Neurobiology
Category archives for Neurobiology
Flying in all directions
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on April 19, 2013 When we navigate through our environment, do we track mostly in two dimensions or in three? Clearly, we can move in all three dimensions, but does our internal map relate to the vertical direction in the same way as it does to the horizontal axes on the ground? That question has not yet been definitively…
What’s that Smell?
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on November 22, 2012 Weizmann Institute scientists have created a “white smell.” Think about white light or white noise: Each mixes a bunch of different waves together from various parts of the visual or audible spectrum. Those wavelengths combine such that we perceive that unobtrusive light or sound we call “white.” How do smells fit into this scenario? Prof.…
What a Rat Feels
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on November 5, 2012 We have been told what it’s like to be a bat or a bird; now Prof. Ehud Ahissar and Dr. Avi Saig are getting people to experience what it’s like to be a rat. Specifically, they want the participants in their studies to learn what it’s like to locate things in the dark by twitching…
While You Were Sleeping
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on August 26, 2012 “Imagine that you wake up in the morning feeling nothing special, yet you find yourself inexplicably behaving just a bit differently during the day. For example, you take a sniff every time you hear a tone,” says Prof. Noam Sobel. Of course, the people this actually happened to knew they had volunteered for a sleep…
A Dynamic Trio of Findings
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on June 13, 2012 Blurring, chopping and blocking. Three online items this week all deal with some pretty dynamic phenomena. The blurring is in our perceptions. It turns out that if you even think you have lost money in an experiment, your ability to distinguish between musical notes will be hampered. What’s the connection? Dr. Rony Paz has been…
Going into the Unknown, Together
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on January 9, 2012 The actors on the stage work their magic, turning a few disparate phrases – “challenge, giving birth, infinity, chaos, visiting a new country” – into a brief but charming improvised sketch, to the delight of the audience. But the viewers, filling a large auditorium at the Weizmann Institute of Science, expect more than to be…
The Physics of: Ants and Bats
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on November 29, 2011 This week’s new Weizmann science stories are on ants and bats. Two different models for investigating human behavior? Yes, but not exactly in the ways you might imagine, and so much more than that. Dr. Ofer Feinerman, the “ant scientist,” is a new member of the Physics Faculty. In his graduate research under Prof. Elisha…
Every Smell Has Its Place
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on September 26, 2011 The olfactory membranes in your nose are densely packed with smell receptors. These receptors come in some 400 different subtypes; complex odors like that of rose petals can waft around 175 distinct kinds of odor molecules in the direction of your nose. In other words, the number of discrete odors we can perceive runs to…
Bat Maps
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on August 16, 2011 Dr. Nachum Ulanovsky of the Weizmann Institute and Prof. Ran Nathan and Asaf Tsoar of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have captured live fruit bats and glued tiny GPS transmitters to their backs, then driven the bats overnight to a site some 80 kilometers away and rappelled into the bats’ caves to retrieve the transmitters…
What the Eye Sees and the Brain Says
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on August 10, 2011 What does a tiny patch of salamander retina see when it watches a movie? Weizmann Institute scientists, together with Dr. Ronen Segev at Ben-Gurion University, performed this experiment – literally showing film sequences to snippets of live retina tissue and recording the interactions between their 100 or so active neurons. Seeing, as we know, is…