Neuroscience research has come a hell of a long way since the days of scalpels and electrodes. While some research teams are exploring the molecular machinery that churns at the hearts of nerve cells, others are working to assemble wiring diagrams for whole regions of the human brain. Just as biological science never looked the [...]
Posts Tagged ‘connectomics’
Three Big Doubts About Brain-Mapping Efforts
April 14th, 2013 
The Connectome 
Posted in Feature Stories, Featured 
Tags: connectomics, neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, neurons, neurophysiology, synapses, technology 
No Comments »
Science Fights Back With Open Access
November 16th, 2012 The Connectome A major paradigm shift is taking the science world by storm. Open source is taking over. For more than a century, scientists have depended on peer-reviewed journals to keep them up to date on the latest research. But as many of these journals have raised their subscription fees to bank-breaking levels, and locked life-saving research [...]
Posted in Brain News, Featured Tags: connectomics, imaging, learning, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, technology 1 Comment »
Q&A: Can We Preserve Our Brains After Death?
November 2nd, 2012 The Connectome As promised, here’s the first-ever official Connectome Q&A! We’ve been getting lots of incoming questions on our Facebook and Twitter pages – some of them on the technical side; others of the more “general interest” variety. Most of these questions require pretty involved answers – and it’s important to me that each of them gets [...]
Posted in Featured Tags: biology, connectomics, consciousness, evolution, imaging, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, technology 2 Comments »
Podcast 4 – Our Interview With Scott Emmons
September 15th, 2012 The Connectome On episode 4 of the Connectome podcast, Ben chats with Scott W. Emmons, Ph.D., a professor of neuroscience and genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Emmons talks with us about his cutting-edge connectomics research, which may help us understand how neural circuits “decide” on a particular behavior. Click here to subscribe in [...]
Posted in Featured, Podcasts Tags: biology, connectomics, functional networks, neuroanatomy, neurons, senses, technology No Comments »
Brains and Brilliance
August 1st, 2012 The Connectome Where in the brain, exactly, is intelligence? Is a high I.Q. just a result of a flawed test – or do high-I.Q. brains have specific, measurable differences from others? Answers await, Intrepid Reader – but first we have to make sure we’re asking the right questions. Let’s start with the big news: a study just published [...]
Posted in Brain News, Featured Tags: anxiety, connectomics, depression, drugs, functional networks, intelligence, learning, neurophysiology 4 Comments »
The Brain Grid
March 30th, 2012 The Connectome Connections in the brain aren’t all tangled up – they’re organized into a grid of tightly-knit bundles, says a new study. By applying mathematical analysis to the latest imaging technology, scientists have discovered that connective pathways are knit into a three-dimensional geometric pattern. When scientists first set out to map the connections in a brain, [...]
Posted in Brain News, Featured Tags: biology, connectomics, consciousness, functional networks, neuroanatomy, neurons, structural networks, technology 1 Comment »
Podcast 1 – Our Interview With Joshua Vogelstein
February 5th, 2012 The Connectome Here it is – the first Connectome podcast! Join Ben as he talks with Joshua Vogelstein, a leading connectomics researcher, about the Open Connectome Project, an international venture to make data on neural connectivity available to everyone, all over the world. It’s like Google Maps for your brain. Click here to subscribe in iTunes. [...]
Taking Vision Apart
January 21st, 2012 The Connectome For the first time, scientists have created neuron-by-neuron maps of brain regions corresponding to specific kinds of visual information, and specific parts of the visual field, says a new study. If other labs can confirm these results, this will mean we’re very close to being able to predict exactly which neurons will fire when an [...]
Posted in Brain News Tags: connectomics, neuroanatomy, neurons, neurophysiology, structural networks, vision No Comments »Saving Faces
January 11th, 2012 The Connectome A brain area that’s specialized to recognize faces has a unique structure in each of our brains – and mapping that area’s connectivity patterns can tell us how each of our brains use it, says a new study. The fusiform gyrus in the temporal lobe plays a part in our recognition of words, numbers, faces, [...]
Posted in Brain News Tags: connectomics, functional networks, MRI, neurophysiology, senses, structural networks, vision 1 Comment »"M" Marks the Spot
August 11th, 2011 The Connectome A completely new method for mapping brain anatomy will give us a much clearer idea of where some areas end and others begin. The new technique compares two different kinds of fMRI data to show where there’s myelin - the sheath that only surrounds long-range neuron branches (axons) – at a speed and level of detail never possible before. [...]
Posted in Brain News Tags: connectomics, fMRI, neuroanatomy, neurons, neurophysiology, technology No Comments »
