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The human brain is the center of the human nervous system and is a highly complex organ. Enclosed in the cranium, it has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times as large as the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size.

Two isoforms of a cellular energy sensor play distinct, opposing roles in Alzheimer's disease

A comprehensive mini-review published today after peer review in Brain Medicine by Dr. Tao Ma and colleagues at Wake Forest University School of Medicine synthesizes emerging evidence that two isoforms of a critical cellular energy sensor play distinct, and sometimes opposing, roles in Alzheimer's disease.

6 Jan 2026

AI model can predict a person's disease risk using sleep data

A poor night's sleep portends a bleary-eyed next day, but it could also hint at diseases that will strike years down the road.

6 Jan 2026

Integrated neural probes reveal dopaminergic control of sleep-wake transitions

Understanding the dynamic neural mechanisms of sleep-wake cycles is a major challenge in sleep science and neuroengineering.

6 Jan 2026

Understanding sevoflurane-induced neurogenesis inhibition and cognitive dysfunction in children

Every year, millions of infants and children undergo surgery under general anesthesia in the world. Sevoflurane is a commonly used pediatric anesthetic. Its exposure during brain development has been shown to inhibit neurogenesis and cause cognitive dysfunction in animal models.

5 Jan 2026

Finger-prick blood tests enable remote detection of Alzheimer’s biomarkers

A groundbreaking international study has demonstrated that Alzheimer's disease biomarkers can be accurately detected using simple finger-prick blood samples that can be collected at home and mailed to laboratories without refrigeration or prior processing.

5 Jan 2026

Gut microbes shown to directly shape brain function and evolution

A groundbreaking new study reveals that changes to the gut microbiome can change the way the brain works.

5 Jan 2026

RNA splicing and processing genes emerge as central drivers of aging across tissues

A new research paper featured as the cover of Volume 17, Issue 12 of Aging-US was published on December 22, 2025, titled "A combination of differential expression and network connectivity analyses identifies a common set of RNA splicing and processing genes altered with age across human tissues."

5 Jan 2026

AI method sharply improves noise removal in brain imaging

Obtaining clearer functional MRI data about the brain and its disorders is possible using artificial intelligence, according to Boston College researchers who reported recently in Nature Methods that they developed an AI-assisted method to remove "noise", or image distortions, caused by movement, heartbeat, and other factors.

5 Jan 2026

New guidelines aim to standardize diagnosis of canine dementia

An international working group of canine cognition experts has released a set of guidelines for veterinarians to use in diagnosing and monitoring canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CCDS), or canine dementia.

5 Jan 2026

Income sufficiency emerges as key factor in early brain development

Decades of research show that early psychosocial stress, including chronic exposure to adversity, can shape how a child's brain develops, with effects that last well beyond childhood. But families rarely experience just one source of stress at a time.

5 Jan 2026

Researchers identify hundreds of genes essential for the development of brain cells

An international research team identified hundreds of genes essential for the development of brain cells, including one gene linked to a severe neurodevelopmental disorder not previously described.

5 Jan 2026

Self-sabotage may reflect the brain’s need for control and safety

Self-harming and self-sabotaging behaviors, from skin picking to ghosting people, all stem from evolutionary survival mechanisms, according to a compelling new psychological analysis.

4 Jan 2026

Weaker and fragmented circadian rhythms linked to higher dementia risk

Circadian rhythms that are weaker and more fragmented are linked to an increased risk of dementia, according to a new study published on December 29, 2025, in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

4 Jan 2026

Study uncovers a possible biomarker linked to MS disease progression

A new University of Toronto-led study has discovered a possible biomarker linked to multiple sclerosis (MS) disease progression that could help identify patients most likely to benefit from new drugs.

2 Jan 2026

New therapeutic approach converts immune cells inside tumors into anticancer cell therapies

Within tumors in the human body, there are immune cells (macrophages) capable of fighting cancer, but they have been unable to perform their roles properly due to suppression by the tumor.

2 Jan 2026

Small shifts in blood sodium may influence human brain excitability

This exploratory study in healthy young adults found that plasma sodium levels within the normal clinical range are significantly associated with resting motor threshold, an indirect measure of corticospinal excitability. Lower sodium concentrations were linked to lower thresholds, suggesting subtle physiological variation in electrolytes may relate to interindividual differences in brain excitability.

1 Jan 2026

Targeting CSE enzyme may offer new pathways for Alzheimer’s treatment

Scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine say results of a new National Institutes of Health-funded study are advancing efforts to exploit a new target for Alzheimer's disease: a protein that manufactures an important gas in the brain.

30 Dec 2025

Infant screen time linked to slower cognitive processing and teen anxiety

Children exposed to high levels of screen time before age two showed changes in brain development that were linked to slower decision-making and increased anxiety by their teenage years, according to new research by Asst Prof Tan Ai Peng and her team from A*STAR Institute for Human Development and Potential (A*STAR IHDP) and National University of Singapore (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, using data from the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) cohort.

30 Dec 2025

Biomimetic brain modeling mirrors animal learning and neural dynamics

A new computational model of the brain based closely on its biology and physiology not only learned a simple visual category learning task exactly as well as lab animals, but even enabled the discovery of counterintuitive activity by a group of neurons that researchers working with animals to perform the same task had not noticed in their data before, said a team of scientists at Dartmouth College, MIT, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

30 Dec 2025

Periodontal bacterial load associated with disease severity in multiple sclerosis

Increasing evidence suggests that the severe gum disease, periodontitis, may contribute to central nervous system disorders through chronic inflammation.

30 Dec 2025