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Cells That ‘Taste’ Danger Set Off Immune Responses
Taste and smell receptors in unexpected organs monitor the state of the body’s natural microbial health and raise an alarm over invading parasites.
‘Noise’ in the Brain Encodes Surprisingly Important Signals
Activity in the visual cortex and other sensory areas is dominated by signals about body movements, down to little tics and twitches. Scientists are now rethinking how they study and conceive of perception.
Perceptions of Musical Octaves Are Learned, Not Wired in the Brain
Singing experiments with residents of the Bolivian rainforest demonstrate how biology and experience shape the way we hear music.
Dueling Brain Waves Anchor or Erase Learning During Sleep
While we sleep, one kind of slow brain wave helps to reinforce memories, but a competing wave weakens them.
A Power Law Keeps the Brain’s Perceptions Balanced
Researchers have discovered a surprising mathematical relationship in the brain’s representations of sensory information, with possible applications to AI research.
Inherited Learning? It Happens, but How Is Uncertain
Studies suggest that epigenetics allows some learned adaptive responses to be passed down to new generations. The question is how.
Nobel Prize Awarded for Discoveries on How Cells Adapt to Oxygen
The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine honored William Kaelin Jr., Peter Ratcliffe and Gregg Semenza for their work on elucidating how cells adjust to low oxygen levels.
Cell-Bacteria Mergers Offer Clues to How Organelles Evolved
Cells in symbiotic partnership, sometimes nested one within the other and functioning like organelles, can borrow from their host’s genes to complete their own metabolic pathways.
How Jurassic Plankton Stole Control of the Ocean’s Chemistry
Only 170 million years ago, new plankton evolved. Their demand for carbon and calcium permanently transformed the seas as homes for life.