Complex motor tasks often consist of multiple simple actions performed in a specific sequence.

Researchers have identified a biochemical switch required for nerve cells to respond to DNA damage.

When it comes to keeping brains alive, it seems nature has deemed that females are more valuable then males. As reported in this weeks' JBC, researchers found that nutrient deprivation of neurons produced sex-dependent effects.

An action potential's threshold and shape are governed by the distribution and subunit composition of voltage-gated sodium and potassium channels in the axon.

When neurons started dying in Clive Svendsen's lab dishes, he couldn't have been more pleased.

A missing piece of the puzzle of how neurons and muscle cells establish lifelong communication has been found by researchers who suspect this piece may be mutated and/or attacked in muscular dystrophy.

Variations in morphology and ion-channel expression largely determine the electrophysiological properties of neurons.

Contrary to what one might imagine, the way in which each of us interacts with the world is not a simple matter of seeing (or touching, or smelling) and then reacting. Even the best baseball hitter eyeing a fastball does not swing at what he sees. The neurons and neural connections that make up our sensory systems are far too slow for this to work.

Brain cells known as neurons process information by joining into complex networks, transmitting signals to each other across junctions called synapses. But “neurons don’t just connect to other neurons,” emphasizes Z. Josh Huang, Ph.D., “in a lot of cases, they connect to very specific partners, at particular spots.”

The developing nervous system makes far more nerve cells than are needed to ensure target organs and tissues are properly connected to the nervous system. As nerves connect to target organs, they somehow compete with each other resulting in some living and some dying.

A new technique that marries a fast-moving laser beam with a special microscope that look at tissues in different optical planes will enable scientists to get a three-dimensional view of neurons or nerve cells as they interact, said Baylor College of Medicine scientists in a report that appears today in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

It's well known that the left and right sides of the brain differ in many animal species and this is thought to influence cognitive performance and social behaviour. For instance, in humans, the left half of the brain is concerned with language processing whereas the right side is better at comprehending musical melody.