Studying the human brain is difficult because of its vast and intricate network of neural connections. The fruit fly offers a simpler but similar model that researchers can more easily map.
Robots often have a hard time navigating through debris, but robots designed based on worms and snakes could move around obstacles faster, thanks to an idea called mechanical intelligence.
Neuromorphic computers aim to one day replicate the amazing efficiency of the brain.
Itch-sensing neurons in your skin are intertwined with your immune cells. Counterintuitively, the molecule that connects them triggers responses that both worsen and improve skin conditions.
Change in the brain usually comes with plenty of effort over time. Neuroscientists are working to understand how psychedelic drugs provide a shortcut that seems to rely on existing brain systems.
From dopamine hacking to dopamine detoxes, some people have sought to harness this brain chemical to improve their mood and productivity. But it’s far more complicated than that.
We still don’t know a lot about how the networks of cells in the brain enable conscious experience.
New research on what attracts blood-feasting flies to blue objects could help minimise the impacts of those insects on people and animals.
When fruit flies see other dead fruit flies, their life spans are cut short. Other species also undergo analogous physiological changes when seeing their dead.
Pinpointing where memories are stored in the brain and how they are transmitted could provide new targets to treat neurological diseases and serve as models for neuromorphic computing.
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