After providing all the funding for The Brain from Top to Bottom for over 10 years, the CIHR Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction informed us that because of budget cuts, they were going to be forced to stop sponsoring us as of March 31st, 2013.

We have approached a number of organizations, all of which have recognized the value of our work. But we have not managed to find the funding we need. We must therefore ask our readers for donations so that we can continue updating and adding new content to The Brain from Top to Bottom web site and blog.

Please, rest assured that we are doing our utmost to continue our mission of providing the general public with the best possible information about the brain and neuroscience in the original spirit of the Internet: the desire to share information free of charge and with no adverstising.

Whether your support is moral, financial, or both, thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Bruno Dubuc, Patrick Robert, Denis Paquet, and Al Daigen





Wednesday, 24 July 2013
Oligomers Help Us Keep Our Memories

A protein whose molecules have the special ability to stack on top of one another, somewhat like egg cartons, and thus form short, highly stable chains (oligomers), may well play a key role in the mechanisms by which we maintain lasting memories.

Indeed, there is always something magical about remembering something that you haven’t thought about in years. But physically speaking, in what form is the corresponding memory trace maintained in your brain over all that time? Neurobiologists know that the whole process occurs in the synapses (the plastic connections between neurons) and have described molecular mechanisms such as long-term potentiation that partly explain this plasticity. (more…)

Memory and the Brain, Mental Disorders | Comments Closed

Monday, 29 April 2013
A Microprocessor That Simulates a Synapse

For decades now, cognitive scientists across the entire range from cognitivists to connectionists have been trying to use computers to model the learning abilities of the human brain. A team at MIT, headed by Dr. Chi-Sang Poon, has just taken a major step in this direction by designing a microprocessor that can simulate the functioning of a single synapse in the part of the human brain known as the hippocampus. (more…)

Memory and the Brain | Comments Closed