Human Brain Functioning

Evolution of the brain:

How did primate brains get so big?

How humans evolved supersize brains

Did seaweed make us who we are today?

Comparative mammalian brain collections

The evolution of modern human brain shape

The astonishing Paracus (Peru) elongated skulls

First came homo sapiens, then came the modern brain

Jawless fish brains more similar to ours than previously thought 

Mammal forerunner that reproduced like a reptile sheds light on brain evolution

The cultural brain hypothesis: how culture drives brain expansion, sociality, and life history

Brain structure:    

Brain explorer         

Brain anatomy

Molecular brain

The gendered brain

Brain anatomy explorer

Take a trip through the brain  

Are there bacteria in your brain?

Human brain, braincase evolved independently

Connecting the dots to undersatnd brain structure

Our brains do change from early to mid-adulthood

Protein imaging reveals detailed brain architecture

It's hard to think straight when your brain is asymmetric

Number of neurons makes human brain powerful, not structure

To digitize a brain, first slice 2000 times with a very sharp blade

Native language differences in the structural connectome of the human brain

Tin tunnels previously unknown to scientists found between the skull and brain 

Cliques of neurons bound into cavities provide a missing link between structure and function           

Brain connectivity and signaling: 

Brain connectivity

Tracking information across the brain

Up-close and personal with neuronal networks

Predicting neural dynamics from neural connectivity

New method developed for analyzing synaptic density

Ion channel study beckons first whole brain simulation

Noise in the brain encodes surprisingly important signals

Reconstruction and simulation of neocortical microcircuitry

Searching for the hidden factors underlying the neural code

The mathematics of chaos and modeling the dynamical brain

Most complete human brain model to date is a 'brain changer'

Recurrent connections improve neural network models of vision

Glial brain cells, long in neuron's shadow, reveal hidden powers

Brain's 'background noise' may hold clues to persistent mysteries

Glial cells:

Glial cells, long in neurons' shadow, reveal secret powers

Neuroplasticity:

Neuroplasticity

Brain plasticity - the last frontier

Diversity in the brain - how millions of neurons become unique

Scientists capture first images of brain's microglia nibbling on neurons

Change in the brain: astrocytes finally getting the recognition they deserve

Brain mapping, modelling & visualization:

Journal of Neuroimaging

Speeding up big brain data analysis

Mapping the brain with data science

Searching for shape in neural activity

Imaging the brain at multiple size scales

Visualizing lymphatic vessels in the brain

How computationally complex is a single neuron? 

Her key to modeling brains: ignore the right details

Flipping a protein switch to illuminate brain functions

Updated brain map identifies nearly 100 new regions

The conscious brain:

Deciphering the secrets of attention

Do brains operate at a tipping point?

Brains may teeter at their tipping point

A power law keeps the brain's perceptions balanced

Brains speed up perception by guessing what's next

Brain is 10 times more active than previously measured

Where is my mind? looking for the cortical conscious network

Scientists reveal the number of times you're actually conscious each minute

Brain intelligence:

Brain gain

The neural basis for number sense

How the brain creates a timeline of the past

Surprising discovery about how neurons talk to each other

Intelligence is correlated with fewer neural connections. not more

Study finds brains of girls and boys are similar, produing equal math ability 

Memory:

How we recall the past  

To remember, the brain must actively forget

Your brain remembers strangers by their smell

How we make, remember, and forget memories

Scientists watch a memory form in a living brain 

The brain maps out ideas and memories like spaces

Internet hard drive: what's lost when we forget to remember

Light-triggered genes reveal the hidden workings of memory

Learning, memory, and the role of neural network architecture

Neuroscientists build case for new theory of memory formation

Past, Present & Future:

How our brain measures time

Brain scientists explore the how of when

Clock stars: astrocytes keep time for brain, behavior

To make sense of the present, brains may predict the future

Time cells in the human hippocampus and entorhinal cortex support episodic memory

Cognition, Perception & Learning:

Harnessing brain activity

Teaching the human brain

Brain's 'atlas' of words revealed

What lies beneath the brain's GPS

Neural mechanisms of skill learning

How the brain makes difficult decisions

Neural representation of physics concepts

Electrical brain stimulation enhances creativity

New theory about our perceptions of the world

Neuronal feedback could change what we 'see'

How brain architecture leads to abstract thought

Why is real-world visual object recogntion hard?

In mapping mistakes, a window to the inner mind

Brains speed up perception by guessing what's next

To pay attention, the brain uses filters, not a spotlight

How the brain produces consciousness in 'time slices'

How the brain links gestures, perception and meaning

Brain metabolism linked to intelligence in young adults

Goals and rewards redraw the brain's map of the world

The brain as computer: bad at math, good at everything else

Unique support system promotes cortex growth, connectivity linked to prowess

The social Bayesian brain: does mentalizing make a difference when we learn?

The brain learns completely differently than we've assumed since the 20th Century

Researchers identify how mental abilities are shaped by individual differences in the brain

Bodily Movements:

Decision making in action

How the brain triggers action 

Relay station in the brain controls an array of movements

How animals map 3D spacesssurprises brain researchers

Discoveries of rotational dynamics add to puzzle of nearal computation

Breathing is coupled with voluntary action and the cortical readiness potential

Speech & Language: 

New brain maps hint at cerebellum's role in cognition, language

Towards reconstructing intelligible speech from the human auditory cortex

Success in second language learning linked to genetic and brain measures

Revolutionary discovery about the human brain could lead to second-gen AI

Personality aspects of the brain:

The anatomy of pain

How the brain processes emotions

The second coming of Sigmund Freud

Rainy brain/sunny brain - cognitive bias

Turning down the brain to erase fearful memories

Personality traits linked to differences in brain structure

Psychology researchers map neaurological process of learning, deciding

Neural correlates of maintaining one's political beliefs in the face of counterevidence

Scientists discover that aggression causes new nerve cells to be generated in the brain

Tracking brain activity:

Brain command center

Researchers pinpoint where the brain unites our eyes

Scientists turn taste on & off by manipulating brain cells

Brain actvity is as unique - and identifying - as a fingerprint

Luminescent nanoparticles used to illuminate brain function

Scientists decode brain signals nearly at speed of perception

Consumption from within: how the brain controls our appetite

Scientists and artists create a stop-motion animation of the brain

Neural masses and fields: modeling the dynamics of brain activity

Scientists decode sentence signatures among brain activity patterns

Thinking on the go: why does the whole brain light up for just the smallest movements?

Scientists discover 11 dimensional structures that could help us understand how the brain works

Brain theory:

The empty brain

Natural News: brain info

Understanding the brain

The secret life of the brain

Allen Institute for Brain Science

Hit the reset button in your brain

TED talks regarding the human brain

It don't mean a thing if the brain ain't got that swing

How the heart influences what you perceive and fear

Old drugs offer a new route for exploring neural dynamics 

Human Brain, Internet, and Cosmology: similar laws at work? 

Brain waves could help predict how we respond to general anaesthetics 

Learning the architectual features that predict functional similarity of neural networks

New efforts to relate brain structure and function reveal surprising properties of neural circuits  

The brain at sleep:

Your brain on sleep 

How sleep can heal our brains

Shedding light on the day-night cycle

What animals can tell us about sleeping

Humans evolved for better sleep in less time

Sleep evolved before brains. Hydras are living proof 

While we sleep, our mind goes on an amazing journey

Duelling brain waves anchor or erase learning during sleep

Mammalian sleep dynamics: how diverse features arise from a common physiological framework

The young brain:

Neuroscience for kids

New reserach replicates the folding of a fetal human brain

Scientists are pioneering research on 'body maps' in babies' brains

Scientists identify timing of major metabolic shift in developing neurons

New research finds brain activation in children viewing large portions of food

Even before you can read, your brain has specific connections to help you learn

The aging brain:

A model for brain life history

Study reveals how brain multitasks

You can grow new brain cells, here's how

Does staying busy really benefit the brain?

Why the modern world is bad for your brain

Brain gains for older adults who start exercising

Bigger brains: complex brains for a complex world

New study highlights neuronal dynamism in adult brain

What brain imaging reveals about the nature of multitasking

Social feedback and the emergence of rank in animal society

Neuroscientist investigates how our social lives affect our brains

Aged neuurons can now be generated using stem cell technology

What scientists found inside the brains of 10 Russian cosmonauts

Researchers discover method to measure stiffness of arteries in the brain

Are similar processes at work in both brain development and cognitive decline 

Impaired energy production may explain why brian is susceptible to age-related disease 

The brain ages optimally to model its environment: evidence from sensory learning over the adult lifespan

Brain prosthetics:

Neuralink launch event

Bridging the bio-electronic device

Brain chip helps paralyzed man feel his fingers again

Dissolvable brain sensors disinegrate once their job is done

The human brain can reprogram itself to control prosthetic limbs

Listening to brain microcircuits for interfacing with external world - progress in wireless implantable device