Sheffield, UK. A method for assisting nerves to repair naturally could improve the chances of restoring sensation and movement in injured or regenerated limbs and appendages.

An engineering team has describes a new method for making medical devices called nerve guidance conduits (NGCs). Their study that appears in the journal Biofabrication.

Seattle, WA, USA. A new dataset in the Allen Brain Atlas shows good conservation of gene expression between humans and mice, with reports of some striking differences.

A report published in the journal Cell examines the cellular and molecular organization of human and mouse brains by analyzing the expression of approximately 1,000 genes in the brain.

Boston, MA. USA. Neural pathways are arranged in a curved, three-dimensional grid, built from parallel and perpendicular fibers that cross each other in an orderly fashion.

The discovery of such a remarkably simple organization in the forebrain of humans and other primates was completely unsuspected by investigators, with implications for further studies of brain evolution, development, and analysis.

Göttingen, Germany. The direction of information flow in the brain can change, depending on the time pattern of communication between different areas. This reorganization can be triggered even by a slight stimulus, such as a scent or sound, at the right time.

The finding explains a famous optical illusion which can be seen in a split second either as a cup or two faces.

Buffalo, NY, USA. Do animals have reflective minds able to self-regulate perception, reasoning, and memory? There is an emerging consensus among scientists that animals share functional parallels with humans' conscious metacognition — that is, our ability to reflect on our own mental processes and guide and optimize them.

In two new contributions to comparative psychology, David Smith, PhD, of the University at Buffalo and his colleagues report on continuing advances in this domain.