NeuroScience Decoded
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NeuroScience Decoded

A plain-language encyclopedia of the brain — history and pioneers, neurons and synapses, brain chemistry and anatomy, senses, memory, emotion, sleep and consciousness, disorders and treatments, brain-computer interfaces and AI. Every entry with a plain-English summary, everyday examples and links to the concepts you need first.

Topic

Neural Signaling

How neurons talk: membrane potentials, ion channels, the action potential, synapses, receptors and integration.

10 articles

Synaptic Integration: How Neurons Add Up Their Inputs Neural Signaling Advanced Synaptic Integration: How Neurons Add Up Their Inputs EPSPs and IPSPs, temporal and spatial summation, shunting inhibition and dendritic spikes: how a single neuron combines thousands of inputs into one decision. September 23, 2026  ·  3 min readElectrical Synapses and Gap Junctions Neural Signaling Intermediate Electrical Synapses and Gap Junctions Not every synapse uses chemicals. Gap junctions directly connect the insides of neighbouring cells, allowing instant electrical coupling that synchronises neurons, heart cells and glia. August 22, 2026  ·  2 min readHow Neurons Communicate: The Big Picture Neural Signaling Beginner How Neurons Communicate: The Big Picture Electrical inside the cell, chemical between cells: a one-page overview of how a neuron receives, decides, fires and passes on a message. August 1, 2026  ·  2 min readThe Action Potential Neural Signaling Intermediate The Action Potential The nerve impulse step by step: threshold, the rush of sodium, the overshoot, potassium repolarisation, the refractory period — and why every spike is all-or-nothing. July 26, 2026  ·  3 min readThe Resting Membrane Potential Neural Signaling Advanced The Resting Membrane Potential Why a neuron sits at about −70 millivolts: unequal ion concentrations, a membrane leaky mainly to potassium, the sodium-potassium pump, and the equations — Nernst and Goldman — that describe them. July 15, 2026  ·  3 min readNeurotransmitter Release: Vesicles, Calcium and SNAREs Neural Signaling Advanced Neurotransmitter Release: Vesicles, Calcium and SNAREs The molecular machinery of the presynaptic terminal: quantal release, calcium triggering, the SNARE proteins that zip vesicles to the membrane, and the toxins — botulinum and tetanus — that cut them. April 5, 2026  ·  3 min read
Receptors: Ionotropic and Metabotropic Neural Signaling Advanced Receptors: Ionotropic and Metabotropic The two great families of neurotransmitter receptor: fast ion-channel receptors that open in a millisecond, and slower G-protein-coupled receptors that trigger chemical cascades — and why the same transmitter can do opposite things. March 13, 2026  ·  3 min readIon Channels and Pumps Neural Signaling Intermediate Ion Channels and Pumps The protein pores and machines in the cell membrane that make neural signalling possible — voltage-gated, ligand-gated and mechanically gated channels, pumps and transporters — and the toxins and drugs that target them. February 20, 2026  ·  3 min readThe Synapse Neural Signaling Beginner The Synapse The junction where one neuron passes its message to another: the presynaptic terminal, the 20-nanometre cleft, neurotransmitter release and the receptors waiting on the other side. November 25, 2025  ·  2 min readSaltatory Conduction: Why Myelin Makes Signals Fast Neural Signaling Intermediate Saltatory Conduction: Why Myelin Makes Signals Fast How action potentials 'jump' from one node of Ranvier to the next along myelinated axons — and why this lets vertebrates send fast signals through thin nerves. November 23, 2025  ·  2 min read