Neuroscie
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…
Disruption of Striatal D2 Receptor Neurons Drives ADHD and Impulsivity
Summary: Researchers have demonstrated that deleting the membrane-fusion protein NSF specifically from dopamine D2 receptor (D2R)-expressing neurons leads to striatal shrinkage, severe dopamine depletion, and classic ADHD-like hyperactivity and impulsivity…
Central Genetic Switch Controls Long-Distance Axon Navigation
Summary: Challenging the dogma that growing axons navigate exclusively via local cues processed at their tips, neuroscientists have discovered that a centralized genetic switch inside the neuron’s cell body directs…
Brain Activity Predicts Risky Choices Half a Second Before They Are Made
Summary: By recording directly from electrodes implanted in the human orbitofrontal cortex, neuroscientists discovered two neighboring circuits locked in a millisecond-by-millisecond “tug-of-war” between taking a risk and playing it safe.…
Life
Nature
Newfound bat skeletons are the oldest on record
Two fossilized bat skeletons unearthed in western Wyoming represent a new species and are the oldest set of bat bones yet discovered, researchers say. The incredibly complete fossils of Icaronycteris…
Astronomy
Asteroid 2024 YR4 was Earth’s first real-life defense test
Artist’s depiction of an asteroid floating in space. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb), Martin Kornmesser (ESA), Serge Brunier (ESO), Nick Risinger (Photopic Sky Survey) At this point in…
How do you fire someone into the sun?
Firing our villain straight at the Sun results in a big miss. Credit: Michael Brown, CC BY To point a rocket directly at the sun and hit would require great…
Cosmic ray puzzle resolved as scientists link ‘knee’ formation to black holes
LHAASO experiment. Credit: LHAASO Collaboration Milestone results released by the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) on November 16 have solved a decades-old mystery about the cosmic ray energy…
If the supernova standard candle is wrong, it could solve the Hubble tension
An illustration showing how Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs) expand with the universe. Credit: Gabriela Secara, Perimeter Institute CC-BY-4.0 Last time I wrote about new data that overturns the standard cosmological…
