Frank Amthor, PhD, is the author of Neurobiology for Dummies (2014), the follow up to his popular Neuroscience for Dummies (2011). He is the guest on the most recent edition of the Brain Science Podcast, hosted by Dr. Ginger Campbell. “Neurobiology for Dummies” (BSP 110) July 26, 2014 / Ginger Campbell, MD Frank Amthor, … Read more
This new study sheds some light on how the brain processes emotions, although it certainly does not explain everything. According to Cornell University neuroscientist, Adam Anderson, “It appears that the human brain generates a special code for the entire valence spectrum of pleasant-to-unpleasant, good-to-bad feelings, which can be read like a ‘neural valence meter’ in … Read more
A couple of weeks ago, on ABC’s Radio National (Australia), All in the Mind featured a discussion about new technologies in “building” a brain that is comparable to a human brain. Most of the research seems to be taking a bottom-up approach, building from neurons to networks to modules. I’m skeptical. Perhaps we build … Read more
Interesting new research out of Duke University on how specific neurons tell neuronal stem cells where to go to repair damage. Below this press release is the abstract and citation from Nature Neuroscience (where the article is, of course, embargoed). Neuron Tells Stem Cells to Grow New Neurons Researchers identify first piece of new brain-repair … Read more
This is a cool article from Virginia Hughes at Phenomena: Only Human, a National Geographic blog. Hughes presents a video (embedded below, but you’ll need to go to Vimeo to see it, just follow the link) that provides a 3-D view of a synapse in an adult rat brain. We tend to think, and the … Read more
Back in the 1980s, a physicist, Per Bak, proposed that the human mind may operate on some of the same principle as a sand pile – avalanches of various sizes help keep the entire system stable overall, a process Bak named “self-organized criticality.” More precisely, “the brain’s ordered complexity and thinking ability arise spontaneously from … Read more