Neuroscience

Mechanism found that determines which memories last

Neuroscientists have established in recent decades the idea that some of each day's experiences are converted by the brain into permanent memories during sleep the same night. Now, a new study proposes a mechanism that determines ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Intervention after first seizure may prevent long-term epilepsy

Only a very small percentage of neurons show changes after an epileptic seizure in mice, but these alterations can be permanent and trigger future seizures that can affect the whole brain and lead to impaired cognition, like ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Scientists pinpoint anorexia's neurologic origins

Anorexia nervosa, a mental health disorder in which people dangerously restrict their eating or purge their stomachs soon after a meal, is one of the deadliest psychological diseases.

Neuroscience

'Star Wars-style' holograms to communicate with the brain

About 20 years ago, neuroscientists, recording from electrodes implanted in the medial temporal lobe, identified human brain cells that respond only to photos of Jennifer Aniston. It was a headline-grabbing development in ...

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Neuron

A neuron (pronounced /ˈnjʊərɒn/ N(Y)OOR-on, also known as a neurone or nerve cell) is an excitable cell in the nervous system that processes and transmits information by electrochemical signalling. Neurons are the core components of the brain, the vertebrate spinal cord, the invertebrate ventral nerve cord, and the peripheral nerves. A number of specialized types of neurons exist: sensory neurons respond to touch, sound, light and numerous other stimuli affecting cells of the sensory organs that then send signals to the spinal cord and brain. Motor neurons receive signals from the brain and spinal cord and cause muscle contractions and affect glands. Interneurons connect neurons to other neurons within the same region of the brain or spinal cord. Neurons respond to stimuli, and communicate the presence of stimuli to the central nervous system, which processes that information and sends responses to other parts of the body for action. Neurons do not go through mitosis, and usually cannot be replaced after being destroyed, although astrocytes have been observed to turn into neurons as they are sometimes pluripotent.

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