Why menthol chills your mouth when it's not actually cold
Try putting an ice-cube in your mouth. The insides of your mouth and tongue instantly turn numb. Hold it in still and you will feel pain. Now try sucking on peppermint. The mint itself is at room...
View ArticleNerve cells borrow a trick from their synapses to dispose of garbage
Genetic defects affecting tiny channels in human nerve cells lead to several neurological diseases that result from aberrant nerve transmission, such as episodic ataxia, absence epilepsy, and...
View Article'Lightning bolts' in the brain show learning in action
Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have captured images of the underlying biological activity within brain cells and their tree-like extensions, or dendrites, in mice that show how their brains...
View ArticleBreast milk calcium mystery revealed
Breakthrough research at the University of Queensland has unlocked a mysterious process essential to breastfeeding.
View ArticleRevolutionizing the revolutionary technology of optogenetics
The revolution that optogenetics technology has brought to biology—neuroscience in particular—could be transformed all over again if a new project getting underway at Brown University and Central...
View ArticleHow neurons remember: A Calcium-dependent mechanism of neuronal information...
Research findings obtained over the past decades increasingly indicate that stored memories are coded as permanent changes of neuronal communciation and the strength of neuronalinterconnections. The...
View ArticleTracking down the causes of Alzheimer's
Genes are not only important for regular memory performance, but also for the development of Alzheimer's disease. Researchers at the University of Basel now identified a specific group of genes that...
View ArticleResearchers discover an epilepsy switch
Scientists at the University of Bonn and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel) have decoded a central signal cascade associated with epileptic seizures. If the researchers blocked a central...
View ArticleBlocking transfer of calcium to cell's powerhouse selectively kills cancer cells
Inhibiting the transfer of calcium ions into the cell's powerhouse is specifically toxic to cancer cells, according to an article published this week in Cell Reports by researchers from the Perelman...
View ArticleCalcium controls sleep duration in mice
University of Tokyo and RIKEN researchers have identified seven genes responsible for causing mice to stay awake or fall asleep based on a theoretical model of sleep and on experiments using 21...
View ArticleSome sunscreen ingredients may disrupt sperm cell function
Many ultraviolet (UV)-filtering chemicals commonly used in sunscreens interfere with the function of human sperm cells, and some mimic the effect of the female hormone progesterone, a new study finds....
View ArticleCalcium channels team up to activate excitable cells
Voltage-gated calcium channels open in unison, rather than independently, to allow calcium ions into and activate excitable cells such as neurons and muscle cells, researchers with UC Davis Health...
View ArticleGuarding the gatekeepers
Information flow in cells relies on calcium as a key agent in several signalling pathways. Calcium dependent signalling is crucial in nearly every aspect of life - muscle movement, immune reactions,...
View ArticleScientists shed new light on the role of calcium in learning and memory
While calcium's importance for our bones and teeth is well known, its role in neurons—in particular, its effects on processes such as learning and memory—has been less well defined.
View ArticleResearch team may have observed building blocks of memories in the brain
(Medical Xpress)—A team of researchers working at Aix-Marseille University in France has observed what they believe are the building blocks of memories in a mouse brain. In their paper published in the...
View ArticleHow neurons talk to each other
Neurons are connected to each other through synapses, sites where signals are transmitted in the form of chemical messengers. Reinhard Jahn, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical...
View ArticleScientists find sensor that makes synapses fast
Synapses, the connections between neurons, come in different flavors, depending on the chemical they use as transmitter. Signal transmitters, or neurotransmitters, are released at the synapse after...
View ArticleResearchers connect molecular function to high blood pressure, diseases
By changing one small portion of a stimulus that influences part of one molecule's function, engineers and researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have opened the door for more insight into...
View ArticleUnexpected role for calcium ion channel protein revealed
A new study published in Nature Communications and co-authored by Northwestern Medicine scientists shows how two proteins of the Ca2+ release-activated Ca2+ (CRAC) channel family interact with each...
View ArticleFluctuation in the concentration of calcium ions contributes to brain shape
The first step in shaping the brain is that the neural plate, a sheet-like cell layer, curves to form the neural tube. Assistant Professor Makoto Suzuki of the National Institute for Basic Biology,...
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