Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 3 January 2003:
Vol. 299. no. 5603, pp. 32 - 34
DOI: 10.1126/science.299.5603.32
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

News Focus

DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY:
Newborn Neurons Search for Meaning

Marcia Barinaga

Some brain regions are replenished with new cells throughout life, but researchers aren't sure what the newcomers contribute to the behaviors those brain regions control, which include singing, smelling, and learning. A number of experiments, including one on page 117 that identifies prolactin, a hormone that increases during pregnancy, as a neurogenesis trigger, have suggested that the new neurons might boost learning. The evidence has been correlational, however, and it doesn't all agree.

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Increased Gray Matter Density in the Parietal Cortex of Mathematicians: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study.
K. Aydin, A. Ucar, K.K. Oguz, O.O. Okur, A. Agayev, Z. Unal, S. Yilmaz, and C. Ozturk (2007)
AJNR Am. J. Neuroradiol. 28, 1859-1864
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)