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New 3D lipid atlas maps the chemistry of mouse brains

The brain is often described in terms of cells and wiring. However, much of it is made of lipids that form the membranes of neurons, wrap nerve fibers with myelin, and help brain cells send and receive signals.

23 Sep 2026

Discovery of receptor-free signaling reveals better targets for treating autoimmune diseases

Our understanding of how cells interact with each other has been driven for decades by the central concept of receptor-mediated signal transduction.

23 Sep 2026

Brain organoids reveal new clues for childhood epilepsy treatments

Tiny, year-old human brain organoids that mimic the brain of a newborn are providing new clues to potential treatments for a leading genetic cause of childhood epilepsy that typically manifests as the brain matures shortly after birth.

23 Sep 2026

WSU study reveals acute effects of cannabis on physiological stress-related outcomes

Cannabis is often used as a stress reliever, but a new study suggests that some of the body's stress response systems don't get the message.

23 Sep 2026

Voluntary exercise reduces stress-linked bladder pain and urinary frequency

Chronic stress may contribute to the pain and urinary symptoms experienced by people with interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) by triggering changes in the bladder and nervous system, according to a preclinical study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

23 Sep 2026

Hormonal shifts alter brain patterns linked to female mood

During the menstrual cycle, when progesterone levels are higher, patterns of brain activity emerge that make it more difficult to distinguish between less and more emotionally demanding situations.

23 Sep 2026

Genetic system converts scar-forming cells into neurons to restore movement after spinal cord injury

What if cells that form scars after a spinal cord injury could become part of the repair process? Researchers have developed a genetic system that converts certain scar-forming cells into neurons, improving movement in mice and rats with spinal cord injuries.

23 Sep 2026

New study highlights difficulty of detecting gastric ulcer pain in horses

A new study led by Australian veterinarians has exposed the challenge of identifying pain in horses with gastric ulcers and highlights an urgent need to better detect when horses are suffering.

23 Sep 2026

Novai publishes study supporting use of DARC imaging technology to identify patients at risk of central vision loss from macular atrophy

Novai. a medtech company combatting blindness and disability by pioneering early detection and intervention for eye and brain diseases, today announced the publication of a peer-reviewed study in Expert Review of Ophthalmology, which successfully demonstrates its ‘Detection of Apoptosing Retinal Cells’ (DARC) imaging technology as a promising biomarker for identifying patients at high risk of central vision loss caused by macular atrophy (MA).

23 Sep 2026

New AI tool predicts hydrogen positions to speed up drug discovery

New York University researchers have trained an AI model to learn chemical patterns associated with stability in drug-like molecules and accurately predict where their hydrogen atoms should be positioned.

23 Sep 2026

Brain activity study reveals five distinct profiles for depression

As two people with considerably different symptoms may receive the same depression diagnosis, researchers wanted to determine whether this individuality also manifests in brain activity.

23 Sep 2026

New slow-release drug delivery system provides weeks of pain-numbing anesthetic effects

Most local anesthetics used in medicine only last eight to 12 hours or a day tops. Now Boston Children's Hospital researchers have formulated a more effective slow-release injectable drug delivery system that achieved pain-numbing anesthetic effects lasting two to three weeks in rats compared to a commercial formulation lasting about four to eight hours.

23 Sep 2026

New ultrasound standards promise faster and more accurate arthritis diagnosis

People with early inflammatory arthritis could benefit from faster and more accurate diagnosis following a major international study that has established, for the first time, age-specific ultrasound standards to distinguish normal joint changes from the earliest signs of disease.

23 Sep 2026

Cancer-related DNA changes may appear in blood years before diagnosis

Researchers found that genome-wide plasma cfDNA methylation profiles collected before diagnosis contained early molecular signatures associated with future prostate and breast cancer, with prostate silencer methylation providing the stronger risk stratification. Breast enhancer signals were weaker and varied by subtype and disease stage, indicating that cfDNA methylation may have greater value for risk assessment and surveillance than as a standalone diagnostic test.

23 Sep 2026

Could a parent’s hospital job shape a child’s nasal microbiome?

A pilot study of 37 families found that children with healthcare-worker parents had lower nasal microbial diversity, with the largest differences among children whose two parents worked in healthcare. Porphyromonas was significantly less abundant, while Neisseria showed a similar non-significant pattern, but the cross-sectional study cannot establish causality or determine whether these microbiota differences affect health.

23 Sep 2026

What links smoking, body fat, mental health, genes, and heart risk? Inflammation may be part of the answer

In a large UK Biobank study, higher levels of the chronic inflammation marker GlycA were associated with smaller heart chambers, thicker heart walls, impaired diastolic function, reduced stroke volume, and a 43% higher risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in the highest versus lowest GlycA group. Genetic susceptibility also modified the associations between environmental exposures, inflammation, and cardiovascular risk, while inflammatory proteins in the IL-1, TNF, and IL-6 pathways statistically mediated several of these associations.

23 Sep 2026

Why scientists still cannot say how much plastic infants are actually consuming

A systematic review of 22 primary studies and four reviews found plastic-derived contaminants across infant foods and feeding equipment, but major differences in sampling, analytical methods, and quality control made exposure estimates difficult to compare. The authors found substantial evidence gaps for nanoplastics and oligomers and concluded that better-standardized exposure assessment is needed before infant health risks can be reliably evaluated.

22 Sep 2026

A hidden measles signal may reveal how large the next outbreak could be

Researchers used historical measles surveillance and demographic data from pre-vaccination England and Wales to reconstruct how the susceptible population changed between epidemics. Their model linked susceptibility at the start of an epidemic year with the magnitude of the following outbreak, pointing to a potential route for one-year-ahead forecasting that requires further development for modern surveillance settings.

22 Sep 2026

Higher BMI linked to brain differences in preschool children

Children as young as 4 with a higher body mass index (BMI) showed differences in several brain regions involved in reward, taste and hunger, according to a new study from Florida International University.

22 Sep 2026