"This mathematical model that is perfectly matched with experiments is a new microscope," Mehta added. "It reveals something that no existing microscope could see without it. No matter how many ...

The brain's ability to learn comes from "plasticity," in which neurons constantly edit and remodel the tiny connections called synapses that they make with other neurons to form circuits. To study ...

For decades, textbooks told students the human brain held roughly 100 billion neurons and that glial cells outnumbered them ...

Anyone who wants to understand the brain must be able to see the brain's microscopically small switching units – the neurons – at work. Conventional light microscopes are not sufficient to do the job.

In the late 1800s, Spanish neuroscientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal drew hundreds of images of neurons. His exquisite work influenced our understanding of what they look like: Cells with a bulbous center ...

A new two-photon fluorescence microscope developed at UC Davis can capture high-speed images of neural activity at cellular resolution thanks to a new adaptive sampling scheme and line illumination.

Our brain is a complex organ. Billions of nerve cells are wired in an intricate network, constantly processing signals, enabling us to recall memories or to move our bodies. Making sense of this ...

Tiny pieces of plastic can enter brain cells and alter their physical development, with the smallest particles causing the ...

Researchers have discovered a mechanism that creates memories while reducing metabolic cost, even during sleep. This efficient memory occurs in a part of the brain that is crucial for learning and ...