Brain tissue is an optical mess. Water, lipids, and tangled cellular membranes all bend light in different directions. If ...

It may seem impossible for an animal to live without a brain, but these creatures have developed ways to adapt and thrive. It might sound strange, but these animals have evolved in such a way that ...

A male fruit fly in a laboratory chamber extends his wings and vibrates them to produce his species' version of a love song. A female fly stays nearby listening. Suddenly, a green light flashes across ...

We recently hosted a sweet-tempered Schnauzer-Poodle mix in our home while the dog’s primary guardian was out of town. For several weeks, this dog kept me company and initiated interactions with me ...

When we imagine the brain, we tend to picture one command center—such as a control hub within the human skull—managing all body functions. But nature is not always a centralised design. Indeed, ...

Animals survive in changing and unpredictable environments by not merely responding to new circumstances, but also, like humans, by forming inferences about their surroundings—for instance, squirrels ...

In December 2022, Vanderbilt University neuroscientist Suzana Herculano-Houzel published a paper that caused an uproar in the dinosaur world. After analyzing previous research on fossilized dinosaur ...

Brain study reveals memories stick when learning triggers a brief “energy emergency” in glucose-sensing neurons.