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.

Unlocking the brain’s language to fight Alzheimer’s

June is Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month. With an estimated 55 million people living with Alzheimer's Disease and other forms of dementia worldwide, advancing understanding of these complex diseases is critical to finding new treatments, and potentially, cures.

7 Jul 2025

Growing popularity of contact sports raises concern over brain injuries in Africa

Contact sports are becoming increasingly popular in Africa, raising concern about the risk of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

7 Jul 2025

Side of onset influences non-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson's disease often begins asymmetrically, affecting either the right or left side of the body first. Researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) have demonstrated that this initial side of onset influences the progression of non-motor symptoms.

7 Jul 2025

UCLA Health researchers discover four pathways leading to Alzheimer’s disease

UCLA Health researchers have identified four distinct pathways that lead to Alzheimer's disease by analyzing electronic health records, offering new insights into how the condition develops over time rather than from isolated risk factors.

7 Jul 2025

Circadian misalignment in the blind may impact daily brain functions

This study investigates how blindness affects sleep, dreams, and spatial awareness, revealing links between circadian rhythms and cognitive performance.

7 Jul 2025

Mitochondria depletion in stem cells offers insights into cellular energy and evolution

By using a genetic technique developed at UT Southwestern Medical Center that forces cells to rid themselves of mitochondria, researchers are gaining new insights into the function of these critical organelles.

7 Jul 2025

Bayesian neural networks advance understanding of gut microbe metabolism

Gut bacteria are known to be a key factor in many health-related concerns. However, the number and variety of them is vast, as are the ways in which they interact with the body's chemistry and each other.

7 Jul 2025

Real time imaging reveals how visual experience rewires the brain

Scientists have long known that the brain's visual system isn't fully hardwired from the start-it becomes refined by what babies see-but the authors of a new MIT study still weren't prepared for the degree of rewiring they observed when they took a first-ever look at the process in mice as it happened in real-time.

4 Jul 2025

Hearing aids and cochlear implants improve social lives of adults with hearing loss

Hearing loss doesn't just affect how people hear the world - it can also change how they connect with it.

4 Jul 2025

First large-scale stem cell bank created to investigate Alzheimer’s genetic risk factors

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common, debilitating neurodegenerative disease affecting about 10 percent of people over the age of 65 and one third of people aged 85 and above. Besides environmental factors, the genes have a strong influence on whether or not a person develops AD during their lifetime.

4 Jul 2025

Restoring neuron balance in the amygdala reverses anxiety in mice

The Synaptic Physiology laboratory, led by Juan Lerma at the Institute for Neurosciences (IN), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Miguel Hernández University (UMH) of Elche, has discovered that a specific group of neurons in the amygdala, a brain region involved in emotion regulation, plays a key role in the emergence of conditions such as anxiety, depression, and altered social behavior.

4 Jul 2025

Early life exposure to PFHxA may impact male brain development

"Forever chemicals" or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been widely used in consumer and industrial products for the better part of a century, but do not break down in the natural environment.

4 Jul 2025

Football headers trigger motor control changes in women

A study on women's football heading reveals subtle changes in fine motor function, raising concerns about long-term neurological effects and concussion risks.

4 Jul 2025

A systematic review of music therapy in stroke rehabilitation

Announcing a new article publication for BIO Integration journal. This article provides a systematic review of music therapy research progress and clinical applications in stroke rehabilitation.

4 Jul 2025

New neurons form in the hippocampus even in late adulthood

A study in the journal Science presents compelling new evidence that neurons in the brain's memory centre, the hippocampus, continue to form well into late adulthood.

4 Jul 2025

Developmental visual experience may shape brain architecture

Incoming information from the retina is channeled into two pathways in the brain's visual system: one that's responsible for processing color and fine spatial detail, and another that's involved in spatial localization and detecting high temporal frequencies.

3 Jul 2025

Evolutionary mutation weakens human immune response to solid tumors

New research from UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center has uncovered an evolutionary change that may explain why certain immune cells in humans are less effective at fighting solid tumors compared to non-human primates.

3 Jul 2025

EU researchers call for wider use of alternatives to animal testing

Researchers examine how the use of animal testing to identify endocrine-disrupting substances in the EU can be reduced. Although it is, in principle, possible to identify such substances without using animals, non-animal methods are still rarely applied.

3 Jul 2025

Alzheimer’s protein found to drive lung cancer spread to the brain

Researchers at McMaster University, Cleveland Clinic and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center have uncovered how a protein long associated with Alzheimer's disease helps lung cancer spread to the brain – a discovery that offers hope that existing Alzheimer's drugs could be repurposed in preventing cancer's spread.

3 Jul 2025

New AI tool helps clinicians identify brain activity patterns linked to nine types of dementia

Mayo Clinic researchers have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool that helps clinicians identify brain activity patterns linked to nine types of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, using a single, widely available scan - a transformative advance in early, accurate diagnosis.

3 Jul 2025