Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and their colleagues at Creighton University have deciphered the highly unusual molecular structure of a naturally produced, ocean-based compound that is giving new understanding of the function of mammalian nerve cells. The findings are reported in the Aug.

Poor Phineas Gage. In 1848, the supervisor for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad in Vermont was using a 13-pound, 3-foot-7-inch rod to pack blasting powder into a rock when he triggered an explosion that drove the rod through his left cheek and out of the top of his head. As ...

Investigators from Boston University (BU) and the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System have shown evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in brain tissue from blast-exposed military service personnel. Laboratory experiments conducted by the investigators demonstrated that exposure to a single blast equivalent to a typical improvised explosive device (IED) results ...

The journal Nature reports on a science fiction style jump in technology, where an interface on the brain is used to connect to a robotic arm and provide real time thought control. It is a dramatic leap for the technology which has been tested with paralyzed patients and gives ...

Even mild head injuries can cause significant abnormalities in brain function that last for several days, which may explain the neurological symptoms experienced by some individuals who have experienced a head injury associated with sports, accidents or combat, according to a study by Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine researchers...

Scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College have discovered that the single protein - alpha 2 delta - exerts a spigot-like function, controlling the volume of neurotransmitters and other chemicals that flow between the synapses of brain neurons. The study, published online in Nature, shows how brain cells talk to each ...

C5ORF42 was identified as the gene that causes Joubert Syndrome in a number of families in the Lower St. Lawrence region of Quebec where the causal gene had remained unknown since the initial description of the syndrome in 1969. This is what a study in The American Journal of Human ...

While we often think of memory as a way of preserving the essential idea of who we are, little thought is given to the importance of forgetting to our wellbeing, whether what we forget belongs in the "horrible memories department" or just reflects the minutia of day-to-day living. Despite the ...