When an electrical signal arrives at the presynaptic terminal, neurotransmitters are released from vesicles into the gap between neurons. The neurotransmitters then trigger an electrical signal in the postsynaptic neuron.

OIST aims to have every single high school student in Okinawa, like these students from Uruma City, visit the university before they graduate.

A giant foraminifera called a xenophyophore appear as tiny dirt clods next to the robotic arm that collects them. Photo courtesy of JAMSTEC

An 8 cm large xenophyophore specimen from Ogasawara Trench showing clear growth rings. Photo courtesy of Beatrice Lecroq  

Brain slices of older tissues prepared with ice-cold (blue) and warm (red) preparation methods, as demonstrated by Shiwei Huang and Marylka Yoe Uusisaari in a paper in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience. The asterisks (*) indicate visible neurons. While no healthy neurons are visible in the left image, seven are visible in the right. Abbreviations: PN, Purkinje neuron layer; ML, molecular layer; GrC, granular cell layer.

Shiwei Huang (right) is a member of the Computational Neuroscience Unit and Marylka Yoe Uusisaari (left) is a part of the the Optical Neuroimaging Unit.