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.

Sniffer dogs detect long COVID after 1.5 years

Researchers used sniffer dogs to test the presence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in axillary sweat samples of long COVID-19 patients.

17 Jan 2022

Blocking an enzyme activity inside fat cells can reduce obesity in mice

Blocking the activity of an enzyme inside fat cells can decrease obesity and related health disorders in mice, according to new research led by the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute.

17 Jan 2022

The brain selectively responds to unfamiliar voices during sleep

A good night's sleep is not as simple as it appears. While you snooze, your brain continues to monitor the environment, balancing the need to protect sleep with the need to wake up.

17 Jan 2022

Study shows SARS-CoV-2 prompts NLRP3 inflammasome activation through spike-ACE2 receptor interaction

New research assesses the NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation in response to SARS-CoV-2 and its spike protein, and the effects of this exposure in the presence of a-synuclein protein aggregate fibrils.

17 Jan 2022

Exploring the systemic infection of SARS-CoV-2 in a wild leopard in India

A new study focused on the pathomorphological and virological characterization of SARS-CoV-2 in naturally infected, wild Indian Leopard.

17 Jan 2022

Research provides a comprehensive map of exercise-induced signaling molecules present in the tissues

It is well established that exercise improves health, and recent research has shown that exercise benefits the body in different ways, depending on the time of day. But scientists still do not know why the timing of exercise produces these different effects.

17 Jan 2022

Protein biomarkers in urine could be used to diagnose concussion and monitor recovery

Concussion can be frustratingly hard to diagnose and track. The injury doesn't show up on routine brain scans, and there is no definitive diagnostic test. It's usually diagnosed based on symptoms, and, in athletes, comparison with baseline testing if it was done. But concussion symptoms are non-specific, unreliable, and easily influenced by emotions.

17 Jan 2022

Free-energy principle can explain how neural networks are optimized for efficiency

The RIKEN Center for Brain Science (CBS) in Japan, along with colleagues, has shown that the free-energy principle can explain how neural networks are optimized for efficiency.

16 Jan 2022

Pregnant women who contracted COVID-19 more likely to have poor birth outcomes

People who contracted COVID-19 while pregnant were more likely to have poor birth outcomes including preterm birth, small for gestational age, low birth weight, and stillbirth.

16 Jan 2022

Study provides valuable insight into the developmental origins of schizophrenia

Scientists from Cardiff University have discovered new links between the breakdown in brain cell development and the risk of schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders.

16 Jan 2022

Even mild SARS-CoV-2 respiratory-only infection can cause long-term neurologic damage

A new bioRxiv* preprint study led by Michelle Monje of Stanford University in California finds that a mild COVID-19 infection can produce long-term neurological damage. Persistent cognitive complications are one of many symptoms of long COVID, and the latest results suggest the severity of COVID-19 induced brain fog is similar to cancer’s “chemobrain.”

16 Jan 2022

With no end in sight to pandemic life, parents find disruption is the new normal

As my kindergartner fumbled with his shoes, I stood at our door sifting through the mental parenting checklist newly lodged in my brain: backpack. Sweatshirt. Snacks. Sunscreen. Water bottle. KN95 mask. Vaccination card.

15 Jan 2022

Multiple sclerosis may be caused by infection with the Epstein-Barr virus

Multiple sclerosis (MS), a progressive disease that affects 2.8 million people worldwide and for which there is no definitive cure, is likely caused by infection with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), according to a study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers.

13 Jan 2022

Research could advance the understanding of links between heart disease and dementia

Heart disease can directly cause brain dysfunction early on which could lead to dementia and can treble the amount of an Alzheimer's protein in the brain, say scientists.

13 Jan 2022

Virus-like particles as delivery vehicles for gene-editing

Scientists deliver gene-editing proteins through the use of engineered virus-like particles, which mediated efficient base editing both in vitro and in vivo.

13 Jan 2022

New and improved method for imaging the structure of neural connections

The glory of tissue expansion technologies is that when structures, such as proteins that build nerve cell connections, are too small for a microscope to resolve, clever chemistry can make everything bigger and easier to see.

13 Jan 2022

'Forgetting' may represent a form of learning, scientists say

We create countless memories as we live our lives but many of these we forget. Why? Counter to the general assumption that memories simply decay with time, 'forgetting' might not be a bad thing – that is according to scientists who believe it may represent a form of learning.

13 Jan 2022