Brain News and Research

RSS

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 robotic testing method reveals overlooked proprioception deficits after stroke

A decade ago, at age 55, Don Lewis suffered a stroke in his sleep. When he woke up, he couldn't move his left arm or leg. Lewis' neighbor realized his truck hadn't moved in two days and called 911 for a welfare check. When paramedics found him, he was paralyzed on one side.

17 Nov 2025

Breakthrough in growing brain tissue models using fully animal-free materials

For the first time, scientists have grown functional, brain-like tissue without using any animal-derived materials or added biological coatings. The development opens the door to more controlled and humane neurological drug testing.

17 Nov 2025

Brain recordings reveal short-lived effects of tirzepatide on food cravings

A rare glimpse into the brain activity of a patient with obesity and loss of control eating on tirzepatide, marketed as Mounjaro and Zepbound, revealed that the medication suppresses signaling in the brain's "reward center" thought to be involved in food noise – but only temporarily.

17 Nov 2025

Daily berries and cocoa enhance mood by targeting key brain pathways

Dietary flavonoids from everyday foods show modest but promising benefits for mood, with the strongest evidence emerging from chronic, anthocyanin rich interventions. Acute effects are mixed, but longer term intake may support emotional well being through mechanisms involving monoamine activity and neuroplasticity.

17 Nov 2025

Maternal obesity raises childhood epilepsy and disability risks, new study shows

Higher maternal BMI before pregnancy is linked to increased risks of epilepsy and intellectual disability in young children, even after extensive adjustment for maternal and neonatal factors. Associations with autism spectrum disorder and ADHD disappear after full adjustment, highlighting the potential mediating role of perinatal complications.

17 Nov 2025

Dysfunctional mitochondria shown to initiate the onset of Parkinson's

For decades, scientists have known that mitochondria, which produce energy inside our cells, malfunction in Parkinson's disease.

17 Nov 2025

Schizophrenia risk detectable at birth through epigenetic signatures

Genetic susceptibility to neurodevelopmental conditions such as schizophrenia, autism, and ADHD can be linked, in part, to distinct epigenetic signatures in newborn cord blood.

17 Nov 2025

FAU professor receives $746,998 to advance understanding of how the brain learns to see

Vision is one of the most fundamental senses, shaping how we perceive, navigate and interact with the world around us. Yet for more than 12 million Americans living with visual impairments, even small deficits can profoundly impact daily life, limiting independence and overall quality of life.

17 Nov 2025

Study: PTSD treatment dropout rates vary widely

About a quarter of U.S. service members and veterans who start psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder quit before they finish treatment. But not all therapies are equal in their appeal, with some effective approaches reporting the highest dropout rates, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

17 Nov 2025

Groundbreaking mouse cortex model opens new frontiers in neuroscience

Harnessing the muscle of one of the world's fastest supercomputers, researchers have built one of the largest and most detailed biophysically realistic brain simulations of an animal ever.

17 Nov 2025

Why early- and late-onset depression are fundamentally different

Genetic differences in early- and late-onset depression highlight distinct risk profiles, informing targeted strategies for improved clinical outcomes.

17 Nov 2025

Low-glutamate diet improves migraine symptoms in veterans with Gulf War Illness

Veterans with Gulf War Illness experienced significant improvement in migraine symptoms after following a diet low in glutamate, a component of flavor enhancing food additives commonly found in processed foods, according to new research presented by Georgetown University and American University scientists.

17 Nov 2025

Study highlights need for XDP specific diagnostic assays

Scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School have developed a targeted genetic test to improve diagnosis for X-linked dystonia-parkinsonism (XDP), a rare and disabling movement disorder that affects primarily men of Filipino ancestry.

17 Nov 2025

New therapy restores vision after stroke induced blindness

Each year, thousands of stroke survivors are left with hemianopia, a condition that causes loss of half of their visual field (the "vertical midline"). Hemianopia severely affects daily activities such as reading, driving, or just walking through a crowded space.

17 Nov 2025

Low-intensity noise therapy shows how tuning sound to the brain can ease tinnitus

LINTS, a non-masking low-intensity noise tuned to each patient’s tinnitus frequency, produced statistically significant but modest reductions in tinnitus burden in a phase II clinical trial. Improvements were confined to the treatment-only group, with high individual variability and strong dependence on precise acoustic fitting.

16 Nov 2025

Preclinical study shows aged garlic extract improves memory and reduces anxiety

Long-term aged garlic extract supplementation improved specific anxiety-related behaviors and enhanced memory and learning in aging mice. Proteomic profiling revealed extensive hippocampal and cortical molecular changes linked to synaptic signaling, neuroplasticity, and stress-response pathways.

16 Nov 2025

Testing nicotinamide riboside as a potential aid for long COVID recovery

Chao-Yi Wu, PhD, OT, from the Department of Neurology and Edmarie Guzmán-Vélez, PhD, of the Department of Psychiatry at Mass General Brigham, are the lead and senior authors of a paper published in eClinicalMedicine, "Effects of Nicotinamide Riboside on NAD+ Levels, Cognition, and Symptom Recovery in Long-COVID: A Randomized Controlled Trial."

14 Nov 2025