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Unlocking the Genetic Secrets Behind Human Vocal Communication

The origins of human language remain mysterious. Are we the only animals truly capable of complex speech? Are Homo sapiens the only hominids who could give detailed directions to a far-off freshwater source or describe the nuanced purples and reds of a dramatic sunset?

19 Feb 2025

First Cell Atlas of Focal Cortical Dysplasia Offers New Insights for Treatment

Using a single-cell sequencing technique, Brazilian researchers have created the first cell atlas of focal cortical dysplasia (FCD), a malformation of the cerebral cortex that leads to drug-resistant epilepsy.

31 Jan 2025

Cyanobacteria Harness Pulse Amplitude Modulation to Control Biological Functions

Cyanobacteria, an ancient lineage of bacteria that perform photosynthesis, have been found to regulate their genes using the same physics principle used in AM radio transmission.

26 Nov 2024

Simplified Model Predicts Neuronal Activity in Zebrafish Gaze Control

Working with week-old zebrafish larva, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and colleagues decoded how the connections formed by a network of neurons in the brainstem guide the fishes' gaze.

25 Nov 2024

MIT Engineers Develop Model to Decode Complex Biological Systems

Over the past two decades, new technologies have helped scientists generate a vast amount of biological data. Large-scale experiments in genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and cytometry can produce enormous quantities of data from a given cellular or multicellular system.

6 Nov 2024

Novel Approach Enhances Speech Recognition for People with Neuromotor Disorders

As Mark Hasegawa-Johnson combed through data from his latest project, he was pleasantly surprised to uncover a recipe for Eggs Florentine. Sifting through hundreds of hours of recorded speech will unearth a treasure or two, he said.

30 Sep 2024

Single-Cell Analysis Uncovers Impact of TREM2 Mutation on Beta-Amyloid Plaques

Researchers led by the University of California, Irvine have discovered how the TREM2 R47H genetic mutation causes certain brain areas to develop abnormal protein clumps, called beta-amyloid plaques, associated with late-onset Alzheimer's disease.

8 Aug 2024

Rapid Parkinson's Model Opens Door to Personalized Treatments

Scientists at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a key member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, have created a model that swiftly transforms stem cells into brain cells exhibiting protein structures associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD).

30 Jul 2024

Innovative Model Creates Personalized Parkinson's Disease Brain Cells for Drug Testing

A new model developed by Brigham researchers rapidly converts stem cells to brain cells characteristic of Parkinson’s disease to create personalized stem cell models with opportunities to test treatments

29 Jul 2024

Spiking neuron bridges the gap between biological and artificial neurons

Engineers from the University of Liège have made significant advances in the design of artificial neural networks by developing a new form of spiking neuron. The Spiking Recurrent Cell (SRC) is a novel model that combines ease of implementation with the capacity to replicate the dynamics of biological neurons.

28 May 2024

Sonification Reveals Hidden Patterns in Protein Folding Dynamics

By converting their data into sounds, scientists discovered how hydrogen bonds contribute to the lightning-fast gyrations that transform a string of amino acids into a functional, folded protein.

21 May 2024

GPT-4 Streamlines Cell Type Identification in Single-Cell RNA Sequencing

A new study by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health shows that GPT-4, a large language model, can accurately identify cell types in single-cell RNA sequencing data.

26 Mar 2024

Study Reveals Genomic Insights into Vocal Learning Across Mammals

The vocalizations of humans, bats, whales, seals and songbirds vastly differ from each other. Humans and birds, for example, are separated by some 300 million years of evolution.

1 Mar 2024

How Seba's Short-Tailed Bats Navigate Their Acoustic World

The world of bats is full of sounds. They utilize vocalizations for both navigation and communication with their conspecifics. For the latter, they produce ultrasonic noises that reverberate and allow them to form a mental "image" of their environment

26 Feb 2024