ScienceDaily: Mind & Brain News

Researchers have discovered that Toxoplasma parasites lay dormant and undetected inside neurons (brain cells) and muscle cells by releasing proteins that switch off the cells' ability to alert the immune system.

Some of the same brain systems known to play a role in learning from trial and error also are engaged when people conform to social norms, scientists report in a new study. The findings are important, the researchers said, because changing one's behavior to align with one's peers can contribute to community-building or -- depending on the goals and values of the group -- societal breakdown.

Researchers have found that higher visual cognitive functions can arise spontaneously in untrained neural networks. A research team has shown that visual selectivity of facial images can arise even in completely untrained deep neural networks. This new finding has provided revelatory insights into mechanisms underlying the development of cognitive functions in both biological and artificial neural networks, also making a significant impact on our understanding of the origin of early brain functions before sensory experiences.

Star cells in the brain render memory flexible. Hippocampal astrocytes co-release D-serine and glutamate for the regulation of synaptic plasticity and cognitive flexibility.

A New York-based, multi-institutional research team has found high levels of three toxic metabolites produced by gut bacteria in the cerebrospinal fluid and plasma samples of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. The important findings further scientists' understanding of how gut bacteria can impact the course of neurological diseases by producing compounds that are toxic to nerve cells.

A new theory of consciousness provides experimental access to the study of this phenomenon. Not just in humans.

Despite the belief of many parents and teachers, school uniforms don't seem to have any effect on young students' behavior or attendance overall, a new U.S. national study found.

To solve the mysteries of how learning and memory occur, scientists have created a system to track millions of connections among brain cells in mice -- all at the same time -- when the animals' whiskers are tweaked, an indicator for learning.

A new study shows that a toxin from the microbe that causes anthrax can silence multiple types of pain in mice. Researchers found the toxin targets pain-sensing cells to alter signaling and block pain. Building on that finding, researchers engineered an anthrax protein vehicle to deliver different types of treatments into pain receptors and modulate nerve-cell function. The findings can inform the design of therapies that selectively target pain-sensing fibers without the widespread systemic effects of opioids and other pain killers.

Researchers teamed up to develop a machine-learning program that can be connected to a human brain and used to command a robot. The program adjusts the robot's movements based on electrical signals from the brain. The hope is that with this invention, tetraplegic patients will be able to carry out more day-to-day activities on their own.

A study has found an association between air pollution and higher levels of deposition of beta-amyloid protein in the brain and of neurofilament light (NfL) in cerebrospinal fluid.

In habituation, an organism gets so used to a ubiquitous sight, smell, sensation or sound that it virtually disappears. Researchers have identified a transporter protein in the brain that plays a vital role in habituation.

A common gene mutation for Parkinson's disease drives mislocalization of iron in activated microglia, according to a new study. The results may help explain the accumulation of toxic iron in affected brain areas in the disease and provide a basis for the development of therapies designed to correct the iron trafficking defect.