Category archives: Neuroscience

Obesity hinders brain recognition of nutrient signals

Obesity hinders brain recognition of nutrient signals

BiochemistryBiomedicineHealthMedicineNeuroscience

By Rosa García-Verdugo

Recent research has demonstrated that obesity impairs the mechanisms that allow our brains to realize when our stomachs are full and that these changes are maintained despite dieting, giving insights into why it is difficult for obese people to avoid excessive eating and why there is often a yo-yo effect after dieting. It has been […]

SARS-CoV-2 infect immune cells of the central nervous system

SARS-CoV-2 infect immune cells of the central nervous system

BiomedicineNeuroscience

By Invited Researcher

SARS-CoV-2 Author: José R. Pineda got his Ph.D. from University of Barcelona in 2006. Since 2007 he has worked for Institut Curie and The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. Currently he is a researcher of the UPV/EHU. He investigates the role of stem cells in physiologic and pathologic conditions. With 676.609.955 cases registered […]

A lifetime of mental illness accelerates ageing

A lifetime of mental illness accelerates ageing

NeurobiologyNeuroscience

By Rosa García-Verdugo

Mental illness is associated with accelerated ageing, namely with shorter life span and ageing-related diseases such as diabetes or cardiovascular problems, with worse effects observed in men than women (the average lifespan for men having suffered from mental illness is 10 years shorter than for peers without those issues, for women the difference is seven […]

Organoid intelligence: brains acting as computers

Organoid intelligence: brains acting as computers

Computer scienceNeuroscience

By Rosa García-Verdugo

While for long in neuroscience, computers were used to model brain function, organoid intelligence, a new scientific field, aims to do the opposite by developing biological computers which would benefit from the efficiency of our most complex biological machine: the brain. Fear not. The objective is not to connect humans by their brains to power […]

Bilingualism and cognitive reserve: unlocking the benefits of multilingualism

Bilingualism and cognitive reserve: unlocking the benefits of multilingualism

LanguageNeuroscience

By Invited Researcher

Bilingualism, or the ability to speak two or more languages, has become increasingly important in today’s globalized world. Not only does it facilitate communication and cultural understanding between people of different languages and backgrounds, but it has also been shown to have cognitive benefits that can help promote healthy aging. Research has shown that bilingualism […]

How our first language shapes brain’s connectivity structure

How our first language shapes brain’s connectivity structure

LanguageNeurolinguisticsNeuroscience

By Invited Researcher

connectivity Author: Juan F. Trillo, PhD in Linguistics and Philosophy (U. Autónoma de Madrid), PhD in Literary Studies (U. Complutense de Madrid). The plasticity of the brain and its ability to adapt to the most diverse requirements and demands, such as the use of a specific language, has been well known for years . This […]

Botox can affect emotional processing

Botox can affect emotional processing

Neuroscience

By Rosa García-Verdugo

We reflect other people’s emotions through an ingrained, unconscious process. According to the facial feedback hypothesis, seeing a happy or angry face would make us contract or relax the appropriate face muscles to emulate that expression and better identify and experience the associated emotion. Since botox impairs some facial muscles from contracting in response to […]

Emotional dampening of antidepressants

Emotional dampening of antidepressants

MedicineNeurobiologyNeurosciencePharmacy

By José Ramón Alonso

Serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) is a neurotransmitter involved in various cognitive and affective functions. Drugs targeting serotonin transmission, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), are the first-line pharmacological treatments for many neuropsychiatric disorders such as major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety. These antidepressants increase the concentration in the synaptic space of this neurotransmitter […]