gene, Genetics, Genome, LCR, Low copy repeat, Map, mutation, Population, Psychiatric, Schizophrenia, Syndrome

The human genome consists of nearly 25,000 protein-coding genes – and a mutation in just one of these can have dramatic effects on our brains.  Remarkably, one tiny change in… Read more