Scientists shed new light on how we perceive vibrations through touch

Researchers have demonstrated a universal decoding system in humans that determines how we perceive vibrations of different frequencies through touch. Their findings, published in eLife, suggest that this decoding system overrules our tactile sensory channels when we perceive vibrotactile stimuli. The system depends on neural discharge (or spike) patterns, regardless of the type of receptor that receives the stimuli, challenging […]

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The heart: Digital or analog? Researchers shed dramatic new light on disorders of heart bioelectricity

Scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute (VTCRI) have found evidence that may disrupt conventional understanding about how electrical activity travels in the heart—a discovery that potentially can lead to new insight into medical problems such as heart arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death. The research study, now online but scheduled to appear as a final version on Tuesday, Sept. […]

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New light shed on mechanisms of paediatric epilepsy

Research by Cardiff University has uncovered the brain activity that underlies absence epilepsy, offering new hope for the development of innovative therapies for this disabling disease. Absence epilepsy—the most common form of epilepsy in children and teenagers—causes episodes of lack of awareness which are often mistaken for daydreaming. The brain activity that causes this form of epilepsy has remained poorly […]

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