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Octopus laqueus having a sleep

Octopuses have a REM-like sleep state where they appear to dream

28 June 2023

By looking at electrical signals octopuses produce in their brain while asleep and awake, researchers have gathered some of the best evidence yet that the cephalopods dream


Memories may be sorted by the thalamus before being stored long term

30 March 2023

The thalamus is the brain's relay station for sensory information, but a study in mice has found it may also play a role in memory processing


Two fruit flies

The 3013 neurons in the brain of a fly larva have been mapped in full

2 December 2022

A complete map of the neurons inside the brain of a fruit fly larva is the largest example of a whole-brain "connectome", and is a stepping stone to describing the brains of more complex animals, including mice and humans


A transplanted human organoid labeled with a fluorescent protein in a section of the rat brain. Credit: Stanford University.

Human neurons transplanted into a rat's brain influence its behaviour

12 October 2022

Researchers propose that rats with human neurons derived from stem cells implanted into their brains could be used to test new psychiatric drugs


Face of Rhesus Macaque Monkeys; Shutterstock ID 1754084492; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Interoception: Monkeys can sense their own heartbeat just like us

11 April 2022

The ability to sense the internal state of the body, known as interoception, may be linked to our mental health, and macaques appear to have similar capabilities to us


Carrion crow (Corvus corone) black bird portrait of head and looking at camera. Wildlife in nature. Netherlands; Shutterstock ID 1928268914; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Crows may owe their intelligence to an abundance of certain neurons

1 April 2022

Corvids such as rooks and crows seem to have a unusually high number of interneurons, brain cells involved in processing information


nematode worm

Every single neuron in an animal mapped out for the first time

3 July 2019

A complete map of all the neurons and their connections in both sexes of an animal – a tiny worm – has been described for the first time


octopus

Octopuses taking MDMA get all huggy and loved-up with each other

20 September 2018

Octopuses respond to ecstasy in the same way as we do, suggesting the basis for social behaviour evolved more than 500 million years ago


Seals only sleep with half their brain when they're out at sea

Seals only sleep with half their brain when they're out at sea

7 June 2018

Northern fur seals mostly sleep with half their brain while they’re at sea, but sleep with all their brain while on land – unlike any other animal studied


Walter Pitts

How a frog’s eye robbed us of a genius’s AI masterwork

30 May 2018

Walter Pitts would have become one of the most famous names in computer science - if it hadn’t been for the frogs


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