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.

New UCLA study reveals mechanism underlying breathing rhythm generation

Breathing propels everything we do--so its rhythm must be carefully organized by our brain cells, right?

3 Mar 2020

Prebiotics could help improve sleep and boost stress resilience

Think dietary fiber is just for digestive health? Think again.

3 Mar 2020

Study provides new insight on neural processes behind our desire for revenge

New insight on the neural processes that drive a desire for revenge during conflict between groups has been published today in the open-access journal eLife.

3 Mar 2020

Cannabis use more prevalent among pregnant women with depression

Cannabis use is much more common among pregnant women with depression and pregnant women with depression are more than 3 times more likely to use cannabis than those without depression, according to a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

3 Mar 2020

Boosting energy levels within damaged nerve fibers may promote axonal regeneration

Each year, thousands of people in the United States experience a spinal cord injury, damaging the system of nerves that the brain and body use to communicate.

3 Mar 2020

Study reveals the mechanisms in our brains that lead to satiety after a meal

You just finished a good meal and are feeling full? Researchers from the CNRS, Inrae, University of Burgundy, Université de Paris, Inserm, and University of Luxembourg have just revealed the mechanisms in our brains that lead to this state.

3 Mar 2020

New step towards the development of non-addictive painkillers

Opioid-containing painkillers are virtually indispensable in clinical practice and are typically used in postoperative patients and patients undergoing cancer treatment.

3 Mar 2020

Reitman Foundation funds pilot study to investigate outcomes of neonates treated for opioid withdrawal

Researchers at Kessler Foundation will collaborate with Children's Specialized Hospital to study the outcomes of neonates treated for opioid withdrawal in the Hospital's Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Program.

3 Mar 2020

Yale study may help reconcile conflicting findings about low-calorie sweeteners

Several studies in recent years have reported that low-calorie sweeteners in foods and beverages disrupt the human metabolism, promoting the development of diabetes and obesity.

3 Mar 2020

Supplying nutritional amino acid restores spatial memory in mouse model of Alzheimer's

Scientists at the Laboratoire des Maladies Neurodégénératives and the Neurocentre Magendie have just shown that a metabolic pathway plays a determining role in Alzheimer's disease's memory problems.

3 Mar 2020

Increasing energy supply within injured spinal cord nerves could help them heal

When the spinal cord is injured, the damaged nerve fibers--called axons--are normally incapable of regrowth, leading to permanent loss of function.

3 Mar 2020

KAIST researchers reveal new strategy to alter neurotoxicity in Alzheimer's disease

It has become evident recently that the interactions between copper and amyloid-β neurotoxically impact the brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

3 Mar 2020

Discovery Of Gabaergic Synaptic Regulations Inside The Brain For A New Epilepsy Treatment

DGIST announced on February 12 that the joint research team of Professor Jaewon Ko and Professor Ji Won Um in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences found a new candidate target to treat epilepsy by regulating GABAergic synaptic functions

3 Mar 2020

Maine voters consider U-turn on vaccine exemptions

As Mainers head to the polls on Super Tuesday for the presidential primary, they also will decide another issue: vaccine requirements. A statewide referendum asks if voters want to overturn a new law that eliminates religious and philosophical exemptions for childhood vaccines.

3 Mar 2020

Optimizing the use of oxytocin to help people overcome social difficulties

Oxytocin is known for its role in childbirth and breastfeeding and it has also been shown to have a wider application in the development and regulation of social behavior in many species.

3 Mar 2020

Visceral fat gives signal to the brain that damages cognition

Excessive weight around our middle gives our brain's resident immune cells heavy exposure to a signal that turns them against us, setting in motion a crescendo of inflammation that damages cognition, scientists say.

3 Mar 2020

A protein critical for wound healing and neural repair following spinal cord injury identified

Plexin-B2, an axon guidance protein in the central nervous system (CNS), plays an important role in wound healing and neural repair following spinal cord injury (SCI), according to research conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published today in Nature Neuroscience. T

2 Mar 2020

Using robotics in neuroendovascular procedures

Surgeons at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University are pioneering the use of robotics in neuroendovascular procedures, which are performed via the blood vessels of the neck and brain.

2 Mar 2020

Harmless fMRI provides the earliest peek into visual cortex of newborns

Within hours of birth, a baby's gaze is drawn to faces. Now, brain scans of newborns reveal the neurobiology underlying this behavior, showing that as young as six days old a baby's brain appears hardwired for the specialized tasks of seeing faces and seeing places.

2 Mar 2020

Alzheimer's could be detected early using a blood test

Researchers from the ARTFL-LEFFTDS Longitudinal Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (ALLFTD) research consortium, have reported that a blood test could soon be an important diagnostic tool in detecting the abnormal proteins deposits in the brain that lead to the progressive and debilitating condition of Alzheimer's disease. The study titled, "Diagnostic value of plasma phosphorylated tau181 in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal lobar degeneration," was published in today's issue of the journal Nature Medicine.

2 Mar 2020