Neuroscience

What’s Really Happening When You Experience Déjà Vu?

Discover Magazine: If you have the peculiar feeling you’ve read this before, don’t be alarmed. It’s probably just déjà vu. Déjà vu is the peculiar feeling that you’ve experienced something before, while at the same time knowing that you haven’t. You…

Organic Optogenetics Tool Shines Light on Brain’s Communication Pathways

Photonics.com: Light-sensing proteins called rhodopsins are used in optogenetics to control neuronal activity, but existing rhodopsins can have low efficacy, especially when they are used to control synaptic activity…

Unclogging the brain’s ‘drain’ enhances Alzheimer’s meds

Futurity: Some investigational Alzheimer’s disease therapies are more effective when paired with a treatment geared toward improving drainage of fluid—and debris—from the brain, according to a study in mice. Experimental Alzheimer’s drugs have shown little success in slowing declines in…

A Backdoor Lets the Immune System Monitor the Brain

Quanta Magazine: A hundred years ago, the Japanese scientist Y. Shirai published a mysterious finding: When Shirai transplanted tumor tissue into a mouse’s body, the tissue was destroyed by its immune system. But when tumors were grafted in various places in…