For the first time a gene was identified that allows the repair of damaged nerves in nematodes. The study is from Science Express. A gene that can stimulate the growth of nerve cells was first identified by researchers at the University of Utah (USA), thanks to cutting-edge experimental techniques and a huge genetic screening on a nematode (cylindrical or worm). The neurons, which in the embrio are able to regenerate, in adults have their capacity to "repair" reduced or absent. In other words, damage to the central nervous system (brain or spinal cord) and its consequences - paralysis, loss or reduction of cognitive faculties - are permanent. "In the past molecules have been identified that can inhibit the growth of neurons in different organisms," says the coordinator of research Michael Bastiani, "but their removal in the laboratory had no effect. That is why we went to look for those genes that can stimulate rather than inhibit, the regeneration of nerve. " Taking as a experimental model flat worms (Caenorhabditis elegans), biologists have searched for the genes that trigger the regrowth of motor (neurons that "command" voluntary muscles): in practice, with an experimental technique called RNA interference to "shut down ", one by one, 5000 on 20,000 genes in the DNA of worms (genes similar are also present in humans). The analysis led to the identification of dlk-1, which appears to play a key role in the regeneration of nerve tissue, and three other genes responsible for the formation of axons (parts of the neuron that conduct electrical signal). The researchers found that in nematodes, the gene dlk-1 not only triggers a chain of events known as "Map kinase" behind the growth of neurons, but also that their regeneration can be increased or decreased by stimulating the gene to produce amounts more or less high of the protein dlk-1.

The ventral striatum, a part of the brain already known to be associated with rewards and unexpected stimuli, is the center of our desire for adventure. The research in Neuron. A group of researchers from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at the University College of London has identified the area of the brain directly linked to our desire for adventure. Or, more precisely, our propensity to live new experiences and to experience what we do not know. For the study, published in Neuron, researchers have developed a test: the participants were presented a series of images associated with different sums of money put into a premium, and were asked to guess which of the sums was higher. Although the volunteers easily could identify the image associated with richer rewards, when it was introduced a new figure, all of them tended to choose the latter rather than those already known with secure profits. Through magnetic resonance imaging, neuroscientists have noticed that the area of the ventral Striatum (an area of the brain already known to be associated to receive a reward and unexpected stimuli) was particularly active when participants opted for the novelty.

An Italian research published on Plos One identified, in rabbits, some areas where neurons grow as from adult tissue A new Italian study has identified in the cerebellum of rabbits some areas in which nerve cells grow from adult tissue, demonstrating that repairing damaged to the brain - in theory - is not impossible. The discovery, fifteen years ago, that even the central nervous system of adult mammals can form new neurons has been a cornerstone of neuroscience and distorting the previous belief that neurogenesis occurs in this animal class, once and for all, during development embryonic, without the possibility of repair after birth. Unlike other vertebrates, in which this process occurs post-natal widely in the brain, in mammals seems limited to a few specific areas.

In these monkeys 80 per cent of the neuron cell cortex is multisensory phonetic and also responds to visual stimuli. Thus, all the information is integrated It is known for some time that monkeys are able to integrate information in various ways to recognize monkeys in the group and their intentions, just like us and like many other other animals. What we did not know until today was how our "cousins" could associate verses and faces, optimising thus the process of individual recognition. The experiment helps to clarify that which was published in Journal of Neuroscience and was conducted by Aif Ghazanfar and collaborators at Princeton (USA) on a kind of macaco. The researchers found that, in these monkeys, many neurons are in fact multi-sensorial and respond differently depending on whether the hearing and visual stimuli are at the same time or not. For monkeys, which live in social groups and must manage complex relationships - conflicting and friendly - it is crucial to combine auditory stimuli (leading information-type sound, as a sound threat) and images (which provide summary information, such as the color of skin or facial features). The group Ghazanfar could shed light on the mechanism of integration of different stimuli by measuring the activity of visual and auditory cortex areas of the brain, respectively, for image and sound. Measurements were made under different conditions: in one case the animals could both see fellow companions in the group, listen to their sounds, while in other cases the animals could alternatively listen to the auditory component only or see the companions (only visual component).

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, researchers have been able to associate a brain activation pattern to the memory of an image. According to a study in Nature. Reading the thoughts of other people is not yet possible, but scientists are working on it. One tool developed by Jack L. Gallant and collaborators at the University of Berkeley (California) is able to recognize an image that a person has just seen through his brain activity. Two of the authors of the study published in Nature - Kendrick Kay and Thomas Naselaris - were submitted in person by observing the experiment at random photographs from a group of 120 during brain scans using functional magnetic resonance (fMri). The results of fMri, combined with a mathematical model, have served to associate the images neuronal activity that a person has just had before our eyes.