Predation is a biological interaction between a hunting organism, the predator, and another organism that is hunted, the prey. Predators may hunt actively for prey in pursuit predation, or sit and wait for prey as in ambush predators. In all cases, it is a complex behavior requiring honed skills and perfect and fast coordination among […]
Many women mention to have memory lapses, cognitive impairment and difficulties to focus associated to pregnancy and motherhood. It is called «baby brain», «brain pregnancy» or «momnesia». In surveys, up to four-fifths of pregnant women report slight mental troubles such as problems remembering phone numbers or stringing a complex sentence together. It is considered a […]
Flavor is a brain construction: we have olfactory and taste receptors and our central nervous system combines both types of information in what we call flavor. Malaria is an infectious disease affecting humans and other animals caused by parasitic protozoans belonging to the Plasmodium genre. It is transmitted by the bite of the female Anopheles […]
Men have been drowning their love sorrows in alcohol since the dawn of times. What probably none of those lonely broken-hearted drinkers might have imagined, is that their despair would serve as inspiration for an interesting research involving sex, alcohol and flies. As the story goes, a group of researchers at the University of California […]
Group activities like dancing, laughing, and singing, release endorphins in the brain. These endogenous opioid neuropeptides produce a feel-good sensation, increase pain tolerance acting as analgesics, and presumably help to form stronger bonds between members of the group. One conceivable explanation for our amusement of comedy might be that it makes us laugh, and thus […]
Author: Estibaliz Capetillo-Zarate got her Ph.D. from Bonn University in 2006. Since 2007 she has worked for the Weil Cornell Medical College. Currently she is an Ikerbasque Research Fellow affiliated to UPV/EHU and the Achucarro Basque Center for Neuroscience. She investigates the role of neurons and microglia in Alzheimer’s disease. We might be still a […]
Whiskers or vibrissae are a type of mammalian hair characterized, anatomically, by their larger, thicker and stiffer morphology, large and well-innervated hair follicle and by having a definite projection in the somatosensory cortex of the brain, forming the so-called “barrels”. The ‘barrels’ of the barrel field are regions within cortical layer IV that are visibly […]
Rabies is a fatal viral disease largely transmitted to humans by infected animals—predominantly from domestic dogs. The contagion is usually through the saliva from rabid animals. The disease is entirely preventable through prompt administration of post-exposure prophylaxis to bite victims and can be controlled through widely applied vaccination of domestic dogs. Yet, rabies is still […]
The human microbiota is the community of microorganisms that resides in our body. They are found in a number of organs and biofluids, including the skin, mammary glands, placenta, seminal fluid, uterus, ovarian follicles, lung, saliva, oral mucosa, and conjunctiva, but the most abundant group resides in the gastrointestinal tract. This complex community has been […]
Autism is a highly prevalent spectrum disorder of the neurodevelopment. It is characterized by impaired social interaction, alterations in verbal and non-verbal communication, and restricted and repetitive behaviors. Considering these main differences, it had been difficult to have good animal models since these interactions were initially defined for humans but scientists are nowadays developing different […]