Scientists may have finally discovered why the neurons in the human brain seem to fire in utterly random ways. In the latest issue ofNature Neuroscience, University of Rochester researchers show how the brain’s cortex uses seemingly chaotic – or “noisy” – signals to represent the ambiguities of the real world; and that this noise dramatically […]
The longstanding belief that each of the brain’s 100 billion neurons communicate strictly by a digital code looks to be incorrect. Writing in Nature, Yale neurologist David McCormick reported that communicating brain cells use a mix of analog and digital coding at the same time. “This study reveals that the brain is very sophisticated in […]
Scientists have discovered a new process for how memories might be stored, a finding that could help explain one of the least understood activities of the brain. What’s more, the key player in this process is a protein that acts just like a prion – a class of proteins that includes the deadly agents involved […]
