Brain Linked to Immune System

A physical link has been discovered between the human brain and a lymphatic system through a series of vessels previously thought not to exist, raising new questions about the connection to and causes of many neurological diseases and their dysfunction.

Effect of Weak Broadband EM

Biologists studying migratory birds accidentally discovered that the effects of low-level broadband electromagnetic fields common in cities and a thousand times below the range that affects human health can disrupt the behavior and magnetic migratory sense of urban songbirds.

Parasite Affects Instinctive Fear

A common single-cell pathogen (Toxoplasma gondii) removes the instinctive fear of predators (cats) in rodents, possibly permanently modifying a specific brain function as an evolutionary adaptation for the parasite, which can only reproduce sexually within the cat gut.

Memory in Decapitated Worms

Researchers have found that flatworms trained in a simple task and then decapitated retained their memories of the task after their head had regrown, implying that memory may be stored in other body cells and then imprinted in the new brain as it regenerates.

Salmon Use Magnetic Field

A new study has shown that juvenile salmon imprint on the signature of the magnetic field present in the river of their birth and seek out this same unique signature during their spawning migration, the first research to document an animal's ability to learn to navigate using the Earth's magnetic field.

Sensitivity in Alligators, Crocodiles

New research into small pigmented domes called "integumentary sensor organs” (ISO) that line the armored skin of alligators and crocodiles found these are dense spots of mechanoreceptor nerve endings that give the animal an exceptional sense of touch sensitivity greater than human fingertips.

Wasps Have Mechanical Brains

With neurons more than an order of magnitude smaller and thinner than human neurons, the operation of the brains of the miniature greenhouse whitefly parasite (Encarsia formosa) may rely more upon slight mechanical  movements to trigger the chemical release of a signal rather than an electrical action potential.

New "Glymphatic System" in Brain

Neuroscientists have discovered a previously unknown system that rapidly drains waste away from the brain, a waste clearance network named the "glymphatic system" that shadows the blood vessels and operates much the same way as the lymphatic system in the rest of the body.

Motion Cameras Detect Autism

Researchers are using the motion-detection camera from Microsoft's commercial gaming system Kinect to observe young children at play and detect early signs of autism spectrum disorder, tracking each child's motion and activity level as an aid to professional diagnosis.

One Gene Made Human Brains

Researchers have determined that a single gene (SRGAP2) duplicated itself 3.5 million years ago and then duplicated itself again 1 million years later, with the effect of this rare duplication slowing down the maturation of the human brain and giving it more time to develop its modern complexity.

Modern Brains from Simple Worms

New research on the simple acorn worm (Saccoglossus kowalevskii) reveals it possesses three clusters of cells called signalling centers identical to those in vertebrates that are used to develop complex brain structures, suggesting the last common ancestor of vertebrates and invertebrates may have had a complex brain that it subsequently lost.

Mollusc CNS Evolved Four Times

By statistically analyzing genetic sequences of molluscs (including gastropods, cephalopods and bivalves) researchers have regrouped the Mollusca evolutionary tree and found the similar centralized nervous systems of these animals evolved independently at four separate times, a remarkable occurrence for complex structures such as these.

Death of Decapitated Brain

Researching humane methods of euthanizing laboratory animals, scientists have discovered a wave of electrical activity in the brains of rats roughly a minute after decapitation, with corresponding phenomena found in the brains of human patients taken off life support, which may signal a final biochemical effort to restart failing brain function and provide a clear demarcation of brain death.

Illusion Aided Throwing Skill

A new study has found a natural size-weight illusion was critical to early human's development of the ability to throw objects long distances, a neurological key requiring extremely coordinated timing, motor and perceptive skills on par with social organization and language sharing the posterior parietal cortex in the evolution of the human brain.

Brain's Distorted Body Model

A hand study reveals the brain's representation and perception of various body parts is highly distorted from the actual proportions, most likely due to the differences in sensory information received from those parts.

Brain Limits to Multitasking

Researchers have shown how the human brain can handle two tasks at once by dividing attention between the two lobes of the medial prefrontal cortex (MFC), but this same physiology explains why we cannot effectively handle three or more tasks simultaneously.

First Record of Mirror Neurons

Previously only a theory, researchers have proven the existence of so-called mirror neurons in the human brain, the mechanism by which we recognize, sympathize and empathize with others and which makes us unique among animals.

Psychopathic Brain Seeks Reward

Psychologists have discovered that the brain of a psychopath contains a hyper-reactive dopamine reward system, one so strong that the quest for reward often overwhelms any potential risks or punishment as well as any social mores.

Cat CNS Repairs Itself

The central nervous system of cats has extensive abilities to repair neurological disorders through the restoration of myelin, the fatty insulator of nerve cells.

Serotonin Causes Locusts to Swarm

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have found that a sharp increase in serotonin levels in locusts is the chemical trigger that causes them to swarm.

Normally a solitary insect, locusts produce more serotonin when circumstances such as drought force many of them together, such as at a common remaining food source. This combined sight, smell and touch of similar insects induces the production of serotonin, and at levels as much as three times normal they operate as pack animals in devastating swarms that affect up to 20% of the Earth's land.

Serotonin is a brain chemical that has been linked to libido, mood, appetite, sleep and memory in humans. Researchers found they could induce this swarming behavior in locusts by injecting them with serotonin, as well as inhibit this behavior by using a serotonin blocker. Knowledge of how chemicals such as serotonin affect insects could lead to better methods to prevent ravaging swarms before they develop.

These results were published in the January 30th edition of Science.

Source: Yahoo!