Neuroscie
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…
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.…
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…
