Reading Between the Bars: How to see through figures and influence your audience

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Reading Between the Bars: How to see through figures and influence your audience

Although we would like to think of ourselves as independent readers and thoughtful evaluators of published data, it turns out that figure format heavily influences our perception of the data – even when the data points represented by the figure are identical. In this edition of "New in Neuroscience," Kat Kozyrytska describes a study by Prof. Barbara Tversky, who looks at the way people have been representing information visually for thousands of years.

Image credit: Kat Kozyrytska 

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Smell memories in the fly brain and what makes individual animals unique

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Smell memories in the fly brain and what makes individual animals unique

Have you ever woken up in the morning to the refreshing aroma wafting from the neighborhood cafe? Does it remind you of the last Christmas Eve sitting with family enjoying a cup of coffee, or the cozy conversations with an old friend in you two’s favorite coffee shop? Smelling an odor can cause an emotional reaction or elicit a memory that is unique to that individual person.

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New in Neuroscience: How do different mutations in the same gene contribute to different neurological disorders?

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New in Neuroscience: How do different mutations in the same gene contribute to different neurological disorders?

Each year, approximately 61.5 million Americans are afflicted by a mental illness. Although we have not yet determined the underlying cause of these disorders, scientists believe that genetic mutations play a major role. Human genetic testing has identified multiple “risk genes” that are associated with major psychiatric disorders, but little is known about how mutations in the same risk gene can contribute to different disorders.

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Toward understanding our brain’s plasticity: Watching connections appear and disappear in a living mouse brain

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Toward understanding our brain’s plasticity: Watching connections appear and disappear in a living mouse brain

Until the late 20th century, scientists believed the adult brain was hardwired. We now know that adult brains are actually quite plastic, capable of generating new neurons and remodeling after experience or injury. A recent study by Villa et al. visualized remodeling in a living mouse brain and proposes a mechanism through which neurons maintain balance in a changing environment, as if walking a tightrope between excitation and inhibition.

Image Credit: George E. Curtis, 1876 (Maria Spelterini crossing Niagara Falls by tightrope)

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7th graders ask brainy questions about neuroscience

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7th graders ask brainy questions about neuroscience

Brain Day, for those of you who haven’t heard of it, brings Stanford neuroscientists into all of the 7th grade science classrooms in Palo Alto and East Palo Alto to introduce young students to neuroscience, and answer their brain-themed questions. Kendra Lechtenberg explains how this spring, she's going digital with some of the Brain Day questions. 

Image credit: Tintin44 on Flickr

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Getting into Brain Waves: History and Resources

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Getting into Brain Waves: History and Resources

Ah, for the love of brain waves. Yes, these flowing electrical fields have been of great interest to physicians and scientists since their discovery in animals in 1875 and humans in 1929 (Haas 2003). Instead of merely listing off a few resources on brain waves, Jordan Sorokin introduces a selection of resources for understanding brain waves, complete with historical and scientific context.

Image credit: Miles Kelly Art Library, Wellcome Images

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