SCSB News
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Source: [Anne Trafton | MIT News Office, January 17, 2019] New 3-D imaging technique can reveal, much more quickly than other methods, how neurons connect throughout the brain. Researchers have developed a new way to image the brain with unprecedented resolution and speed. Using this approach, they can locate individual neurons, trace connections between them, […]
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Source: [David Orenstein | Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, January 15, 2019] Research by neuroscientists at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory helps explain how the brain regulates arousal. The big day has come: You are taking your road test to get your driver’s license. As you start your mom’s car with a […]
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Source: [David Orenstein | Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, January 11, 2019] Substantial refinements of three-photon microscopy allow for novel discoveries in neuroscience. Just like doctors seek to scan deeper into the body with sonograms, CT, and MRI, and astronomers seek to look farther out into the universe with space-based telescopes, adaptive optics, and different wavelengths of […]
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Source: [Anne Trafton | MIT News Office, November 27, 2018] Snippets of RNA that accumulate in brain cells could interfere with normal function. As we age, neurons in our brains can become damaged by free radicals. MIT biologists have now discovered that this type of damage, known as oxidative stress, produces an unusual pileup of […]
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Source: [by Rosalind Picard, Ognjen Rudovic | Spectrum, Opinion, November 13, 2018] In science-fiction movies such as “Star Wars” and “WALL-E,” futuristic robots engage in smooth social interaction and even fall in love. These Hollywood depictions remain a fantasy, but a growing number of robots with limited skills, from Roomba vacuum cleaners to the Amazon Echo […]
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Source: [Anne Trafton | MIT News Office, November 7, 2018] Neuroscientists discover a circuit that helps redirect attention to focus on potential threats. Imagine a herd of deer grazing in the forest. Suddenly, a twig snaps nearby, and they look up from the grass. The thought of food is forgotten, and the animals are primed […]
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Source: [Anne Trafton | MIT News Office, October 22, 2018] Technique could be used to detect light or electrical fields in living tissue. Researchers commonly study brain function by monitoring two types of electromagnetism — electric fields and light. However, most methods for measuring these phenomena in the brain are very invasive. MIT engineers have now […]
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Source: [Spectrum, Alla Katsnelson | 20 August, 2018] The absence of several interacting genes underlies the developmental problems seen in people missing a segment of chromosome 16, a new study in fruit flies suggests1. People lacking this segment, 16p11.2, have varied features, including intellectual disability, an enlarged brain, seizures, obesity and autism. In the new study, researchers inactivated fly […]
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School of Science appoints eight faculty members to named professorships Source: [MIT News, School of Science | July 23, 2018] The School of Science announced that eight of its faculty members have been appointed to named professorships. These positions afford the faculty members additional support to pursue their research and develop their careers. Eliezer Calo, […]
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Source: [Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, David Orenstein | June 22, 2018] Our brains are famously flexible, or “plastic,” because neurons can do new things by forging new or stronger connections with other neurons. But if some connections strengthen, neuroscientists have reasoned, neurons must compensate lest they become overwhelmed with input. In a new […]