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 review shows why antidepressants often fail in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s depression

A Molecular Psychiatry review shows that depression in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease may reflect disease-specific molecular, neurotransmitter, inflammatory, and circuit-level disruptions rather than standard depression biology alone. It argues that broad antidepressants often show limited efficacy in these patients and that future trials should use biomarkers, neuroimaging, and symptom profiling to guide targeted treatments.

7 Jul 2026

Infants begin moving to music within the first year of life

Researchers have discovered that music begins to shape how we move within the first year of life.

7 Jul 2026

Researchers identify brain circuits responsible for triggering OCD symptoms

Most of the time, the origin of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is unknown, but in some rare cases, it starts after a brain injury, such as a stroke or a tumor.

7 Jul 2026

USC researcher wins NIH grant to study how the cochlea processes complex sounds

USC researcher Karolina Charaziak, PhD, has been awarded a $3.3 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Project (R01) grant to study how the cochlea, the part of the inner ear responsible for hearing, processes complex sounds encountered in everyday life.

7 Jul 2026

New artificial intelligence model reveals invisible multiple sclerosis lesions

One of the uncomfortable truths about multiple sclerosis is that the part of the brain likely to reveal the most about the disease and how a patient will be impacted has been mostly invisible to clinicians.

7 Jul 2026

Microbiome science merges with oncology for better cancer treatments

Cancer remains notoriously difficult to treat, partly because tumors co‑opt their surrounding environment, including the resident microbiota, to evade immune surveillance and resist conventional therapies.

7 Jul 2026

Study offers insight into how long-term inflammation may contribute to cognitive decline

The King's College London study, published in Nature Communications, offers insight into how long-term inflammation may contribute to cognitive decline in disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, aging, depression, and the lingering neurological effects of viral infections.

7 Jul 2026

Beckman Coulter Diagnostics expands Alzheimer’s portfolio with CE-marked p-Tau217 blood test and new high-specificity research assay

Beckman Coulter Diagnostics, a global leader in clinical diagnostics and a Danaher company, today announced it received CE Mark under IVDR for its Access p-Tau217 assay, a blood test designed to support clinical evaluation of amyloid pathology in patients with signs and symptoms of cognitive decline.

7 Jul 2026

ADHD and autism traits share a common developmental spectrum

Research identifies a neurodevelopmental spectrum for ADHD and autism, emphasizing genetic links and their impact on cognitive and educational outcomes.

7 Jul 2026

Single cocaine exposure causes lasting brain cell changes in mice

Researchers studying the impact of cocaine in mice have found that just one exposure to the drug can create changes in brain cells that persist for at least two weeks.

6 Jul 2026

New viral insights lay foundation for treating infection with JC polyomaviruses

In people with severely compromised immune systems, the JC polyomavirus can trigger a currently untreatable, usually fatal brain disease.

6 Jul 2026

Study identifies promising drug target to prevent neurodegenerative conditions

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common form of neurodegenerative disease and afflicts more than ten million people worldwide. While current therapies address disease symptoms, they do not prevent the underlying neurodegeneration that drives the disease.

6 Jul 2026

Study compares different light therapies for treating Alzheimer's disease

The researchers treated 5‑month‑old 5xFAD mice – a model with aggressive amyloid deposition – with 810‑nm light (25 mW/cm² at the scalp, ~6.25 mW/cm² brain dose for CW, and half that for 40‑Hz due to 50% duty cycle) for 10 minutes daily over 37 days.

6 Jul 2026

Study explores the relationship between heart issues and cognitive function

New in JNeurosci, Xia Zhang, from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, led a study exploring the relationship between heart issues and cognitive function.

6 Jul 2026

Psychiatry may be moving closer to precision medicine

For decades, treating depression has largely involved a difficult form of medical guesswork: prescribing one antidepressant after another in hopes that one will eventually help.

6 Jul 2026

UC San Diego establishes hub to accelerate the delivery of data-driven, equitable health care

UC San Diego today announced the establishment of the Institute for Applied Health Intelligence, a multidisciplinary hub designed to leverage the latest digital technology to improve health care delivery and patient outcomes.

6 Jul 2026

Study provides new insights into biological processes linked to Huntington’s disease

A study conducted by the Sant Pau Research Institute (IR Sant Pau) and Hospital de Sant Pau has identified for the first time in living individuals a brain pattern related to the tau protein that changes according to the stage of Huntington's disease.

6 Jul 2026

Study shows how brain activity reflects dramatic social relationships

When watching a drama, we quickly learn who is friends with whom–and, just as importantly, who stands against whom.

6 Jul 2026

BCG vaccine may remodel the human brain's immune environment

New research led by Mass General Brigham investigators suggests that the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine - which is delivered through the skin to prevent tuberculosis - may remodel the human brain's immune environment, offering a potential biological explanation for previously observed associations between BCG vaccination and lower Alzheimer's disease risk.

6 Jul 2026

Engineered scaffold restores skull growth in craniosynostosis mouse models

An engineered triphasic biomaterial scaffold successfully recreated the cranial suture stem cell niche lost in craniosynostosis, a condition that causes premature fusion of skull bones.

5 Jul 2026