Showing search results for

Experience is a powerful teacher—and not every experience has to be our own to help us understand the world. What happens to others is instructive, too. That’s true for humans as well as for other social animals. New research from scientists at the McGovern Institute shows what happens in the brains of monkeys as they […]

As people age, their immune system function declines. T cell populations become smaller and can’t react to pathogens as quickly, making people more susceptible to a variety of infections. To try to overcome that decline, researchers at MIT and the Broad Institute have found a way to temporarily program cells in the liver to improve […]

Neuroscientists today have the most spectacular views of brains that the field has ever seen. Modern microscopes can reveal extraordinary levels of detail, offering scientists another piece of the vast and intricate puzzle of how neurons interconnect. A comprehensive wiring diagram of the brain — its connectome — is an atlas for neuroscientists, guiding investigations […]

For decades, scientists with big questions about biology have found answers in a tiny worm. That worm–a millimeter-long creature called Caenorhabditis elegans–has helped researchers uncover fundamental features of how cells and organisms work. The impact of that work is enormous: Discoveries made using C. elegans have been recognized with four Nobel prizes and have led […]

Synapse-resolution connectomics The synaptic connectivity of neurons, their connectome, is fundamental to how networks of neurons function. Sven Dorkenwald develops computational and collaborative tools to map, analyze, and interpret synapse-resolution connectomes. His work has led to large connectomic reconstructions of the fruit fly brain and parts of mammalian brains. He uses these connectomes to investigate […]

On this day, December 10th, nearly 120 years ago, Santiago Ramón y Cajal received a Nobel Prize for capturing and interpreting the very first images of the brain’s most essential components — neurons. “Many scientists consider Cajal the progenitor of neuroscience because he was the first to really see the brain for what it was: […]

In everyday conversation, it’s critical to understand not just the words that are spoken, but the context in which they are said. If it’s pouring rain and someone remarks on the “lovely weather,” you won’t understand their meaning unless you realize that they’re being sarcastic. Making inferences about what someone really means when it doesn’t […]

This winter, may our connections spark new possibilities for the year ahead. What makes us who we are? How do billions of neurons working together become our thoughts, feelings, and memories? How do they spark imagination and creativity? By tracing these connections, mapping how each neuron links to another, McGovern scientists are carving a path […]