The human brain forms trillions of synapses using only a few thousand cell-surface proteins to guide the process. How can distinct functional circuits form when there are far more neurons than molecules to guide them? New findings in mice provide an answer to this numerical puzzle: Across the brain, neurons repeatedly reuse the same pair […]
Neural progenitor cells exist in the adult human hippocampus all the way into old age, a new transcriptomics study published today in Science suggests. The results strengthen the claim that adults can form new neurons, according to the team behind the work. But not everyone is convinced that the study shows progenitors are prevalent enough […]
Mice lacking the autism-related SHANK3 gene use more neurons to engage in social behavior than control mice, reflecting a more disorganized, less efficient signaling network in the brain, according to a new study. Mutations in SHANK3 occur in 1 to 2 percent of autistic people and can also lead to a related disorder called Phelan-McDermid […]
