behavioral neuroscience

Sex-specific effects of psychedelic drug exposure on central amygdala reactivity and behavioral responding

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Researchers studied how psilocybin’s active form affects the brain’s fear center in both male and female rats. They found that a single dose produced different effects in males versus females, with males showing lasting reductions in fear responses over 28 days while females showed variable changes. These findings help explain why psychedelics might work differently between sexes and could inform how they’re used to treat anxiety and depression in humans.

Regulation of long-term memory by a few clock neurons in Drosophila

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Researchers discovered that just a few special nerve cells in fruit fly brains control how memories are formed and maintained. These clock neurons use a protein called Period to help convert short-term memories into long-term memories that can last for days. Understanding how these small groups of neurons regulate memory in flies could provide insights into how human brains form and maintain memories.

A common modular design of nervous systems originating in soft-bodied invertebrates

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Scientists have discovered that simple sea slugs have nervous systems organized in much the same way as human brains, with similar modules for making decisions and controlling movement. Even though sea slugs lack bones, brains, and complex bodies compared to humans, their basic neural architecture mirrors ours, suggesting that this organizational plan evolved long ago in simple ancestral organisms. This finding helps us understand how complex brains evolved and reveals that nature has reused the same fundamental neural designs across hundreds of millions of years of evolution.

Behavioral dissection of hunger states in Drosophila

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Scientists studying fruit flies discovered that hunger comes in two types: the need-based hunger when your body needs nutrients, and pleasure-based hunger when you want tasty food. By carefully watching how flies eat under different food conditions and examining their brain activity, researchers identified specific brain structures (the mushroom body) and dopamine neurons that control the desire for delicious food. This finding helps us understand why we eat food we don’t need and could lead to better treatments for obesity and eating disorders.

Research Keyword: behavioral neuroscience

Sex-specific effects of psychedelic drug exposure on central amygdala reactivity and behavioral responding

Regulation of long-term memory by a few clock neurons in Drosophila

A common modular design of nervous systems originating in soft-bodied invertebrates

Behavioral dissection of hunger states in Drosophila