Topic description and stories

Neuroscience has transformed our understanding of the brain and promises treatments for devastating disorders that affect millions.

Charts map rapid growth and slow decline of brains

06 April 2022

An international team of researchers has created a series of brain charts spanning our entire lifespan – from a 15 week old fetus to 100 year old adult – that show how our brains expand rapidly in early life and slowly shrink as we age. 

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Killer flies: how brain size affects hunting strategy in the insect world

09 Feb 2016

Cambridge researchers are studying what makes a brain efficient and how that affects behaviour in insects.

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̽»¨Ö±²¥amazing axon adventure

05 Feb 2016

How does the brain make connections, and how does it maintain them? Cambridge neuroscientists and mathematicians are using a variety of techniques to...

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EyeWire Candy Neurons

Modelling how the brain makes complex decisions

04 Feb 2016

Researchers have built the first biologically realistic mathematical model of how the brain plans and learns when faced with a complex decision-...

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Growth cones of retinal axons (purple) growing among cells in the brain (green)

Neuroscience – from molecules to mind

02 Feb 2016

Today, we commence a month-long focus on neuroscience. To begin, Ed Bullmore, Bill Harris and Dervila Glynn describe how this area of research is...

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Graphene Neuron Interface

Graphene shown to safely interact with neurons in the brain

29 Jan 2016

Researchers have shown that graphene can be used to make electrodes that can be implanted in the brain, which could potentially be used to restore...

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Surgery Image 8

Opinion: Scientists find way to predict who is likely to wake up during surgery

22 Jan 2016

Srivas Chennu (Department of Clinical Neurosciences) discusses how doctors could use brain waves to help predict how patients will respond to general...

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Brain networks during the transition to unconsciousness during propofol sedation

Brain waves could help predict how we respond to general anaesthetics

14 Jan 2016

̽»¨Ö±²¥complex pattern of ‘chatter’ between different areas of an individual’s brain while they are awake could help doctors better track and even...

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relaxing after work_MMVI (cropped)

Cocaine addiction: Scientists discover ‘back door’ into the brain

12 Jan 2016

Individuals addicted to cocaine may have difficulty in controlling their addiction because of a previously-unknown ‘back door’ into the brain...

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Vitamin D could repair nerve damage in multiple sclerosis, study suggests

07 Dec 2015

A protein activated by vitamin D could be involved in repairing damage to myelin in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to new research...

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Advisory Cycle Lanes and Pavements Being Abused On Parry's Lane (cropped)

At the edge of vision: Struggling to make sense of our cluttered world

25 Nov 2015

As you’re driving to work along a busy road, your eyes on the traffic lights ahead, hoping they won’t turn to red, you pass signs warning of...

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Control is an Option to Command (cropped)

Online porn may feed sex addicts’ desire for new sexual images

23 Nov 2015

People who show compulsive sexual behaviour – sex addiction – are driven to search more for new sexual images than their peers, according to new...

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HALLUZINATION

Hallucinations linked to differences in brain structure

17 Nov 2015

People diagnosed with schizophrenia who are prone to hallucinations are likely to have structural differences in a key region of the brain compared...

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