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.

Study links type 2 diabetes to weakened reward signals in the brain

The high comorbidity of type 2 diabetes (T2D) with psychiatric or neurodegenerative disorders points to a need for understanding what links these diseases.

24 Mar 2025

Ancient appetite-control molecule found in starfish and humans

A team of biologists at Queen Mary University of London has discovered that a neurohormone controlling appetite in humans has an ancient evolutionary origin, dating back over half a billion years.

24 Mar 2025

Smell-based test taken at home could predict cognitive impairment in older adults

When it comes to early detection of cognitive impairment, a new study suggests that the nose knows. Researchers from Mass General Brigham developed olfactory tests-in which participants sniff odor labels that have been placed on a card-to assess people's ability to discriminate, identify and remember odors.

24 Mar 2025

New insights into how sleep reorganizes neuronal activity for better memory

Why is sleep so important for learning and memory? Neuroscientists from the Csicsvari group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) provided new insight into this essential function by monitoring neuronal activity in rat brains for up to 20 hours of sleep following spatial learning.

24 Mar 2025

What do Blue Zone diets have in common? Polyphenols that may slow aging

Scientists reviewed how polyphenol-rich diets in Blue Zones may help people live longer, healthier lives by targeting biological hallmarks of aging. They call for more research to measure polyphenol intake and test its effects on human longevity.

24 Mar 2025

Astigmatism on the rise in kids after COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased astigmatism in children, with prolonged screen time and less outdoor activity contributing to eye health issues.

24 Mar 2025

Advanced imaging technique reveals how nuclear pores regulate molecular movement

Just as cities must carefully manage the flow of cars in and out of downtown, cells regulate the movement of molecules into and out of the nucleus.

22 Mar 2025

Four breakthrough studies could revolutionize tuberculosis treatment

As of early 2025, tuberculosis cases are increasing in the U.S. This disease, often shortened to TB, causes significant lung damage and, if not treated, is almost always lethal.

22 Mar 2025

Case study: Bartonella, Babesia pathogens can be a cofactor in complex neurological illnesses

In a new case study, researchers from North Carolina State University found Bartonella henselae, Babesia odocoilei and Babesia divergens-like MO-1 DNA in brain tissue samples from a young child with seizures and suspected Rasmussen's encephalitis.

22 Mar 2025

Research reveals how dendrites connect memories in the brain

If you've ever noticed how memories from the same day seem connected while events from weeks apart feel separate, a new study reveals the reason: Our brains physically link memories that occur close in time not in the cell bodies of neurons, but rather in their spiny extensions called dendrites.

22 Mar 2025

Groundbreaking study unveils key mechanism for neuronal identity regulation

A team of researchers from the Institute for Neurosciences, a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Miguel Hernández University (UMH) of Elche, in collaboration with researchers from Columbia University (New York, USA), has identified a mechanism that regulates the production of two different proteins from the same gene.

22 Mar 2025

Targeting brain’s waste removal system may help combat cognitive decline

As aging bodies decline, the brain loses the ability to cleanse itself of waste, a scenario that scientists think could be contributing to neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, among others.

21 Mar 2025

New drug combination shows promise in treating melanoma brain metastasis

A federally funded research team led by Sheri Holmen, PhD, investigator at Huntsman Cancer Institute and professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Utah (the U), is testing a new combination drug therapy that could both treat and prevent melanoma metastasis, or spreading from its original site, to the brain.

21 Mar 2025

Researchers uncover protective role of dopamine in regulating tau function

The research group led by Prof. Wang Chu from the College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering at Peking University published a research article entitled "Quantitative Chemoproteomics Reveals Dopamine's Protective Modification of Tau" in Nature Chemical Biology (DOI:10.1038/s41589-025-01849-9).

21 Mar 2025

Research finds evidence that infants can encode memories in early life

Though we learn so much during our first years of life, we can't, as adults, remember specific events from that time. Researchers have long believed we don't hold onto these experiences because the part of the brain responsible for saving memories - the hippocampus - is still developing well into adolescence and just can't encode memories in our earliest years.

21 Mar 2025