How does our brain switch between different behaviors? A new study has now provided the first answers to this key question in neuroscience. Using mice, the researchers investigated electrical activity in a certain area within ...
Mar 18, 2024
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A team of researchers from The University of Hong Kong (HKU) has made a significant breakthrough in understanding how energy metabolism and bone homeostasis are regulated in mice, which could lead to novel treatments for ...
Mar 13, 2024
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The social behaviors of humans and animals often unfold over two distinct phases, namely a motivational and an action phase. The first of these phases entails instinctual and reward-seeking mental states, characterized by ...
In recent years, research has begun to reveal that the lines of communication between the body's organs are key regulators of aging. When these lines are open, the body's organs and systems work well together. But with age, ...
Jan 8, 2024
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How often do you think about your hypothalamus? Chances are that you never do. As compared to the rest of our brain, it is tiny—just the size of an almond. Yet it is our body's master control, regulating a myriad of functions ...
Nov 21, 2023
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The journal Science has published a series of review articles regarding the outsized role that the hypothalamus plays in human behavior—regulating hunger pangs, sleep cycles and social interactions, the almond-sized brain ...
In a new study, scientists from the University of Aberdeen looked at vitamin A and how the brain reacts to it. Vitamin A is essential for life but until now it was not known how it is maintained in the body.
Aug 9, 2023
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Cambridge scientists have shown that the hypothalamus, a key region of the brain involved in controlling appetite, is different in the brains of people who are overweight and people with obesity when compared to people who ...
Aug 7, 2023
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Although you might never have consciously considered it, it's very likely that when you receive a reward, part of the value that you place on it depends on what other people have received as similar rewards. In a recent study ...
Aug 4, 2023
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New research has discovered neurons within the brain that detect and respond to changes in the level of sugar within the bloodstream.
Jul 10, 2023
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The hypothalamus is a portion of the brain that contains a number of small nuclei with a variety of functions. One of the most important functions of the hypothalamus is to link the nervous system to the endocrine system via the pituitary gland (hypophysis). The hypothalamus, (from Greek ὑποθαλαμος = under the thalamus) is located below the thalamus, just above the brain stem. In the terminology of neuroanatomy, it forms the ventral part of the diencephalon. All vertebrate brains contain a hypothalamus. In humans, it is roughly the size of an almond.
The hypothalamus is responsible for certain metabolic processes and other activities of the Autonomic Nervous System. It synthesizes and secretes neurohormones, often called hypothalamic-releasing hormones, and these in turn stimulate or inhibit the secretion of pituitary hormones. The hypothalamus controls body temperature, hunger, thirst, fatigue, and circadian cycles.
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