A range of neuronal mechanisms can enable animals to detect the direction of visual motion. Computational models now indicate that a factor as simple as eye size might explain some of this diversity.
Nature doi: 10.1038/nature18454
Tag Archives: Neuroscience
Neuroscience: Virtual reality explored
Neuroscientists are increasingly using virtual reality to facilitate studies of animal behaviour, but whether behaviour in the virtual world mimics that in real life is a matter for debate. Here, scientists discuss the strengths and limitations of the approach.
Nature doi: 10.1038/nature17899
Neuroscience: Making risk-takers settle
In rats, individual differences in risk preference and in sensitivity to gains compared with losses are controlled by a specific neuronal population, stimulation of which neutralizes risk-seeking behaviour.
Nature doi: 10.1038/nature17314
Neuroscience: Untangling autism
A clever dissection of the roles of the Ptchd1 gene in the brains of mice demonstrates one way to untangle the complex relationships between the causes and symptoms of neurodevelopmental disorders.
Nature doi: 10.1038/nature17311
Neuroscience: Fluorescent boost for voltage sensors
The development of a voltage sensor in which a microbial rhodopsin protein is fused with a fluorescent protein enables the neuronal activity of single cells in live animals to be measured with unprecedented speed and accuracy.
Nature 529 469 doi: 10.1038/529469a
Neuroscience: A mechanism for myelin injury
The cells that insulate neuronal processes with a myelin membrane sheath are damaged during stroke. Data now show that an influx of calcium ions mediated by the TRPA1 protein contributes to myelin injury.
Nature doi: 10.1038/nature16865