Brain circuit differences reflect divisions in social status
Life at opposite ends of primate social hierarchies is linked to specific brain networks, a new Oxford University study has shown.
View ArticleHow female fruit flies know when to say 'yes'
A fundamental question in neurobiology is how animals, including humans, make decisions. A new study publishing in the open access journal PLOS Biology on October 7 reveals how fruit fly females make a...
View ArticleStudy hints at why parrots are great vocal imitators
An international team of scientists led by Duke University researchers has uncovered key structural differences in the brains of parrots that may explain the birds' unparalleled ability to imitate...
View ArticleBreakthrough in understanding the origins of language
Researchers from the "Cognitive Neuroimaging" unit at NeuroSpin have identified a network of brain regions whose organisation may at least partly explain the specificity of the cognitive functions of...
View ArticleParenting in the animal world: Turning off the infanticide instinct
Many bachelor mammals, including lions, mountain gorillas, monkeys, and mice, attack and kill the offspring of other males—a form of infanticide—yet display parental behavior once they themselves...
View ArticleSeeing the light: Army ants evolve to regain sight and more in return to surface
A change to a more challenging environment could, over time, re-ignite and grow old parts of the brain that have gone inactive, according to a study of army ants led by a Drexel biology professor.
View ArticleDog brains process both what we say and how we say it, study shows
The first study to investigate how dog brains process speech shows that our best friends in the animal kingdom care about both what we say and how we say it. Dogs, like people, use the left hemisphere...
View ArticleNew analysis of brain network activity offers unique insight into epileptic...
Epilepsy is a complex neurological disorder that afflicts approximately 50 million people worldwide. Although this disease has been known to exist for centuries, the exact mechanism of its cardinal...
View ArticleNew study revises the development and evolutionary origin of the vertebrate...
A study recently published in PLOS Biology provides information that substantially changes the prevailing idea about the brain formation process in vertebrates and sheds some light on how it might have...
View ArticleIn brain evolution, size matters—most of the time
Which came first, overall bigger brains or larger brain regions that control specialized behaviors? Neuroscientists have debated this question for decades, but a new Cornell University study settles...
View ArticleLab-created mini-brains reveal how growing organ maintains neuronal balance
Scientists can now explore in a laboratory dish how the human brain develops by creating organoids—distinct, three-dimensional regions of the brain. In research published in Cell Stem Cell, Yale...
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