neurons

Scientists have created detailed maps of the brain area that controls movement in mice, monkeys and people. The maps could help explain human ailments like Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig's disease.

Structures inside healthy brain cells nimbly move from one state to the next to perform different functions. But in certain degenerative brain diseases, scientists now think, that process gets stuck.

The human brain isn't just bigger than a mouse brain. It contains at least one kind of brain cell that isn't found in rodents.

The brains of birds and mice continue to produce new nerve cells in the hippocampus throughout life. But research now suggests the human brain stops doing this around adolescence.

Scientists have identified the brain cells that detect pitch changes in speech, allowing us to understand whether someone is asking a question or making a statement.

Santiago Ramón y Cajal's drawings of nerve cells changed scientists' understanding of the brain. Now, 80 of those drawings are going on display at an art museum in Minnesota.

When people saw photos that linked a famous person with a famous place, it changed the behavior of certain neurons in their brains. And it changed their memories, too.

Researchers in Seattle are busy cataloging what scientists have learned. For now that includes detailed information on 240 mouse cells. Next up: a data trove of details on human brain cells.

Scientists are still better than computers at assessing a neuron's health by looking at its shape. But an effort that includes an international series of hackathons could help speed the process.