(PhysOrg.com) -- Bernardo Spagnolo of the University of Palermo in Italy and his Russian colleagues have developed a model that they believe explains why it is we humans hear some notes as harmonious, and others as dissonant. ...
Researchers have successfully demonstrated how it is possible to interface graphene - a two-dimensional form of carbon - with neurons, or nerve cells, while maintaining the integrity of these vital cells. The work may be ...
Nanomaterials
Jan 29, 2016
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5353
Transfer of mitochondria between cells is a ubiquitously occurring and now universally known phenomenon. For years, researchers have been serially demonstrating that one particular new cell type can transfer its mitos to ...
For observations based on sensory data, the human brain must constantly verify which "version" of reality underlies the perception. The answer is gleaned from probability distributions that are stored in the nerve cell network ...
General Physics
Nov 11, 2016
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2140
"Two months ago, we were congratulating ourselves on a fair crop of winterapples. To all appearance, they were freer from worms than we had known them in this section for years. But, alas! our hopes are again blasted. The ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 25, 2017
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7
People who carry three gene variants inherited from Neanderthals are more sensitive to some types of pain, according to a new study co-led by UCL researchers.
Evolution
Oct 10, 2023
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170
Imperial researchers have discovered a hidden mechanism within hair follicles that allow us to feel touch. The findings have been published in Science Advances.
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 27, 2023
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295
We all do it; we all need it—humans and animals alike. Sleep is an essential behavior shared by nearly all animals and disruption of this process is associated with an array of physiological and behavioral deficits. Although ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 23, 2017
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824
In the absence of eyes, the fresh water polyp, Hydra magnipapillata, nevertheless reacts to light. They are diurnal, hunting during the day, and are known to move, looping end over end, or contract, in response to light. ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 4, 2012
1
0
A pair of researchers at the University of California, Riverside, has used machine learning to understand what a chemical smells like—a research breakthrough with potential applications in the food flavor and fragrance ...
Analytical Chemistry
Jul 29, 2020
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225
Sensory neurons are neurons that are activated by sensory input (vision, touch, hearing, etc.), and send projections into the central nervous system that convey sensory information to the brain or spinal cord. Unlike neurons of the central nervous system, whose inputs come from other neurons, sensory neurons are activated by physical modalities such as light, sound, temperature, chemical stimulation, etc.
In complex organisms, sensory neurons relay their information to the central nervous system or in less complex organisms, such as the hydra, directly to motor neurons and sensory neurons also transmit information (electrical impulses) to the brain, where it can be further processed and acted upon. For example, olfactory sensory neurons make synapses with neurons of the olfactory bulb, where the sense of olfaction (smell) is processed.
At the molecular level, sensory receptors located on the cell membrane of sensory neurons are responsible for the conversion of stimuli into electrical impulses. The type of receptor employed by a given sensory neuron determines the type of stimulus it will be sensitive to. For example, neurons containing mechanoreceptors are sensitive to tactile stimuli, while olfactory receptors make a cell sensitive to odors.
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