Researchers announced that they have created the first neuron-by-neuron map of an adult fruit fly brain, marking a major achievement in brain mapping. The map, built using 21 million images, connects nearly 140,000 neurons and 50 million synapses, making it the most complex brain map of any adult animal to date. It also provides a roadmap for understanding neural circuits and behaviors in more complex species, including humans. 

According to Sven Dorkenwald, the lead author on the study, now that researchers have access to this “brain map,” they can close the loop on which neurons relate to which behaviors. Here’s more: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03190-y

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers reported they discovered that deep brain stimulation (DBS) can improve arm and hand strength in patients affected by stroke or traumatic brain injury. In tests on monkeys and humans, DBS immediately boosted muscle activation and grip force without causing involuntary movements.

Brain lesions caused by serious brain trauma or stroke can disrupt neural connections between the motor cortex, a key brain region essential for controlling voluntary movement, and the muscles. Weakening of these connections prevents effective activation of muscles and results in movement deficits, including partial or complete arm and hand paralysis. Check it out: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-52477-1

PharmAla Biotech Holdings, which specializes in MDMA research and manufacturing, announced that it has been contracted as a supplier of MDMA to a clinical trial at Harvard’s McLean Hospital, the largest neuroscientific and psychiatric private research hospital in the world.

This particular contract comes as the university renews its focus on psychedelic research. In 2023, Harvard announced a $16 million program to study psychedelics in society and culture. Here’s more: https://www.greenmarketreport.com/pharmala-biotech-to-supply-mdma-for-harvard-med-school-clinical-trial/

Did you know that geometric hallucinations were first studied systematically in the 1920s by the German-American psychologist Heinrich Klüver?

Klüver’s interest in visual perception had actually led him to experiment with mescaline, which was well-known for inducing visual hallucinations. During his experiments, Klüver noticed the repeating geometric shapes in mescaline-induced hallucinations and classified them into four types: tunnels and funnels, spirals, lattices including honeycombs and triangles, and cobwebs.

Later, in the 1970s the mathematicians Jack D. Cowan and G. Bard Ermentrout used Klüver's classification to build a theory describing what happens in our brain when it tricks us into believing that we are seeing geometric patterns. Their theory has since been elaborated by other scientists, including Paul Bressloff, Professor of Mathematical and Computational Neuroscience at the newly established Oxford Centre for Collaborative Applied Mathematics. You can read more about that theory here: https://plus.maths.org/content/uncoiling-spiral-maths-and-hallucinations