A new study in mice suggests that a burst of activity in dopamine-producing neurons, just at the beginning of a movement only, as opposed to all the time, is all it takes for a movement to unfold correctly. This may have important implications for treating Parkinson’s disease, which is caused by the death of the neurons that make dopamine.

Right at the tip of the fruit fly’s tongue sit two sets of taste neurons that have now been found to be crucial for the insect to develop a craving for protein.

The first set makes the fly start to eat yeast, telling it it is the right food, and the second set tells it to keep on eating it, that yeast is still the right food. -Carlos Ribeiro

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Who are today’s scientists? Inspired by the project “Humans of New York”, Ar Magazine turns the spotlight on individual humans of science every month.

Name: Marina Fridman
Lab: Cortical Circuits lab
Project: Characterization of the projections from the lateral posterior nucleus of the thalamus to layer 1 of cortex

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Photo credit: Tor Stensola

Eugenia Chiappe is so fascinated by the way living organisms manage to evaluate their own movements, so as to be able to flawlessly perform complex motor tasks, that in trying to understand it she has led a sort of double life, divided between science and the performing arts.

I am very happy here [at Champalimaud]. There are a lot of young people, we discuss science all the time; and we are all working on the same problem, but each from a different angle. – Eugenia Chiappe

In a scientific first, researchers have observed in mice how the brain learns to repeat patterns of neural activity that elicit the all-important feel-good sensation. Until today, the brain mechanisms that guide this type of learning had not been measured directly.

It was thought that the neurotransmitter serotonin most likely acted by inhibiting behavior. Now, scientists at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown have shown that general idea to be wrong.

We had never seen an active behavior promoted by serotonin. This is, to my knowledge, the first time such a behavior has been observed when serotonin-producing neurons are activated. – Eran Lottem

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Who are today’s scientists? Inspired by the project “Humans of New York”, Ar Magazine turns the spotlight on individual humans of science every month.

Name: Hedi Young
Lab: Cortical Circuits Lab
Project: Patterns of long-range connectivity in the cortex

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Photo credit: Tor Stensola

Albino Oliveira-Maia has always navigated between medical practice and scientific research. In his opinion, these two worlds, which are still not talking to each other in a fluid manner, need others like him to bring them closer.

All things considered, my role may be to find links between medicine and science, to develop a model of proximity between these two domains. – Albino Oliveira-Maia

Can brain biology negatively affect an individual’s position in society? The answer seems to be yes – and Carmen Sandi’s work has shown that the mitochondria (the cell’s batteries) are an important player. Could this negative impact be reduced with drugs?

When we pharmacologically inhibited the activity of the mitochondria, the animals lost in social competitions. – Carmen Sandi

Many experts think that obesity is essentially the result of being hooked on food. But a new study reveals a much more complex reality.

We often hear that obesity ‘is like an addiction’. [But] food reward is not the main reason for obesity. Therefore, food addiction is not the whole story. – Albino Oliveira-Maia

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