Let us begin the new year with a renewed commitment to protecting our brain health. We often hear that the mind and body are connected—and this is absolutely true. Brain health is body health.

Dopamine neurons—the cells that drive reward and motivation while we're awake—become surprisingly active during nonrapid eye movement sleep right after we learn something new. The findings challenge ...

Efforts to efficiently manufacture human neurons from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are rapidly transforming the landscape of neuroscience research, drug discovery, and emerging cell-based ...

Motor neurons are some of the largest cells in the human body. In particular, upper neurons—extending from the cerebral cortex to the brain stem or spinal cord—average 60μm in diameter. 3,4 These ...

Most people wouldn’t give Geobacter sulfurreducens a second look. The bacteria was first discovered in a ditch in rural Oklahoma. But the lowly microbe has a superpower. It grows protein nanotubes ...

Did you ever wonder why you suddenly crave something that you see someone else eating? Or, find yourself ordering the same thing someone else does at a restaurant? Often we have been reminded that ...

From Santiago Ramón y Cajal’s hand came branches and whorls, spines and webs. Now-famous drawings by the neuroanatomist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries showed, for the first time, the ...

Researchers demonstrate an artificial neuron made of conductive plastics that can perform advanced functions similar to those of biological nerve cells. “Mimicking the behaviour of biological neurons ...

Pediatricians and parents — and, really, anyone who works with children — have long known that a child’s social needs evolve with age. Yale researchers have now discovered the neurological signaling ...

We’re celebrating 180 years of Scientific American. Explore our legacy of discovery and look ahead to the future. Billions of nerve cells send signals coursing through our bodies, serving as conduits ...

Age often brings a gradual decline in the ability to learn new things and retain memories. This phenomenon, often associated with the elderly, is linked to the brain's deteriorating capacity to ...

A new Yale study has revealed that neurons — the energy-hungry cells that connect and direct activity in the brain — are equipped with “backup batteries” that kick in to keep the brain running during ...