Image: Nintendo Soapbox features allow our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random things they’ve been mulling over. Today, Nile ponders whether it’s time to hit the (rewind) button… Last month, Nintendo announced that it would be adding Metroid: Zero Mission to its Nintendo Switch Online service. For me, … Read more
Rate of relative evolution of brain mass. Credit: Nature Ecology & Evolution (2024). DOI file: 10.1038/s41559-024-02451-3 The largest animals don’t have proportionally larger brains, and humans are an exception to this trend, according to a study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution has revealed. Researchers from the University of Reading and the University of Durham … Read more
A new study of 1,500 species shows that larger animals do not have proportionally larger brains, challenging old ideas and introducing a curve model for brain-body size relationships, with significant findings in primates, rodents and carnivores. Credit: SciTechDaily.com Researchers have discovered that brain size in larger animals does not increase proportionally with body size, contradicting … Read more
Resume: Researchers have identified a key mechanism that senses when the brain needs an energy boost, involving astrocytes and the molecule adenosine. The discovery could lead to new therapies to maintain brain health and longevity, particularly in the fight against cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases. The study found that astrocytes monitor neuronal activity and activate … Read more
Helping amputees walk naturally – YouTube View on A groundbreaking surgical procedure gives amputees bionic limbs that are controlled directly by the nervous system, allowing patients to sense the position of the limb in space. Scientists have demonstrated the success of this technique in a new study of seven people who were given bionic legs, … Read more
A new study has uncovered a key factor behind the disparate outcomes seen in children with autism. Researchers from the University of California San Diego found that differences in the biological development of the brain during the first weeks and months of embryonic growth play a significant role in the severity of autism symptoms later … Read more
CHINA has developed a robot with a strange, lab-grown human brain. Frankenstein’s wacky invention is also called an ‘organoid’ and is the latest attempt to create a hybrid machine that can independently perform a number of useful tasks. A model of the brain-robot hybrid from ChinaCredit: Tianjin University The crazy device hopes to help a … Read more
Researchers from China’s Tianjin University and Southern University of Science and Technology have reportedly developed a robot with a lab-grown artificial brain. According to local media, the ‘brain-on-chip’ technology has been used to train the machine to perform various tasks. Scientists have reportedly combined brain organoid with a neural interface chip to power the complex … Read more
When it comes to how we experience, interact with, and navigate our world, timing is everything. And new research in mice suggests that a specific set of cells is fundamental to how we learn complex behaviors that rely on timing. The discovery by a team from the University of Utah in the US could eventually … Read more
Humans have evolved to be both hunters and hunted; although Homo sapiens can take down large prey, our species is also vulnerable to large predators. Now, new research shows how the human brain switches between these two modes of survival. The answer lies in the hypothalamus, a small structure deep in the center of the … Read more