Our brains are responsible for coordinating and interpreting many of the actions we take for granted every day, from walking and running to seeing and hearing. To coordinate the sensory and motor signals firing across the brain requires a relay station of sorts, in this case, the thalamus, two small lobes that sit approximately mid-brain.
Primates are generally considered smarter than mice. But in a surprising finding, neuroscience researchers at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory have discovered that mice actually have more synapses connecting the neurons in their brains.
How do our brains translate the signals of millions of neurons into meaningful perceptions of our environment and help guide our behavior? Attempting to answer this question is no small task, but understanding the connection between spiking neurons and our behavior will not only provide insights into the human brain but also will be the key for developing new and innovative neuroprosthetic devices.
Proactively increasing opportunities at the highest levels for women in science can unleash new reservoirs of human capital—and improve progress in many fields.
According to the CDC, the leading cause of death for women in the US—killing about one in every five—is heart disease.
Proteins active in a neuron’s development can have powerful roles in its maintenance later: a “temporal modularity,” where proteins take on multiple roles at different times in a cell’s life.
