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.

Scientists Discover Dual Challenges in DNA Replication Process

Half a century ago, scientists Jim Watson and Alexey Olovnikov independently realized that there was a problem with how our DNA gets copied.

29 Feb 2024

Neuroscientists Uncover Significance of Glial Cells in Brain Communication

Neuroscientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center have found that an often-overlooked type of brain cell called glia has more of a role in brain function than previously thought.

29 Feb 2024

New "Tissue-in-a-CUBE" Offers Alternative to Animal Testing in Drug Development

A research team at the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (BDR) in Japan has succeeded in establishing a model of the blood-brain barrier using modularized tissue derived from human cells.

29 Feb 2024

Genetic Mechanisms of Alzheimer's Revealed in Colombian Kindred

UC Santa Barbara researchers and collaborators in Colombia, Brazil and Germany are progressing toward an understanding of mechanisms that underlie Alzheimer's disease, in particular an early-onset, genetic form that has afflicted generations of an extended family in Colombia.

28 Feb 2024

Integrating Environmental Factors in Genetic Research: A New Perspective

It has long been known that there is a complex interplay between genetic factors and environmental influences in shaping behavior.

28 Feb 2024

Scientists Develop First Full Model of Early Human Central Nervous System with Stem Cells

The first stem cell culture method that produces a full model of the early stages of the human central nervous system has been developed by a team of engineers and biologists at the University of Michigan, the Weizmann Institute of Science, and the University of Pennsylvania.

27 Feb 2024

How Seba's Short-Tailed Bats Navigate Their Acoustic World

The world of bats is full of sounds. They utilize vocalizations for both navigation and communication with their conspecifics. For the latter, they produce ultrasonic noises that reverberate and allow them to form a mental "image" of their environment

26 Feb 2024

Breaking Down the Complex Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration

By using a novel neuronal cell culture model, researchers at the University of Zurich have illuminated the complex mechanisms behind neurodegeneration.

23 Feb 2024

Mutation in E. coli's Cellulose Machinery Unveiled as Cause of Severe Infections

Queensland researchers have discovered that a mutation allows some E. coli bacteria to cause severe disease in people while other bacteria are harmless, a finding that could help to combat antibiotic resistance.

22 Feb 2024

Study Reveals Gut Microbiome's Influence on Premature Aging in Chronic HIV Patients

The Wistar Institute's associate professor Mohamed Abdel-Mohsen, Ph.D., has demonstrated, with his lab and collaborators, a connection between viral damage to the gut and premature biological aging.

22 Feb 2024

Uncovering How to Protect Nerves in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Researchers at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have led a team that has discovered a novel therapeutic strategy for treating neurodegenerative illnesses, raising the prospect of better care for conditions like multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Vanishing White Matter disease.

21 Feb 2024

A New AI Model that can Distinguish Between Male and Female Brain Activity

Researchers at Stanford Medicine have developed a new artificial intelligence model that can distinguish between male and female brain activity scans with over 90% accuracy.

20 Feb 2024

The Role of Associative Memory in Spatial Navigation

Human lives revolve around spatial navigation and spatial memory. Without these skills, it would be extremely difficult to remember the past and to navigate the environment. But understanding the neural underpinnings of spatial memory is still quite incomplete.

19 Feb 2024

Rare Lipid Identified as Key Driver of Ferroptosis

Columbia researchers have found that a rare type of lipid is a key driver of ferroptosis, a form of cell death discovered by Columbia professor Brent Stockwell.

16 Feb 2024

New Method Disentangles Internal Brain Activity From Visual Input

Maryam Shanechi, Dean’s Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Founding Director of the USC Center for Neurotechnology, along with her team, has devised a novel machine learning approach.

15 Feb 2024

Study Uncovers How Oxytocin Boosts Memory in Animals

Researchers have discovered particular oxytocin neurons in the mouse brain that influence memory for object recognition.

14 Feb 2024

Study Identifies Link Between Gut Microbiome Composition and Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by decreased social communication and repetitive behaviors, has long intrigued scientists seeking to unravel its underlying mechanisms.

14 Feb 2024

The Potential of Monoclonal Antibodies for Neonatal Herpes

The results of a recent study led by the Geisel School of Medicine and Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth, and published in Cell Reports Medicine, provide new information about the role that antibodies play in preventing herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections.

13 Feb 2024

APOE4's Influence on Lipid Droplets in Brain Cells

The largest genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's disease is apolipoprotein E (APOE), and researchers Sarah Cohen, PhD, and Ian Windham, a former PhD student from the Cohen group, have made a novel discovery about this protein.

12 Feb 2024

Relation Between Faulty DNA Disposal System and Inflammation

The path from mitochondrial stress to leaking endosomes to immune system initiation in mouse cells is outlined by Salk scientists, providing new therapeutic targets to potentially reduce inflammation in aging and disease.

12 Feb 2024