Optogenetics

Bioengineers from the University of Texas at Dallas have developed a new form of composite material by incorporating yeast into a gel. They demonstrated that the composite can change size depending on the nutrients present around the gel and that…

By introducing a tool commonly used to study brain function into the leaves of plants, researchers at the University of Glasgow have developed a technique that shows promise in improving the efficiency of food production by controlling how quickly plants…

A study of the mouse brain found that a region involved in processing visual motion does not depend on the area thought to be the primary source of visual information, but rather a separate structure. While a similar discovery in the analogous region of…

The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is an area of the brain located in the prefrontal cortex, which, as its name suggests, is the front part of the brain. The OFC is my favorite area of the brain, partially because it was the first region I studied, but…

The Nucleus Accumbens (NAc) is an area of the brain that is part of the Basal Ganglia system. It is divided into two subregions: the core and the shell. As you can imagine, the core region is nested within the shell. The NAc is primarily composed of…

The Ventral Pallidum (VP) is an area of the brain that is part of the Basal Ganglia system. The VP is involved in regulating motivation and reward learning, connected with a variety of other brain regions, including another part of the Basal Ganglia…

The Dorsal Raphe Nucleus, or DRN, is an area of the brain located along the midline of the brainstem that contains the largest number of serotonin containing (serotonergic) neurons in the brain. Serotonin participates in mood setting, sleep, social…

The Dorsal Raphe Nucleus, or DRN, is an area of the brain located along the midline of the brainstem, which is found towards the back of your brain. The DRN contains the largest number of serotonin-containing neurons, called serotonergic neurons, in the…

Hi, my name is Maddie Ray, and I am a proud cat mom and neuroscientist originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma. I did my undergraduate at Kansas State University where I majored in Psychology. While at K-State, I fell in love with neuroscience through a course…

by Trevor Haynes In the late 18th century a particularly resourceful experimenter, Giovanni Aldini, saw scientific opportunity in the increasingly prevalent public executions being performed across Europe at the time. Using the corpse of a recently…