neuroscience

8 articles · All tags

• Memory Reconsolidation: Why Recalling a Memory Changes It
  Memory reconsolidation is the process by which a recalled memory becomes unstable and must be stored again, so each recall can slightly strengthen or change it.
• Impressionism and Color Science: How the Eye Mixes Paint
  Impressionist painters placed separate strokes of pure color that the eye blends at a distance, because light mixes by adding while paint mixes by subtracting.
• How General Anesthesia Works: Plain-Language Explanation
  General anesthesia uses drugs that reversibly switch off consciousness and pain in the brain, while doctors keep breathing and circulation supported during surgery.
• The Placebo Effect: How Belief Changes Health
  The placebo effect is a real improvement caused by expectation, not an active treatment. Learn how it works in the brain, where it helps, and what it cannot do.
• How Caffeine Works: Adenosine, Alertness, and Sleep
  Caffeine does not give energy; it blocks adenosine receptors so you feel less tired. Learn its half-life, safe daily limits, tolerance, and effects on sleep.
• Unihemispheric Sleep: Sleeping with Half a Brain
  Dolphins, seals, and some birds sleep one brain hemisphere at a time — what the EEG shows, why voluntary breathers and vulnerable sleepers evolved it, and what it says about sleep itself.
• Synaptic Transmission
  The process by which neurons communicate across synapses using neurotransmitters, and how it is modulated and terminated.
• Action Potentials
  The electrical pulse neurons use to send signals: resting potential, ion channels, and the all-or-none wave that travels down axons.