Brain News and Research

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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.

New stroke guideline mandates personalized and early rehabilitation

A stroke can change life in an instant, affecting everything from walking and speaking to memory, mood and the ability to perform everyday tasks.

27 Aug 2026

Multi-ancestry genetic score improves risk prediction for Alzheimer's disease

Late-onset Alzheimer disease (AD) is a progressive disorder characterized by cognitive decline and memory impairment, affecting an estimated 6.9 million people in the U.S.

27 Aug 2026

New funding backs pioneering research to make brain cancer treatment more effective

Adelaide researchers are challenging decades-old assumptions about brain cancer treatment in a bid to make radiation therapy more effective against tumors, while reducing damage to healthy tissue.

27 Aug 2026

Community-focused mental health care cuts hospital admissions

A new approach to care for people experiencing a mental health crisis, emphasising continuity and community, can reduce hospital admissions and improve satisfaction with care, finds a study led by a University College London (UCL) researcher.

27 Aug 2026

Brain shrinkage biomarker may predict early-onset Alzheimer’s progression

In people diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, a biomarker tool that detects shrinkage of the brain's gray matter may predict how quickly someone may progress from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to dementia, according to a new study published August 26, 2026, in Neurology, an official journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

27 Aug 2026

Internet-controlled brain implant enables remote neural stimulation and drug delivery

A researcher in Chicago remotely controls a miniaturized brain implant in Daejeon, Korea - over the internet. Korean researchers have developed a wireless device that can deliver drugs and light to precisely modulate targeted neurons from anywhere in the world.

27 Aug 2026

UofL receives new federal funding to advance metabolic health research

Chronic health conditions such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease and metabolic liver disease have sharply increased in recent decades and are among the most urgent health challenges facing our society.

27 Aug 2026

Brain atrophy on MRI could help predict Alzheimer’s progression

Mass General Brigham Neuroscience Institute researchers have found that a pattern of brain atrophy visible on MRI could help predict how quickly people with early-onset Alzheimer's disease progress from mild cognitive impairment to dementia.

27 Aug 2026

Study reveals why diffuse midline glioma develops in brain midline regions

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have shown that specific brain cells respond differently to the H3.3 K27M, a mutation in the histone H3.3 protein that drives many cases of diffuse midline glioma (DMG), depending on the cell's location in the developing brain.

27 Aug 2026

Faulty myelin-making brain cells may help drive cognitive decline with age

Researchers found that greater age-related cognitive decline was associated with more dysfunctional oligodendrocytes, reduced NRF2 expression, smaller myelinated axons, and abnormally thicker myelin in human white matter. Experiments in mice showed that deleting NRF2 specifically from oligodendrocytes reproduced key white matter abnormalities and reduced cognitive improvement over time, implicating this pathway in cognitive aging.

26 Aug 2026

A major NFL brain study puts new numbers on the burden of CTE

Researchers analyzed 1,712 former NFL players who died between 2008 and 2021, including 338 brain donors, to estimate the possible prevalence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) at death and its association with dementia. At least 24.5% of players who died from 2016 to 2021 had confirmed CTE, while stage IV CTE among brain donors was associated with a 44% higher risk of clinician-adjudicated dementia.

26 Aug 2026

Nanoparticles regenerate neurons and improve cognition in Alzheimer’s mice

The adult human brain has limited capacity to repair or regenerate neurons lost to Alzheimer's disease, the most common type of dementia.

26 Aug 2026

Breast milk fats may reflect more than the fats a mother eats

A cross-sectional study of 109 breastfeeding women in the Netherlands found that maternal intakes of omega-3 and omega-6 PUFAs and trans fats were associated with corresponding fatty acid proportions in human milk. The researchers also identified links involving dietary fiber, diet quality and several micronutrients, although whether these relationships reflect direct biological effects or broader dietary patterns remains uncertain.

26 Aug 2026

Tea, berries and dark chocolate featured in a diet linked to lower Parkinson’s risk

A prospective UK Biobank study of 123,655 adults found that a dietary pattern richer in flavonoid-containing foods was modestly associated with a lower incidence of hospital-recorded Parkinson’s disease. The association was strongest among those with the highest flavonoid diet scores, while exploratory proteomic and transcriptomic analyses pointed to possible neuroimmune and cell-adhesion pathways but did not establish causality or mechanism.

26 Aug 2026

Specific brain regions found more vulnerable to dementia with Lewy bodies

Dementia with Lewy bodies is one of the most common forms of dementia in older adults, after Alzheimer's disease.

26 Aug 2026

Molecular switch ERBB4 linked to broad range of Alzheimer's pathologies

What if amyloid plaques are not the whole story of Alzheimer's disease? New research suggests that a broad range of Alzheimer's pathologies may be orchestrated by a molecular switch called ERBB4 when it turns on in the wrong neurons.

26 Aug 2026

Research improves understanding of biological mechanisms behind cluster headaches

Inflammation, altered gene regulation, and exposure to substances in tobacco smoke may all contribute to the development of cluster headache.

26 Aug 2026

Hormone replacement therapy may reduce dementia risk for some women

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may reduce the risk of dementia, particularly for certain groups of women - according to a study from the University of East Anglia and the University of Exeter.

26 Aug 2026

Experimental vaccine protects against Zika virus through T cells alone

Zika virus has been spreading for decades, but it first grabbed worldwide headlines in 2016. That February, with an outbreak sweeping the Americas, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the surge in Zika-linked birth defects a "public health emergency of international concern"-a designation which lasted until that November.

26 Aug 2026