For the first time, researchers, including Carnegie Mellon's Alison Barth (right), have linked a group of neurons to a specific type of somatosensation - our sense of touch - which can lead to a better understanding of how touch is represented in the brain.

"When someone gets pricked by a pin, we know how information about that sensation travels from the skin to the spinal cord. But what happens in the brain has been much less clear ...," said Barth, a professor of biological sciences and a member of Carnegie Mellon's BrainHub research initiative.

Until now.

"This is the first time we've been able to visualize neurons in the somatosensory cortex that 'like' a specific tactile stimulus. It shows that neurons are individuals. They have different jobs to do in the cortex," Barth said.

Learn more.

Looking for a pair of shoes or a handbag to complement that new outfit you got for Christmas? Well, there's an app for that.

School of Computer Science alumni Henry Kang, Hua Zhong and Xi Liu have created StyleIt, an iPhone app that helps users put together outfits. In December the iTunes App Store featured it as one of the best new lifestyle apps for iPhone.

After downloading the app, users simply take a photo of a piece of apparel that they plan to wear; StyleIt then suggests 10 outfits that complement that piece. A pair of shoes, for instance, will be matched to jackets, blouses, jeans and skirts.

With StyleIt, people can purchase those items from one of 450 stores and all of the items can be purchased and shipped with a single click. 

Learn more.

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