Despite a wealth of research, we still don't know the purpose of sleep. A new animal study suggests one possible function: to promote the repair of support structures in the brain
Can we edit the content of our memories? It's a sci-fi-tinged question that Steve Ramirez and Xu Liu are asking in their lab at MIT. Essentially, the pair shoot a laser beam into the brain of a living mouse to activate and manipulate its memory. In this unexpectedly amusing talk they share not only how, but - more importantly - why they do this
A study by Science/AAAS shows that rats preferred freeing caged rats rather than eating food placed in the cage, suggesting that the rats show empathy, a trait only previously known to primates.