The scientists, one working in Britain and a husband-and-wife team from Norway, will share the award for work that began in the 1970s and spanned decades.
If you have a problem with your heart or liver, the diagnosis is likely to be made by a lab test or medical image. But neurologist Allan Ropper says those tests often fail when it comes to the brain.
How long can you sit still in a desk? How about your 7-year-old? Maybe you could both use a break. A study shows that kids who get to run around and play after school are better at paying attention.
For those who think there are not enough hours in the day, researchers may have just offered you a solution. The brain can continue tasks even while asleep, a study finds. Texting not included, alas.
Scientists seem to have answered a fundamental question about the nature of memory. They have found compelling evidence that memories are made by strengthening connections between certain brain cells.
Scientists have found that a hormone associated with long life also seems to make people smarter. The gene strengthens the connections between brain cells, a process that's essential for learning.
The organization of certain brain cells in children with autism seems already different from that of typical children by the sixth or seventh month of fetal development, a study hints.
An experimental technique called optogenetics is starting to change the way researchers look at the brain. The tool allows them to switch entire brain circuits on and off using light, and may help figure out what's going wrong in brain ailments from epilepsy to depression.
Scientists have identified special cells in the brain's hippocampus that mimic a trick of some digital cameras. These cells automatically 'tag' the memory of each event in our lives with information about where that event took place — the better to recall, perhaps, where we left our lost keys.