The human brain is the center of the human nervous system and is a highly complex organ. Enclosed in the cranium, it has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times as large as the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size.
Toxic versions of the protein tau are believed to cause the death of neurons of the brain in Alzheimer's disease.
A new synthetic molecule selectively reduces the physiological rewards of cocaine in mice.
Removing a malignant brain tumor is a balancing act between protecting the healthy tissue and, at the same time, excising as much tumor tissue as possible.
Patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, lose muscle control as nerve cells or neurons in the brain and spinal cord degenerate and can no longer send signals to muscles.
An international research team has for the first time obtained the structure of the light-sensitive sodium-pumping KR2 protein in its active state.
More than a decade before people with Huntington's disease show symptoms, they can exhibit abnormally high levels of an immune-system molecule called interleukin-6 (IL-6), which has led many researchers to suspect IL-6 of promoting the eventual neurological devastation associated with the genetic condition.
Dr. John Streicher speaks to AZoLifeSciences about his research on improving opioid drugs to make them safer and more effective.
The lens of the eye is an unusual organ. Unlike most of the body's organs, blood vessels don't reach the lens. If they did, they'd obscure our vision and we wouldn't be able to see. The lack of vasculature led scientists to believe immune cells, which travel via the bloodstream, couldn't get to this part of the body either.
Scientists carried out a genome-wide analysis of over 435,000 people, revealing 29 genetic variants associated with problematic drinking.
Researchers have found a way to design an antibody that can identify the toxic particles that destroy healthy brain cells - a potential advance in the fight against Alzheimer's disease.
Winter may be behind us, but do you remember the challenge of waking up on those cold, dark days? Temperature affects the behavior of nearly all living creatures, but there is still much to learn about the link between sensory neurons and neurons controlling the sleep-wake cycle.
We know a lot about the human brain, but very little about how it is formed. In particular, the stages from the second to the seventh week of embryonic development have so far been virtually unknown territory to brain researchers.
Some people can remain slim easily, irrespective of their diet, while others might be dieting and working out at the gym to maintain their shape.
Organisms carry long-term "memories" of their ancestral homelands that help them adapt to environmental change, according to a new study that involved raising chickens on the Tibetan Plateau and an adjacent lowland site.
In recent years, genome-wide association studies have identified many different genetic variants associated with schizophrenia.
Researchers have developed a new technique that can determine the specific molecular form, location, and the number of lipids in samples of rat brain tissue.
Retina is the only part of the central nervous system that can be visualized noninvasively with optical imaging approaches.
A research team has devised a unique method that can establish the amount, location, and specific molecular form of lipids in rat brain tissue samples.
For our social life and our profession we must be able to deal with our environment and other people. Executive functions, meaning the basic intellectual abilities that control human thought and action, help us to do this.
Scientists have trained a computer to analyze different types of brain scan and predict the age of the human brain, according to a new study in the open-access journal eLife.