Jon Hamilton

Researchers in Seattle have created a public observatory for studying the visual circuitry in a mouse's brain. Among the attractions: watching 18,000 neurons respond to Orson Welles' Touch of Evil.

Using gold, silicone and heart cells from a rat, scientists have made a tiny artificial stingray. The engineering involved in propelling it could help make a heart that's more than a mechanical pump.

In mice, monkeys and people, exercise releases a protein called cathepsin B. And as blood and brain levels of this protein rise, memory gets better. But the protein has a dark side, too.

A group of specialists called the Gray Team challenged the dogma that said head injuries were serious only if they were obvious and bloody. Bomb blasts can lead to lasting but invisible damage.

Harvard researcher Kit Parker built his academic career studying the heart. But Parker, also an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, switched his focus to figuring out how IED blasts damage the brain.

Eighteen months after a concussion or other traumatic brain injury, two-thirds of the patients in a recent study were still sleepy during the day. And most were unaware of their symptoms.

No wonder we don't feel rested after a first night in a new place: Half of our brain has stayed alert while the other half enjoyed deeper sleep, a study finds. We really have been half-asleep.

An implant and wires that reroute nerve signals from a man's brain to his hand allow him to grasp and lift objects, after much practice. But easy, wireless signaling from the brain is still the goal.

A survey of more than 3,500 people caring for family members with dementia finds that many are spending down personal savings and cutting into their own basic needs to meet their loved one's expenses.

The brain usually relies on our senses to navigate. But researchers found that when people experienced virtual teleportation, their brains still managed to keep them on course.

The sighs we notice usually accompany emotions like relief or discontent. But our brains are programmed to make us heave an unconscious sigh every five minutes or so — no matter how we feel.

"Sighing is vital to maintain lung function," says Jack Feldman, a brain scientist at UCLA. ...

A mouse's brain clears out toxins during periods of deep sleep — including toxins that form the sticky plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease. Could the same hold true for people?

Taking antidepressants during the second or third trimester of pregnancy may increase the risk of having a child with autism spectrum disorder, according to a study of Canadian mothers and children published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics.

But scientists not involved in the research say the results are hard to interpret ...

By assessing the strength of certain connections in the brain with an MRI test, researchers were often able to tell whether children and adolescents had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Differences in the patterns of genes that are turned on in brains of people and mice suggest glial cells may have helped humans develop brains that can acquire language and solve complex problems.

Brain cells that track our location also can track time and distance, a study finds. This could explain how the brain uses place and time to organize memories throughout our lives.

Once an obscure hub of specialists, the yearly gathering of the Society for Neuroscience now draws some of the biggest and brightest from other fields too, seeking answers to brain and body secrets.

Brain scans found abnormally weak connections in the brains of premature infants may make them more prone to develop autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other emotional disorders.

A drug that's already approved for treating leukemia appears to dramatically reduce symptoms in people who have Parkinson's disease with dementia, or a related condition called Lewy body dementia.

A pilot study of 12 patients given small doses of nilotinib found that movement and mental function improved in all ...

Studies showing that a treatment works are more likely to be published than those with a negative result. So talk therapy and drug therapy for depression are probably less effective than thought.