Widely used calcium imaging protocol can lead to spurious results, new paper...
The technique, which measures calcium currents as a proxy for neuronal firing, sometimes reports unusual and potentially misleading waves of activity in the hippocampus.
View ArticleOpioid receptors may guide formation of gut nervous system in zebrafish
Fish lacking functional copies of the receptors have fewer enteric neurons than usual, but the findings await further validation.
View ArticleTemperature tunes circadian timing in some desert mammals
Light has hogged all the attention in chronobiology research—but now, in camel, goat and mole rat experiments, temperature takes the lead.
View ArticleCerebellar circuit may convert expected pain relief into real thing
The newly identified circuit taps into the brain’s opioid system to provide a top-down form of pain relief.
View ArticleNew connectomes fly beyond the brain
Researchers are mapping the neurons in Drosophila’s ventral nerve cord, where the central nervous system meets the rest of the body.
View ArticleMonkeys build mental maps to navigate new tasks
Cognitive maps, also known as world models, allow animals to imagine novel scenarios based on past experiences.
View ArticleIs it time to worry about brain chimeras?
Brains made of neurons from two species raise new concerns.
View ArticleEgyptian fruit bats’ neural patterns represent different experimenters
The findings underscore the importance of accounting for “experimenter effects” on lab animals.
View Article‘Place cells’ help guide freely swimming zebrafish larvae
The newly found cells function like those in mammals, revealing that spatial cognition evolved earlier than previously thought.
View ArticleHow ‘walking fish’ feel, taste hidden food with their legs
Fins-turned-legs in sea robins are innervated with touch-sensitive neurons and taste-receptor-rich cells that can detect prey buried in the sand, according to new research.
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