September 29, 2008
Category: Neuroscience
Learning to play a musical instrument is known to involve both structural and functional changes in the brain. Studies published in recent years have established, for example, that professional keyboard players have increased gray matter volume in motor, auditory and...
Posted by Mo at 12:05 PM • 4 Comments •
Category: Miscellaneous
This scanning electron micrograph of diatoms attached to an invertebrate host won first place in the photography category of the 2008 Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge. Other winners and honorable mentions can be seen in this slideshow....
Posted by Mo at 8:04 AM • 2 Comments •
September 26, 2008
Category: Neuroscience
Around 15 years ago, researchers discovered that the adult rodent brain contains discrete populations of stem cells which continue to divide and produce new neurons throughout life. This discovery was an important one, as it overturned a persistent dogma in...
Posted by Mo at 5:28 PM • 3 Comments •
September 25, 2008
Category: Neuroscience
Radiation therapy is a common treatment for adults and children who present with tumours in or close to the brain. In the last 20 years, advances in radiotherapy have significantly improved the prognosis for brain cancer patients. However, the resulting...
Posted by Mo at 10:17 AM • 2 Comments •
Category: Neuroscience
A short piece in the MIT Technology Review describes a new retinal implant designed to remain in place for long periods of time: In retinal diseases such as acute macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa, the light-sensing cells of the...
Posted by Mo at 9:02 AM • 5 Comments •
September 24, 2008
Category: Neuroscience
The September issue of Scientific American contains an excellent and lengthy article about a state-of-the-art technique called optogenetics, by molecular physiologist Gero Miesenböck, who has been instrumental in its development. As its name suggests, optogenetics is a combination of optics...
Posted by Mo at 11:05 AM • 2 Comments •
September 23, 2008
Category: Neuroscience
We continually rely on our abilities of spatial navigation, be it for the daily commute to work, a trip to the local supermarket, or simply to make our way to the bathroom in the middle of the night. These tasks...
Posted by Mo at 12:42 PM • 7 Comments •
Category: Blogging
The current issue of The Economist contains a short article about how weblogs are beginning to change the way science is being communicate: Earlier this month Seed Media Group...launched the latest version of Research Blogging, a website which acts as...
Posted by Mo at 5:55 AM • 1 Comments •
September 17, 2008
Category: Neuroscience
The new issue of Seed contains a short piece by me called Beauty and the Brain, about the emerging field of neuroaesthetics, which seeks to investigate the neural correlates of the appreciation of beauty in art. Neuroaesthetics was pioneered...
Posted by Mo at 7:20 AM • 6 Comments •
September 15, 2008
Category: Carnivals
Welcome to the 54th edition of Encephalon, the neuroscience and psychology blog carnival. This edition has everything from the perception of colour and shapes to behavioural economics, the neuroscience of sports and squabbling psychologists.First up is the editor's choice: an...
Posted by Mo at 7:50 AM • 3 Comments •
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