Music in the brain

Scientists have long wondered if the human brain contains neural mechanisms specific to music perception. Now, for the first time, MIT neuroscientists have identified a neural population in the human auditory cortex that responds selectively to sounds that people typically categorize as music, but not to speech or other environmental sounds. “It has been the…

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The Tantalizing Links between Gut Microbes and the Brain

Microbes and the brain have rarely been thought to interact except in instances when pathogens penetrate the blood–brain barrier—the cellular fortress protecting the brain against infection and inflammation. When they do, they can have strong effects: the virus that causes rabies elicits aggression, agitation and even a fear of water. But for decades, the vast…

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