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Neurobiology

How hardwired is the brain?

In a technological breakthrough, two groups have shown that it is possible to study the turnover of spines — tiny protrusions on nerve cells — in live mice. But it's still uncertain just how dynamic the spines are.

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Figure 1: A century of fascination with neuronal spines.

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Correspondence to Ole P. Ottersen.

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Ottersen, O., Helm, P. How hardwired is the brain?. Nature 420, 751–752 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/420751a

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