How to smell a smell that is actually not there

How can we experience a sensation that is not real? How to mimic a sensory stimulus in its absence? How to smell a smell when there is none there? By activating certain neurons, it seems.
La mejor ciencia para mentes hambrientas

How can we experience a sensation that is not real? How to mimic a sensory stimulus in its absence? How to smell a smell when there is none there? By activating certain neurons, it seems.
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity of observing something really special, somehting I had never seen, something that left me with an open mouth, something that made nine hours of experimental work worth it, even if we couldn’t actually finish, even if it meant we lost our “patient”. The other day I saw…
When I was at school they used to tell us that with the neurons you were born they would bury you, well maybe a few less, depending on how life treated you…(for boxers more than a few less, actually they get to resemble Alzheimer’s patient but in younger ages). They also told us that women…
A reported case study in a colombian woman, member of a family carriers of a mutation in the presinilin 1 gene which leads to early onset Alzheimer’s, has shown that a certain mutation in the gene APOE3 can protect from the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s disease. This woman was already aged 70 but not…
If you’re old enough, you might remember hearing about the mad cow disease crisis in Europe at the end of the 90s. This disease was caused by something called prions, aggregates of misfolded proteins that become infectious. For a protein aggregate to be considered as prion it is necessary that the interactions among its molecules…
Have you ever wondered how your ears can pick up the faintest whisper yet also handle loud music without damage? Scientists at Rockefeller University have achieved a remarkable feat: they kept a tiny piece of cochlea alive and working outside the body, allowing them to witness the hearing process in unprecedented detail. First, a technological…
As one of those people who REALLY love to sleep -and doesn’t get close to enough of it- I am always interested to read on the topic. What I didn’t expect was to read about sleeping fish and how that relates to its origin. It turns out studies on zebrafish show the ancient origin of…