Science News: Our Weekly Picks from Around the Web

Blue Brain Project Accurately Predicts Connections Between Neurons
The Blue Brain Project has identified key principles that determine synapse-scale connectivity by virtually reconstructing a cortical microcircuit. Researchers used Neurolucida to trace neurons.
www.rdmag.com (09/18/2012)

Neuroscience: Idle minds
Why does the brain at rest consume so much energy? Evidence indicates “the brain only rests when you’re dead.”
www.nature.com (09/19/2012)

Mulling Over a Decision Makes People More Selfish, Study Suggests
Research suggests that the longer you think about being unselfish, the more selfish your choices become.
news.sciencemag.org (09/19/2012)

Scientists Create Atlas of Human Brain to Shed Light on Psychiatric Conditions
A comprehensive atlas of the adult human brain that reveals the activity of genes across the entire organ has been created by scientists at the Allen Institute for Brain Science.
www.rawstory.com (09/20/2012)

Brain Implant Restores Decision Making In Drugged Monkeys
Neuroscientists have made a brain implant that restored decision-making ability in laboratory monkeys whose faculties had been experimentally addled by cocaine.
blogs.discovermagazine.com (09/18/2012)

NYU neuroscientists find promise in addressing Fragile X afflictions
Neuroscientists at New York University have devised a method that has reduced several afflictions associated with Fragile X syndrome (FXS) in laboratory mice.
www.esciencenews.com (09/19/2012)

IgNobel Prize Winners Announced
Craig Bennett, Abigail Baird, Michael Miller, and George Wolford win the prize in Neuroscience for demonstrating that brain researchers can see meaningful brain activity anywhere — even in a dead salmon.
www.improbable.com (09/20/2012)