Our Smell Universe | Oscillator
Smell is notoriously subjective and hard to define. Odors can be perceived differently by different people depending on genetics, culture, past experience, the environment, and whether they’ve had a really bad sinus infection or not. Even worse, the same person can perceive the same smell differently at different times, depending on how the smell is described and other sensory fluctuations. Leslie Vosshall’s Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior at Rockefeller University studies how complex behaviors are influenced by the chemical senses in organisms ranging from mosquitoes to humans. Odor Descriptions from "An olfactory demography of a diverse metropolitan population" This study has been ongoing for several years, and two years ago inspired Nicola Twilley’s wonderful Scratch-and-Sniff Map of New York’s olfactory psychogeography. Scratch-and-Sniff Smell Maps by Nicola Twilley Odor Descriptions from the Scratch-and-Sniff Map
Brains as Clear as Jell-O for Scientists to Explore
Scientists at reported on Wednesday that they have made a whole mouse brain, and part of a human brain, transparent so that networks of neurons that receive and send information can be highlighted in stunning color and viewed in all their three-dimensional complexity without slicing up the organ. Even more important, experts say, is that unlike earlier methods for making the tissue of brains and other organs transparent, the new process, called Clarity by its inventors, preserves the biochemistry of the brain so well that researchers can test it over and over again with chemicals that highlight specific structures and provide clues to past activity. The researchers say this process may help uncover the physical underpinnings of devastating mental disorders like , , and others. The work, reported on Wednesday in the journal Nature, is not part of the Obama administration’s recently announced initiative to probe the secrets of the brain, although the senior author on the paper, Dr. Dr.
Brains: The mind as matter
Thursday 29 March 2012 - Sunday 17 June 2012 Brains is now at MOSI in Manchester and runs unitl 4 Jan 2013. This major new free exhibition seeks to explore what humans have done to brains in the name of medical intervention, scientific enquiry, cultural meaning and technological change. Featuring over 150 artefacts including real brains, artworks, manuscripts, artefacts, videos and photography, 'Brains' follows the long quest to manipulate and decipher the most unique and mysterious of human organs, whose secrets continue to confound and inspire. 'Brains' asks not what brains do to us, but what we have done to brains, focusing on the bodily presence of the organ rather than investigating the neuroscience of the mind. Events A series of events are taking place to support the 'Brains' exhibition. 'Brains' image credit: Headache (2008) by Helen Pynor. <div>Browser does not support script.
Astrocytes Control the Generation of New Neurons from Neural Stem Cells
Researchers from the Laboratory of astrocyte biology and CNS regeneration headed by Prof. Milos Pekny just published a research article in a prestigious journal Stem Cells on the molecular mechanism that controls generation of new neurons in the brain. Astrocytes are cells that have many functions in the central nervous system, such as the control of neuronal synapses, blood flow, or the brain’s response to neurotrauma or stroke. Reduces brain tissue damage Prof. Generation of new neurons In their current study, the Sahlgrenska Academy researchers show how astrocytes control the generation of new neurons in the brain. “In the brain, astrocytes control how many new neurons are formed from neural stem cells and survive to integrate into the existing neuronal networks. Researchers show how astrocytes control the generation of new neurons in the brain. Important regulator Target for future therapies Notes about this astrocyte and neural stem cell research
