Optogenetics is a technique used for the study of neural circuits in the brain. It is a branch of biotechnology that combines genetics and optical techniques to conceive and control a specific neural ...

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on . New technology like optogenetics, which uses the application of light to genetically modify target cells, offers ...

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American When asked about my style of journalism, I ...

Optogenetics has greatly enlarged the scope of neuroscience by making possible the study of particular neural circuit components in both normal and diseased states. Credit: ktsdesign/ Shutterstock.com ...

When Edward Boyden was helping develop a tool to turn neurons on and off with light at Stanford a decade ago, he had a strong feeling it would spread far and wide. Even so, he’s been surprised by how ...

What the scientists had was a lab version of The Dog That Didn’t Bark — or, if Sherlock Holmes were chronicling the experiment, The Mice That Didn’t Freeze. One at a time, the 20 mice went into a ...

To understand and manipulate components of the brain, “the central challenge in neuroscience is the difficulty of controlling just one type of neuron at a time!” observed Francis Crick prophetically ...

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on . Optogenetic stimulation of the retina with a treatment combining injection of photoactivatable channelrhodopsin ...

A 58-year-old man who has been blind for years now sees well enough to make out shapes, including the white lines of a crosswalk. The advancement comes thanks to a technology called “optogenetics,” a ...