Flutterby™! : New Brain Cells

Interesting... The Guardian: Humans produce new brain cells throughout their lives, say researchers:

“The exciting part is that the neurons are there throughout a lifetime,” said Dr Maura Boldrini from Columbia University in New York and first author of the new study published in the journal Cell Stem Cell. “It seems that indeed humans are different from mice – where [neuron production] goes down with age really fast – and this could mean that we need these neurons for our complex learning abilities and cognitive behavioural responses to emotions,” she said.

The Scientist: Abundant Neurogenesis Found in Adult Humans’ Hippocampi:

Adult human hippocampi are home to thousands of immature neurons, researchers report today (April 5) in Cell Stem Cell. The result runs counter to a paper published last month in Nature that found no evidence of neural precursor cells or immature neurons in adults. Such contradictory findings raise questions about researchers’ understanding of neurogenesis in human adult hippocampi, which are central to learning and memory.

The authors of the previous Nature study are sticking by their guns and saying it's an easy mistake to make. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.