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LiveScience
LiveScience
Nicoletta Lanese

Super-detailed map of brain cells that keep us awake could improve our understanding of consciousness

Two side-by-side MRI scans of the two halves of a human brain shows structures deep in the middle of the brain highlighted in different colors.

Scientists have charted a comprehensive map of the brain cells responsible for keeping us awake. In doing so, they aim to better understand the mechanisms that enable human consciousness and to improve treatments for people in comas and vegetative states.

"It's a beautiful study," said Dr. Nicholas Schiff, a professor of neurology and neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medicine who was not involved in the new research. "It's a map of everything." 

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