A pool of neural stem cells that ordinarily lies dormant in the brains of adult mice spawns two types of never-before-documented glial cells when artificially reactivated, potentially pointing to a novel mechanism of brain plasticity.

A dysfunctional lymphatic system, described as a clogging of the brain’s sink, may explain why immunotherapies fail in some Alzheimer’s patients.

In mice, the brain’s main glial cell type exhibits distinctive patterns of activity across the sleep-wake cycle and influences the response to sleep deprivation.

A polymer tube regenerates damaged nerves in monkeys, restoring near full functionality.

The brain’s immune cells gobble up synapses in the hippocampi of rodents fed high-fat or high-sugar diets.

A double gene-transfer therapy transformed the non-neuronal cells into rod photoreceptors in the retinas of animal models of congenital blindness.

The elimination of these glia in the mouse brain ameliorated the development of Parkinsonian neuropathologies induced by the pesticide toxin paraquat.  

Meet some of the people featured in the January 2018 issue of The Scientist.

Marian Diamond, a former University of California, Berkeley, professor, discovered the first evidence for neuroplasticity and studied Einstein’s brain.

Pressure from simulated blast waves, similar to those generated by explosives, induced molecular markers of stress and injury within mouse retinas.

Ben Barres recast glial cells from supporting actors to star performers, crucial for synaptic plasticity in the brain and for preventing neurodegenerative disorders.

Researchers describe how gene expression in different human brain regions is altered with age.

Once thought only to attack neurons, immune cells turn out to be vital for central nervous system function.

Glial cells were once considered neurons’ supporting actors, but new methods and model organisms are revealing their true importance in brain function.

Neurons in new brains and old