Neuroscience

Dissolvable Optical Switches Control Neurons With Light

IEEE Spectrum: Roughly two decades ago, a strategy called optogenetics emerged to control brain activity with lasers. It uses viruses to insert genes into cells that make them sensitive to light. Optogenetics has revolutionized neuroscience by giving researchers a precise way…

Tiny caps can measure activity in lab-grown minibrains

Technology Review: Minuscule lab-grown models of human brains can be fitted with caps that measure their activity, just as electroencephalogram (EEG) caps record electrical signals produced by full-size human brains. The minibrains are examples of organoids—three-dimensional clusters of living cells, grown…

Nanobody busts into brain cells to unclump proteins

Futurity: Researchers have developed a nanobody that can get through the tough exterior of mouse brain cells and untangle misshapen proteins that lead to Parkinson’s disease, Lewy body dementia, and other neurocognitive disorders. Proteins called antibodies help the immune system…

Soft ‘NeuroString’ could probe brain and gut

Futurity: A new invention called “NeuroString” is a soft implantable probe that lets researchers study the chemistry of brain and gut health. “The mainstream way people are trying to understand the brain is to read and record electric signals,” says…