I had a friend in the early 2000s who studied dendrites and light and consciousness; it was both fascinating and almost completely incomprehensible to me. I still find it fascinating.

"There is a “zoo” of different events that take place at dendrites, he said. They can fire their own local or global electrical spikes. They can cover a larger or smaller area, and they can surge for longer or shorter periods of time."

"Neuroscientists have found that these events at dendrites can allow even single neurons to perform complex computations — meaning that dendrites are the reason why a single neuron can have the same amount of computational power as a deep artificial neural network."
#neuroscience #dendrites
https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-type-of-neuroplasticity-rewires-the-brain-after-a-single-experience-20260424/

Axons and dendrites are fundamentally different. An example from #Drosophila:

"axons and dendrites can accumulate different microtubule-binding proteins; protein synthesis machinery is concentrated in the cell body; pre- and post-synaptic sites localize to distinct regions of the neuron; and specializations similar to the initial segment are present. In addition, we track EB1-GFP dynamics and determine microtubules in axons and dendrites have opposite polarity."

"Polarity and intracellular compartmentalization of Drosophila neurons", Rolls et al. 2007
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1749-8104-2-7

To collapse axons and dendrites into point neurons in a simulation of neural circuits is, at this point, malpractice.

#neuroscience #cytoskeleton #axons #dendrites

Stanford University published a study recently finding that #EV #batteries may see 40% more lifespan than thought.

In a nutshell, the growth of #dendrites on the electrodes is the nail in the coffin for #lithium batteries. Historic testing was to do constant discharge/recharge cycles. But that's not how cars work. Acceleration and regen braking cause huge surges. Turns out, these surges are good and fry the dendrites, making the #battery healthier.

So EV owners, punch it and slam the brakes time to time! (but not with traffic around!!).

https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2024/12/existing-ev-batteries-may-last-up-to-40-longer-than-expected

`In this work, we investigated the #dendrites of layer 2 and 3 (L2/3) pyramidal #neurons of the human cerebral cortex ex vivo. In these neurons, we discovered a class of #calcium-mediated dendritic action potentials (dCaAPs) whose waveform and effects on #neuronal output have not been previously described. In contrast to typical all-or-none action potentials, dCaAPs were graded; their amplitudes were maximal for threshold-level stimuli but dampened for stronger stimuli`

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aax6239

Summer vibes! Here researchers have captured dendrite generated on a zinc surface, and added their own seaside-themed flourish.

Photograph: Yutong Zhu

@photography
#nanophotography
#dendrites