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.

Immune cell changes provide new insights into long COVID

Extreme fatigue, a racing pulse, shortness of breath, brain fog, aching joints-the symptoms of long COVID can vary widely, change unpredictably, and be difficult to even recognize as signs of the condition.

2 Aug 2026

Persistent financial hardship tracks with poorer memory and processing speed by midlife

Researchers linked persistent low income and financial hardship across early and mid-adulthood to poorer processing speed and verbal memory at age 53 in a British birth cohort. Neuroimaging suggested greater vulnerability to later brain atrophy among men, people from disadvantaged childhood backgrounds, and APOE-ε4 carriers, although these subgroup findings require replication.

2 Aug 2026

Review outlines effective approaches to reduce recurrent hepatic encephalopathy

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a neurologic complication of advanced liver disease, causing impaired functioning, reduced quality of life (QOL), and increased hospitalisation and mortality.

31 Jul 2026

Researchers uncover hierarchical sensory processing system in the zebrafish brain

How does the brain make sense of what we see, hear, and feel—and transform these separate signals into a coherent perception of the world?

31 Jul 2026

Ketamine boosts neuroplasticity through microglia in female brains

Doctors use ketamine on patients as general anesthesia before surgery. They also prescribe it in low doses for pain management, and more recently, it's been used for treatment-resistant depression where other drugs have failed.

31 Jul 2026

Brain immune cells drive recovery from ketamine anesthesia in females

During ketamine anesthesia, the brain's nerve cells fall silent-as consciousness returns, they begin to reconnect.

31 Jul 2026

URI professor wins $1.5M grant to study cerebral amyloid angiopathy

A $1.5M grant has been awarded to William Van Nostrand, co-executive director of the University of Rhode Island's George & Anne Ryan Institute for Neuroscience and professor of pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences in the URI College of Pharmacy, to study cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), a disease prevalent in the elderly population and commonly found in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

31 Jul 2026

Soy lysolecithin reduces salt-induced hypertension and cognitive decline

High salt (HS) intake is a major global health concern, closely linked to hypertension and growing evidence of cognitive and emotional decline.

31 Jul 2026

Linguistic style in children predicts future mental health problems

Linguistic models that analyzed the words children used when talking about stressful events proved better at predicting future mental health problems than a panel of human experts.

31 Jul 2026

Research identifies common neuroimmune signatures in rapid-acting antidepressants

In a new study, researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have uncovered insights that may help explain how rapid-acting antidepressants, such as ketamine and psychedelics, can reduce symptoms in difficult-to-treat depression.

30 Jul 2026

Program introduces Florida students to virology and pandemic preparedness

Thirty outstanding high school students from 18 communities across Florida arrived in Tampa last week for the Global Virus Network (GVN) Global Guardians for Pandemic Preparedness Program, curious about viruses and considering careers in science.

30 Jul 2026

New ultrasound technique breaches blood brain barrier to treat gliomas

In a promising sign for the potential of focused sound waves to improve care for brain tumors, UVA Health researchers have determined that tumors called gliomas may be even more receptive to targeted drug delivery than normal brain tissue.

30 Jul 2026

Looking babies in the eyes may help them learn

Research reveals that direct eye contact enhances language learning in infants through adult-to-infant neural connectivity, highlighting its social relevance.

30 Jul 2026

Discovery of calcium channel mechanism offers clues for brain disorder treatments

DGIST (President Kunwoo Lee) announced that a research team led by Professor Byung Chang Suh of the Department of Brain Sciences has, for the first time, uncovered a novel molecular mechanism that regulates the "N-type voltage-gated calcium channel (CaV2.2)," which plays a critical role in neural signal transmission.

29 Jul 2026

ALS risk varies significantly across U.S. military service branches

Compared to Army veterans, men who are veterans of the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard have higher rates of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and men who are Marine veterans have lower rates, according to a new study published July 29, 2026, in Neurology®, an official journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

29 Jul 2026

Early-life sugar restriction may reduce dementia risk later

Consuming less sugar in utero before birth and during the first one to two years of life was associated with a lower risk of developing dementia later in life, according to a study published July 29, 2026, in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

29 Jul 2026

Photoreceptors possess internal recycling system to preserve vision

For decades, scientists believed that photoreceptors in the retina relied primarily on neighboring support cells, known as the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), to remove waste. While the RPE is still responsible for clearing away the worn-out tips of photoreceptors each day, new findings from the University of Oklahoma reveal that photoreceptors also perform much of their own internal housekeeping.

29 Jul 2026

New CapuchinAI system automates cognitive testing of wild primates

Scientists created an AI system that uses facial recognition and real-time, touchscreen testing to automate cognitive studies of capuchin monkeys in the wild.

29 Jul 2026

UH psychologist receives NIH grant to evaluate remote parenting program for premature infants

A University of Houston psychologist has received a $2.8 million grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to lead the first randomized clinical trial testing whether a remotely delivered parenting program can improve healthy infant brain development to support long-term mental health outcomes for babies born prematurely.

29 Jul 2026

Researchers find potential pathway to improve glioblastoma treatment

New research published in Neuro-Oncology gives a glimpse at promising discoveries that could help shape the future of glioblastoma treatment and patient outcomes.

29 Jul 2026