Thalamus News and Research

RSS

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

Transplanted human cortical organoids filled most of a mouse cortex. Then they began to connect

Researchers created xenocortical mice by transplanting human cortical organoids into animals genetically depleted of much of their native cortex, allowing the human tissue to occupy most of the available cortical space and form anatomical connections throughout the host nervous system. The grafts developed diverse cortical cell types, including L5-ET and VEN-like neurons, generated organized neural activity, and produced measurable cellular and behavioral responses to hypoxic injury.

18 Sep 2026

Existing anti-seizure drug slows the growth of diffuse midline gliomas

An existing anti-seizure drug slows the growth of a devastating group of childhood cancers, new Stanford Medicine-led research has shown.

17 Sep 2026

Crucial brain stem cells rely on metabolic pathways to make decisions

As the human brain takes shape before birth, a remarkable type of stem cell helps give it many of the features that make it distinctly human.

4 Sep 2026

Study reveals why diffuse midline glioma develops in brain midline regions

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have shown that specific brain cells respond differently to the H3.3 K27M, a mutation in the histone H3.3 protein that drives many cases of diffuse midline glioma (DMG), depending on the cell's location in the developing brain.

27 Aug 2026

Intracranial local field potentials offer clues to prolonged disorders of consciousness

Prolonged disorders of consciousness (pDOC) represent states in which patients fail to show reliable evidence of awareness after severe brain injury.

16 Aug 2026

Neuroscientists study the brain circuits mediating experience-dependent decision-making in mice

A brain must constantly cope with the highly variable, fast-paced nature of the world when trying to judge what's going on around it.

14 Aug 2026

New imaging model can detect early brain changes in Huntington's disease

Researchers have shown that an imaging model can detect microstructural abnormalities in the brain associated with Huntington's disease, potentially offering a new method for monitoring disease progression and evaluating new treatments.

11 Aug 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

New method reveals three-dimensional nanoplastic distribution in neonatal mouse brains

Nanoplastics-plastic particles smaller than one micrometer-are generated through the degradation and abrasion of plastic products and are increasingly detected in food, drinking water, air, and biological tissues.

29 Jul 2026

Three key brain regions interact during sleep to support memory formation

Researchers at Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins Medicine have discovered that memory consolidation during sleep depends on coordinated activity among three brain regions and disruptions to this activity can impair memory performance.

27 Jul 2026

Dementia addiction and psychiatric disorders show distinct patterns of accelerated brain aging

People with dementia, mild cognitive impairment, alcohol addiction, or psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia show increased brain aging, each in specific patterns within the brain, according to a study published July 21st in the open access journal PLOS Medicine by Shile Qi from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China, and colleagues.

21 Jul 2026

Scientists trace severe irritability to the brain’s response to frustration

This review identifies maladaptive responses to frustrative non-reward as a potential mechanism underlying clinically significant irritability, particularly in youth. Animal studies reveal conserved behavioral responses, while human research links frustration to altered neural activity and highlights opportunities for cross-species treatment research.

10 Jul 2026

Electroacupuncture relieves neuropathic pain and anxiety by activating specific brain circuit

Neuropathic pain affects nearly 10% of the global population, and up to 60% of those individuals also struggle with anxiety or other mood disorders.

24 Jun 2026

A night without sleep alters neural connections in human brains

A night without sleep produced increased markers of connections between brain cells, showing that sleep in humans may be important for restoring cellular balance in the brain, according to a study published June 23rd in the open access journal PLOS Biology by David Elmenhorst from the Forschungszentrum Jülich Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and colleagues.

23 Jun 2026

Scientists discover rotating brain waves that coordinate sensory information

Spiraling waves of neural activity appear and travel in the brain. Scientists hope to learn if these rotating waves on-the-move play a global role in sensing and interpreting internal and external stimuli, in laying down memory, and in managing motor performance.

18 Jun 2026

Cerebellar structural changes influence social behavior in autism

Researchers at Kanazawa University have identified a previously unrecognized mechanism by which structural changes in the cerebellum influence social behavior.

12 Jun 2026

Large study uncovers brain network differences in bipolar disorder

New research from the Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (Stevens INI) at the Keck School of Medicine of USC has discovered subtle but widespread differences in the brain's communication networks in people with bipolar disorder, offering new insight into how illness severity and treatment may relate to brain wiring.

9 Jun 2026

Brain artery widening may drive lacunar stroke more than artery narrowing

Abnormal brain artery widening is associated with lacunar stroke, indicating a shift in understanding the mechanisms behind small vessel disease in the brain.

11 May 2026

What happens in the brain on psychedelics? Scientists identify a common circuit pattern

Researchers combined 11 international resting-state fMRI datasets to map how psychedelic drugs reshape brain connectivity across cortical and subcortical circuits. The mega-analysis found a shared signature of stronger coupling between transmodal association networks and unimodal or sensorimotor systems, alongside selective and variable reductions in within-network connectivity.

7 Apr 2026

Calcium channel mutations disrupt early brain development and cause epilepsy

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have uncovered a previously unrecognized mechanism by which inherited calcium channel mutations disrupt early brain development and predispose children to epilepsy and related cognitive challenges.

3 Apr 2026