Tag Archives: hippocampus

May 24

Baby I Swear it’s Déjà Vu

It’s one of the most bizarre sensations in the world: feeling like you’ve entered some sort of time loop and are re-experiencing something that’s already happened before. The rational part of you knows that this is a new experience, and yet, you can’t shake the feeling that you’re somehow reliving a brief moment of your […]

May 03

The Neurogenesis Saga: Are new neurons born in the adult human brain?

One of neuroscience’s most heated debates during the past 50 years has been whether or not new neurons are born (a process called neurogenesis) in the adult mammalian brain. Before the late 1990s, we believed that we were born with all the neurons we would have throughout our lives. However, evidence of adult neurogenesis from […]

March 22

“Find My Friends”, Brain edition

Have you ever felt hyper-aware of where another person is, almost like you’ve got some internal GPS that’s automatically tracking their location? Perhaps you’ve felt this way (however creepily) when you’ve had a major crush on someone, to the point that you’re exceptionally tuned in to where that person is in a room at any […]

December 15

Get your brain fit

You can’t seem to get yourself to the gym? You are always lazy to work out or go for a run? This infographic might just be the motivation you need! And if you want to know more check out our video Get your brain fit, People’s Choice Award Winner in the Brain Awareness Video Contest […]

August 11

Alzheimer’s disease: back to the basics & exploring new frontiers

When my grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), I wanted to better understand what exactly was happening in his brain as his memory slowly deteriorated. Perhaps this drive came from innate scientific curiosity, or perhaps burying myself in the gritty molecular details was my attempt at escaping from the emotional gravity of the situation.

August 22

How Does Exercise Improve the Brain?

When I started college, my best friend and I started a regular workout schedule to evade the infamous freshman fifteen. The odds were already out of my favor when I started to work at the dining hall right next to my freshman dorm. We were not as intense as Olympic runner Allyson Felix pictured above. […]

July 31

False Memories and Inception

Our memories are so dear and essential to our lives that the idea of false memories or that our memories are vulnerable to outside influence seems more than a little unsettling. After all, our memories are critical for not only how we interact with others, but also generating and maintaining our image of self.   The […]

June 12

Pattern separation gone awry: the dentate gyrus and schizophrenia

[Image Source: Sebastian Seung via http://connectomethebook.com/.] Since the discovery of patient H.M. in the 1950s (see this post from October 2013), scientists have known that the hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped structure located in the medial temporal lobe, is crucial for the successful formation of new memories. The mammalian hippocampus is characterized by several distinct regions, each with […]

July 02

The hippocampus: Going the distance beyond space and time

Anyone who’s spent a day exploring the streets of New York City will understand the importance of integrating accurate representations of space, time and distance. That hipster dive-bar you’re dying to check out is twelve streets from tonight’s dinner spot, whereas that hot new rooftop bar is just four avenues away. Which do you choose […]