Thalamus News and Research

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The Thalamus is an area of the brain that helps process information from the senses and transmit it to other parts of the brain.

Why your baby’s first steps may be written in their DNA

Researchers identified 11 genetic loci linked to the age at which infants start walking, revealing that this milestone is influenced by thousands of common genetic variants. These genetic factors also correlate with brain development, cognitive traits, and neurodevelopmental conditions like ADHD.

8 May 2025

Study provides novel insights on how the brain wiring changes during learning

A landmark study published by scientists at the University of California San Diego is redefining science's understanding of the way learning takes place.

7 May 2025

High fructose diets impair brain function and appetite control, study shows

Review highlights how excessive fructose intake disrupts brain energy balance, appetite regulation, and cognitive function. Processed sources, such as sugary drinks, may overwhelm metabolic pathways and induce neuroinflammation, particularly during adolescence.

30 Apr 2025

Eating ultra-processed foods may rewire your brain’s hunger and reward circuits

High intake of ultra-processed foods is linked to adverse metabolic health and microstructural brain changes in regions that control appetite and reward. These effects occur both through obesity-related pathways and independently via inflammation and dyslipidemia.

9 Apr 2025

Study reveals how the brain processes active and passive touch differently

Though the sense of touch underlies how we and most other animals interact with the world around us, much remains unknown about how this sense is processed in the brain.

9 Apr 2025

Breakthrough nanoparticle delivery method targets brain inflammation for multiple conditions

Oregon State University researchers have discovered a way to get anti-inflammatory medicine across the blood-brain barrier, opening the door to potential new therapies for a range of conditions, including Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and cancer cachexia.

9 Apr 2025

The thalamus could be a strategic target for treating cognitive dysfunction

Years ago, as a neurology resident, Chinfei Chen, MD, PhD, cared for a 20-year-old woman who had experienced a very small stroke, affecting only the thalamus.

7 Apr 2025

Mapping the brain network behind generalized epilepsy

Frederic L.W.V.J. Schaper, MD, PhD, director of Epilepsy Network Mapping at the Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics at Brigham and Women's Hospital and an instructor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, is the senior author of a paper published in Nature Communications, "A generalized epilepsy network derived from brain abnormalities and deep brain stimulation."

25 Mar 2025

New method enhances precision in monitoring brain activity during deep brain stimulation

Mayo Clinic researchers have found a new way to more precisely detect and monitor brain cell activity during deep brain stimulation, a common treatment for movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease and tremor.

14 Mar 2025

Researchers discover brain's ability to reorganize sensory maps after loss of touch

A team of researchers from the Institute for Neurosciences (IN), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Miguel Hernández University (UMH) in Elche, has discovered that the developing brain can reorganize its sensory maps when the sense of touch is affected.

6 Mar 2025

Chronic cocaine use increases impulsivity

Findings indicate chronic cocaine use alters brain circuits, increasing impulsivity in low-impulsive rats, contradicting previous assumptions about addiction.

5 Mar 2025

Study provides new insights into how the brain distinguishes between pain and itch

A research team led by KAANG Bong-Kiun, director of the Center for Cognition and Sociality within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), and KO Hyoung-Gon, professor at Kyung Hee University College of Dentistry, have uncovered the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of pain and itch in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC).

4 Mar 2025

Sleep patterns could indicate hidden consciousness in brain injury patients

Several studies in the past decade have revealed that up to a quarter of unresponsive patients with recent brain injuries may possess a degree of consciousness that's normally hidden from their families and physicians.

3 Mar 2025

New research shows why limits on working memory exist

Working memory is what allows humans to juggle different pieces of information in short-term scenarios, like making a mental grocery list and then going shopping or remembering and then dialing a phone number.

24 Feb 2025

New research advances understanding of Parkinson's disease stages

From a study that analyzed brain images of more than 2,500 people with Parkinson's disease in 20 different countries, scientists were able to identify patterns of neurodegeneration and create metrics for each of the five clinical stages of the disease.

12 Feb 2025

Neuroscientists discover how the brain corrects visual distortions during movement

Why do our mental images stay sharp even when we are moving fast? A team of neuroscientists led by Professor Maximilian Jösch at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) has identified a mechanism that corrects visual distortions caused by movement in animals.

10 Feb 2025