Brain Cells’ Long Migration
Like plump little caterpillars inching along a branch, newly born neurons in the adult brain appear to crawl along nearby blood vessels to find their way to their final destination.
Scientists have long known that nascent neurons, born in a spot called the subventricular zone towards the back of the brain, must find their way to the most anterior portion of the brain, the olfactory bulb. Using real-time video imaging, scientists from Quebec discovered that these neurons navigate the brain using blood vessels as paths. In the video above, published online in the Journal of Neuroscience, neurons are labeled in green, and the blood vessels in red.
Credit: Journal of Neuroscience, April 1, 2009, 29(13):4172-4188
Keep Reading
Most Popular
Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.
And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.
OpenAI teases an amazing new generative video model called Sora
The firm is sharing Sora with a small group of safety testers but the rest of us will have to wait to learn more.
Google’s Gemini is now in everything. Here’s how you can try it out.
Gmail, Docs, and more will now come with Gemini baked in. But Europeans will have to wait before they can download the app.
This baby with a head camera helped teach an AI how kids learn language
A neural network trained on the experiences of a single young child managed to learn one of the core components of language: how to match words to the objects they represent.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.