June 2008

• Neuroimaging: Free will?

  Standfirst

  Recent findings have shown that activity in two non-motor-related cortical areas can predict the outcome of a movement decision up to 10 seconds before an individual becomes aware of the decision.

  Leonie Welberg
  Nature Reviews Neuroscience 9, 410-411 (2008)
  doi:10.1038/nrn2404

• Neural circuits: Sing a song of "sex please"

  Standfirst

  Male Drosophila melanogaster court females with a courtship 'song' created by distinctive wing vibrations. Although the females themselves do not normally sing, a new study has shown that part of the neural circuitry that underlies this male-specific behaviour is also functional in the opposite sex.

  Craig Nicholson
  Nature Reviews Neuroscience 9, 412-413 (2008)
  doi:10.1038/nrn2396