When you repair electronics, you frequently test individual parts to see how they affect the whole. Why not try that with the brain? Stanford is doing just that. It developed a technique that fires specific kinds of neurons to map the brain and ident...
Brain mapping could lead to better Parkinson’s treatments
When you repair electronics, you frequently test individual parts to see how they affect the whole. Why not try that with the brain? Stanford is doing just that. It developed a technique that fires specific kinds of neurons to map the brain and ident...
Today on In Case You Missed It: Scientists filmed young Hawaiian crows and discovered that they're so smart, they figured out how to use tools to get food without ever having been taught by adult crows. There are very few Alala in the world, but so...
In the great fight against cancer, scientists look for solutions that are both effective and less ravaging than current treatments like chemotherapy. One experimental concept, optogenetics, uses light to reduce or eliminate cancer cells. Researchers...
Scientists have already shown that you can use optogenetics (that is, light-sensitive genes and cells) to treat all kinds of medical conditions. However, it now looks like that technique could conquer one of humanity's biggest nemeses: cancer. Tufts...
Optogenetics, or mixing gene therapy with light treatments, is finally getting a proper field test: doctors have given a blind Texas woman the first optogenetics-based therapy in hopes of restoring some of the vision lost to a degenerative retina dis...
Researchers have modified muscle cells to move in response to light, which could eventually result in "bio-bots" useful for health or environmental applications. The breakthrough was made possible by the rapidly expand field of optogenetics, in which...
One day, eliminating pain may just be a matter of flicking on a light. Scientists have shown that you can implant LEDs that stop neurons from firing and cut out pain reception. The current technique (tested in mice) requires altering the neurons'...
Have you ever spaced out in the middle of a conversation without dozing off completely? MIT scientists now have a better idea why: only part of your brain is sleeping while the rest stays awake. Neuroscientists always suspected that, but the MIT te...
Scientists have directly controlled animals before, but these approaches tend to either require surgery or only work with critters at certain stages in their lives. Researchers might have a more powerful technique in store, however: they've managed...