Summary: Researchers at UC San Diego discovered an evolutionarily conserved midbrain circuit that detects the escape movements, and sudden disappearances, of social partners to trigger rapid collective avoidance. Using transparent…
Category: Life
Finally, a true blue rose exists
This development could change poetry forever. Roses are red and now they’re also blue. True blue roses were once thought impossible. Roses can make red and yellow pigments but don’t…
How the Visual Cortex Maintains Stable Vision Amid Neural Fluctuations
Summary: Using a minimal mathematical rate model of the primary visual cortex, computational neuroscientists found that two intrinsic feedback mechanisms—rapid inhibition and homeostatic regulation—can constrain chaos and slash neural variability…
‘Happy Snacking, Don’t Die!’ is a joyous guide to eating wild plants
The joy that author Alexis Nikole Nelson injects into this cookbook makes foraging approachable.
Viewpoint: Is corporate embrace of regenerative agriculture greenwashing?
Major food companies are racing to tout “regenerative agriculture,” but the term has no legal definition — and that vagueness is letting some companies claim environmental credit without necessarily changing…
Inflexible Math Brain: How Neural Circuit Glitches Block Problem Solving
Summary: Stanford University researchers analyzing brain activity and behavioral metrics in 8- to 10-year-olds found that children with developmental dyscalculia struggle to switch between and optimize math problem-solving strategies. Distinct…
The Placenta May Decide Autism Vulnerability
Summary: A new study in mice reveals that maternal immune activation during a precise gestational window triggers autism-like developmental disruptions exclusively in male fetuses. Researchers traced this vulnerability to damaged…
Nighttime Light Exposure Linked to Sleep Loss in Schizophrenia
Summary: A new study reveals that nighttime light exposure is strongly associated with objective sleep disruption in outpatients with schizophrenia, resulting in nearly an hour less total sleep per night.…
Eye-Blink Rate Predicts Cognitive Flexibility in Preschoolers
Summary: Researchers have discovered that spontaneous eye-blink rate serves as a simple, noninvasive marker for tracking the development of executive function in early childhood. The study revealed that children aged…
