Volume 11 Issue 5, May 2008

Many kinases have been implicated in memory formation, but a new study suggests that a phosphatase, calcineurin, is important for the long-lasting nature of emotional memories by making them resistant to extinction.

The capsaicin receptor TRPV1 is important in pain sensation. A new study suggests that this nonselective cation channel shows dynamic alterations in ion permeability, which may contribute to mechanisms of pain hypersensitivity.

'What' and 'where' pathways are recognized in the visual system, but do they exist in auditory cortex? A new study uses reversible inactivation to demonstrate a double dissociation between two cortical regions in two tasks.

Animals can discriminate between olfactory stimuli, but they perceive different concentrations of a chemical as one stimulus. A recent study suggests how this happens and reveals a neural circuit that mediates olfactory gain control.