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Neuroscience

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Touch, Our Most Complex Sense, Is a Landscape of Cellular Sensors

April 16, 2025

Every soft caress of wind, searing burn and seismic rumble is detected by our skin’s tangle of touch sensors. David Ginty has spent his career cataloging the neurons beneath everyday sensations.

Intelligence Evolved at Least Twice in Vertebrate Animals

April 7, 2025

Complex neural pathways likely arose independently in birds and mammals, suggesting that vertebrates evolved intelligence multiple times.

The Mysterious Flow of Fluid in the Brain

March 26, 2025

A popular hypothesis for how the brain clears molecular waste, which may help explain why sleep feels refreshing, is a subject of debate.

How ‘Event Scripts’ Structure Our Personal Memories

February 21, 2025

By screening films in a brain scanner, neuroscientists discovered a rich library of neural scripts — from a trip through an airport to a marriage proposal — that form scaffolds for memories of our experiences.

Concept Cells Help Your Brain Abstract Information and Build Memories

January 21, 2025

Individual cells in the brain light up for specific ideas. These concept neurons, once known as “Jennifer Aniston cells,” help us think, imagine and remember episodes from our lives.

The Year in Biology

December 18, 2024

Biologists used artificial intelligence to make discoveries about molecules and the brain, and overturned long-held assumptions about the immune system and RNA.

What Can Birdsong Teach Us About Human Language?

November 21, 2024

We often consider spoken language to be a feature that distinguishes humans from other forms of animal life. Brain research, however, suggests that other creatures — including certain birds — share some of our neural circuitry related to language. In this episode, co-host Janna Levin explores the origins and underlying mechanisms of human speech and birdsong with neurobiologist and geneticist Erich Jarvis.

How the Human Brain Contends With the Strangeness of Zero

October 18, 2024

Zero, which was invented late in history, is special among numbers. New studies are uncovering how the brain creates something out of nothing.

How Our Longest Nerve Orchestrates the Mind-Body Connection

August 26, 2024

Like a highway system, the vagus nerve branches profusely from your brain through your organs to marshal bodily functions, including aspects of mind such as mood, pleasure and fear.

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