Category archives: Neuroscience

The use of natural fluorescent proteins for studying life

The use of natural fluorescent proteins for studying life

BiochemistryBiologyMaterialsMolecular biologyNeuroscience

By Jaime de Juan Sanz

Some jellyfish species are beautifully fluorescent in the dark ocean, emitting light from different parts of their bodies in a process that is thought to help them to warn off predators. The molecular biology behind this process of glowing is possible thanks to one of the most famous proteins in molecular biology, the green fluorescent […]

Why did curiosity kill the cat? Brain reward systems engaged in learning curious information

Why did curiosity kill the cat? Brain reward systems engaged in learning curious information

Neuroscience

By José Viosca

People , like cats, are curiosity-driven creatures that manifest unique inclinations towards certain stimuli. Curiosity´s unavoidability has been immortalized in the proverb of the cat. Could we be so extremely pulled by this impulse to the level of endangering ourselves for the mere sake of its satisfaction? The flip side of the coin is an […]

Alzheimer’s disease: 3D culture system brings hope to drug discovery

Alzheimer’s disease: 3D culture system brings hope to drug discovery

NeurobiologyNeuroscience

By Raúl Delgado-Morales

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most devastating human pathologies. AD is the leading cause of age-related dementia and currently afflicts more than 44 million persons worldwide (World Alzheimer Report 2014). It is characterized by a cognitive decline and memory loss and by the appearance of two pathological hallmarks: beta amyloid plaques and cytoskeletal […]

A new type of spontaneous activity in the brain identified

A new type of spontaneous activity in the brain identified

NeurobiologyNeuroscience

By Jorge Mejías

The study of the spontaneous activity in the brain –and its origin– is one of the major puzzles in modern neural science. In many situations, the same neurons which behave smoothly and in an easily predictable way in in vitro experimental conditions, turn into unpredictable units, firing spikes irregularly and even chaotically, when they are […]

Epigenetic alterations in Alzheimer’s disease, nature vs. nurture on the path to dementia

Epigenetic alterations in Alzheimer’s disease, nature vs. nurture on the path to dementia

GeneticsNeuroscience

By Raúl Delgado-Morales

Nowadays there are still people that believe in destiny. However the scientific community more and more is bringing light to that subject showing that although the genetic material could program ourselves to suffer some pathologies, the day-to-day experiences are the ones that lead us towards a healthy or pathological aging. And how is that? Our […]

Je ne regrette rien (2): Consciuous decisions in the lab

Je ne regrette rien (2): Consciuous decisions in the lab

EpistemologyEthicsNeuroscience

By Jesús Zamora Bonilla

Psychologists and neurologists have been interested in the problem of free will since the beginning of their specialities, though the first clearly devised and relevant experiments on the topic were those of Libet and colleagues, in the early eighties. In this famous experiment, subjects who were before a clock, and whose brain electrical waves were […]