Study of the anatomy and organization of the nervous system.
4
votes
2answers
117 views
Extraretinal photoreception in mammals? [duplicate]
A Finnish firm Valkee sells light-ear-plugs against thing such as jetlag. I asked a researcher in Aalto university how do they really work and he responded ...
4
votes
0answers
33 views
Long term effects of “brain freeze” on the cerebral vasculature
According to one theory, ice cream headaches are caused by an increase in blood volume of the anterior cerebral artery:
Another theory into the cause of ice-cream headaches is explained by ...
3
votes
1answer
93 views
Why do humans alone have the capability to have religious/spiritual experiences?
What is it in our brain that makes having such experiences possible? I assume other species don't have these. Sure there are instances in the natural world where you can see individuals of the species ...
8
votes
2answers
197 views
Do memories have mass?
If it were possible to live forever, would our brains grow infinitely with the number of memories that we store? Or would we remove old memories as we create new ones?
5
votes
1answer
167 views
How do neurons form new connections in brain plasticity?
I've been reading about brain plasticity and how the brain can "rewire" itself.
One of the things that is not clear to me - how neurons can establish new connections. Does this rewiring mean that ...
5
votes
1answer
60 views
on/off behavior of neural networks
What causes a group of disembodied neurons in a dish to fire after a silence? If there are no neurons providing a stimulus for more firing (as in a dish of disembodied rat neurons), then why don't ...
3
votes
0answers
68 views
Why do the brains of cocaine-users shrink faster than the brains of non-cocaine users?
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/04/cocaine-may-age-the-brain.html?rss=1
Cocaine-dependent individuals showed a significantly greater-than-normal age-related decline in gray matter in ...
8
votes
1answer
158 views
Foveal ganglion cell density (Tay-Sachs Disease)
I’m currently reading on Tay-Sachs disease and have stumbled upon something regarding the typical “cherry red” macula symptom.
On the one hand it is mentioned that the macula is almost devoid of ...
6
votes
2answers
339 views
Density of neurons/cells in the mouse brain
Could someone point out some relevant papers or resources (an online DB maybe?) describing the density of neurons (or, more in general, of cells) in different areas of the mouse brain?
6
votes
1answer
153 views
Which organisms have the neuroanatomy Roger Penrose supposes play a role in consciousness?
In The Road to Reality, Roger Penrose suggests that certain brain structures might play a role in consciousness
Most particularly, lattice neuronal microtubules, as originally
suggested by ...
14
votes
2answers
619 views
How and where, in the human brain, are memories stored?
Background
I am a computer programmer who is fascinated by artificial intelligence and artificial neural networks, and I am becoming more curious about how biological neural networks work.
Context ...
9
votes
1answer
122 views
Do taller people have larger somatosensory cortices than short people?
Do taller people have larger somatosensory cortices than short people? What about larger motor cortices? And if so, could this imply that they have less space devoted to other functions, like ...
14
votes
1answer
207 views
Why does regular exercise increase brain volume?
It has been shown in several studies that regular aerobic exercise increases brain volume in aging humans. The changes were observed in hippocampus and were correlated with dramatic reduction of ...
7
votes
1answer
80 views
Are cerebellar basket and stellate neurons actually different cell types?
The title more or less says it all, but to contextualise a bit:
Cerebellar molecular layer interneurons have been classified, probably since Cajal, into the basket cells, which synapse onto the soma ...
