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Tag: Publication

Understanding Dopamine Neurons on Multiple Timescales

A new paper in Nature (PDF) presents intriguing science on how dopamine neurons operate across multiple timescales to guide learning and decision-making. The study provides compelling experimental evidence…

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New Stars in Neural Circuits: Astrocytes Guide Brain State Changes

Astrocytes, the most abundant non-neuronal cell type in the brain, have traditionally been thought of as passive supporters of neuronal circuits. However, in recent years, work from many…

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A New Window into Protein Interactions at the Nanoscale

Understanding how proteins interact inside living cells is fundamental to biology. Yet, visualizing these interactions with high precision—and at the scale and condition at which they actually occur—has…

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Decoding Learning: How Cues and Rewards Shape Behavior and Dopamine Signals

A new study from Naoshige Uchida's MCB lab provides new insight into how the brain processes contingency during associative learning. Published in Nature Neuroscience (PDF), the study demonstrates…

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New Deep Learning Framework Reveals Hidden Structure in Neural Activity

Understanding how neurons encode information is one of the most pressing challenges in neuroscience. A new study from a multidisciplinary team including MCB researchers and those from the…

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Avoid or ignore? How the Brain Copes with a Potential Threat

When faced with an unfamiliar threat, animals must make split-second decisions: should they flee to avoid potential harm or push forward in pursuit of a reward? This fundamental…

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The Development of Instincts at the Single Cell Level

A new study from the Dulac Lab explores how one small brain region called the preoptic area (POA) of the hypothalamus changes through early life in mice. Though…

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Dulac Lab Identifies “Loneliness” Neurons in the Hypothalamus

Loneliness is encoded in the brain in a way that closely resembles the neural architectures governing drives like thirst and hunger, researchers from the Dulac Lab report. A…

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Innate or Earned? Rethinking the Role of Activity in Brain Development

Sixty years ago, Harvard scientists David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel famously showed that altering visual input in young cats irreversibly changed the organization of neurons in the visual…

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How Brains (and AI) Use Variability in Rewards to Bolster Learning

In domains as diverse as mastering video games, controlling robotic limbs, and finetuning ChatGPT, a family of approaches known collectively as “reinforcement learning” (RL) has revolutionized the field…

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