News tagged with nerve cells

Scientists solve mystery of the eye

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have a good overall understanding of human vision: when light enters our eyes, it is focused by the lens and strikes the retina in the back of the eye. The light causes some of ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Nov 17, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (64) | comments 14 | with audio podcast feature

Biocompatible graphene transistor array reads cellular signals

Researchers have demonstrated, for the first time, a graphene-based transistor array that is compatible with living biological cells and capable of recording the electrical signals they generate. This proof-of-concept ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Nov 30, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (10) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Study finds statistical error in large numbers of neuroscience papers

(PhysOrg.com) -- Sander Nieuwenhuis and his associates from the Netherlands have done a study on one particular type of statistical error that apparently crops up in an inordinately large number of papers published in neuroscience ...

Other Sciences / Mathematics

created Sep 13, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (10) | comments 16 | with audio podcast report

A whole new meaning for thinking on your feet

Smithsonian researchers report that the brains of tiny spiders are so large that they fill their body cavities and overflow into their legs. As part of ongoing research to understand how miniaturization affects ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 12, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Pigeons' navigation skill not down to iron-rich beak cells: study

The theory that pigeons' famous skill at navigation is down to iron-rich nerve cells in their beaks has been disproved by a new study published in Nature.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 11, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

Muscling toward a longer life: Genetic aging pathway identified in flies

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have identified a set of genes that act in muscles to modulate aging and resistance to stress in fruit flies.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Oct 17, 2011 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Light now in sight: Control of a 'blind' neuroreceptor with an optical switch

When nerve cells communicate with one another, specialized receptor molecules on their surfaces play a central role in relaying signals between them. A collaborative venture involving teams of chemists based at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jan 10, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers convert skin and umbilical cord cells directly into nerve cell

Until recently, the production of pluripotent "multipurpose" stem cells from skin cells was considered to be the ultimate new development. In the meantime, it has become possible to directly convert cells ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 11, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers overcome major obstacle for stem cell therapies and research

Stem cells show great potential to enable treatments for conditions such as spinal injuries or Lou Gehrig's disease, and also as research tools. One of the greatest problems slowing such work is that researchers have found ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 08, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Cells on the move

Cells on the move reach forward with lamellipodia and filopodia, cytoplasmic sheets and rods supported by branched networks or tight bundles of actin filaments. Cells without functional lamellipodia are still ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Combating mood disorders: New approach simplifies the search for more specific drugs

Many psychiatric conditions are caused by aberrant metabolism of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Researchers in the Department of Pharmacy at LMU have now developed a new screening method, which will facilitate the search ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Sep 30, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Tracking dragonflies on the wing

(PhysOrg.com) -- Duke University electrical engineers have developed a wirelessly powered telemetry system that is light and powerful enough to allow scientists to study the intricate neurological activity ...

Technology / Engineering

created Nov 16, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

MS research: Myelin influences how brain cells send signals

The development of a new cell-culture system that mimics how specific nerve cell fibers in the brain become coated with protective myelin opens up new avenues of research about multiple sclerosis. Initial findings suggest ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jul 21, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Proteins shine a brighter light on cellular processes

Scientists have designed a molecule which, in living cells, emits turquoise light three times brighter than possible until recently. This improves the sensitivity of cellular imaging, a technique where biological ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 20, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Cone snail venom controls pain

Components of the venom from marine cone snails can block the transmission of signals between nerve cells in minute quantities. This makes them potentially suitable for use as a novel analgesic. Researchers ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Apr 04, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Neuron

A neuron (pronounced /ˈnjʊərɒn/ N(Y)OOR-on, also known as a neurone or nerve cell) is an excitable cell in the nervous system that processes and transmits information by electrochemical signalling. Neurons are the core components of the brain, the vertebrate spinal cord, the invertebrate ventral nerve cord, and the peripheral nerves. A number of specialized types of neurons exist: sensory neurons respond to touch, sound, light and numerous other stimuli affecting cells of the sensory organs that then send signals to the spinal cord and brain. Motor neurons receive signals from the brain and spinal cord and cause muscle contractions and affect glands. Interneurons connect neurons to other neurons within the same region of the brain or spinal cord. Neurons respond to stimuli, and communicate the presence of stimuli to the central nervous system, which processes that information and sends responses to other parts of the body for action. Neurons do not go through mitosis, and usually cannot be replaced after being destroyed, although astrocytes have been observed to turn into neurons as they are sometimes pluripotent.

For more information about Neuron, read the full article at Wikipedia.
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