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at 17 th century, Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens hung two of his newly invented pendulum clocks on a block of wood and observed that over time, the clocks synchronized their beats. He reported this finding, which he called ‘strange sympathy’, in 1665. Three and a half centuries later, neurons in the brain were found to synchronize their activity in the same way. Neurons in the brain often synchronize in quasi-rhythmic activity, collectively producing ‘brain waves’ that can sometimes be detected even from outside the skull using electroencephalography. Synchronization in these rhythms helps neurons to exchange information efficiently, which is essential for performing important functions such as learning, memory, attention, perception, and movement. How these rhythms are generated, maintained, and abolished to suit the ever-changing needs for smooth brain operation is an active area of ​​research. In a new study published today in Cell Reports, a team of neuroscientists led by P

Summary: Researchers reveal how neurons organize and maintain the vital infrastructure that enables seamless nerve transmission. Source: Picower Institute of Learning and Memory The nervous system works because neurons communicate through connections called synapses. They “talk” as calcium ions flow through channels into the “active zone” which is laden with vesicles carrying molecular messages. The electrically charged calcium causes the vesicles to “fuse” to the outer membrane of the presynaptic neuron, releasing its communicative chemical charge to the postsynaptic cell. In a new study, scientists at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT provide some revelations about how neurons organize and maintain this vital infrastructure. “Calcium channels are a major determinant of calcium influx, which then triggers vesicle fusion, so they are important components of the machinery on the presynaptic side that converts electrical signals into chemical synaptic transmissions,”