Neuroscience News - AI, Neuroscience, Psychology Research

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Psychology

·June 12, 2025·4 min read

Social Status and Genes Interact to Shape the Aging Brain

A global study of nearly one million individuals has identified hundreds of genetic regions linked to socioeconomic status, revealing a shared genetic signal across income, education, occupation, and deprivation. Researchers found that about 9% of the variation in socioeconomic status could be attributed to genetics, while the rest was driven by social and environmental factors.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Psychology

·June 12, 2025·4 min read

Stress Genes Guide Cell Cleanup

New research has uncovered how the body clears dying cells during times of stress, shedding light on the unexpected role of classic stress-response genes. Using the model organism C. elegans, scientists tracked how these genes activate a pathway that helps remove cellular debris, a process essential for immune health and development.

This shows the outline of a child and a brain.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·June 12, 2025·6 min read

Childhood Trauma Rewires the Brain Through Inflammation

Childhood trauma doesn't just leave psychological scars—it biologically reshapes the brain through chronic neuroinflammation and structural changes, increasing vulnerability to psychiatric disorders later in life. New research shows that early adversity can reprogram immune responses, altering lifelong mental health outcomes.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·June 12, 2025·5 min read

Oral-Gut Bacteria Linked to Dementia Risk in Parkinson’s Disease

A new study has found that bacteria from the mouth may migrate to the gut and contribute to cognitive decline in people with Parkinson’s disease. Researchers identified harmful microbes and their toxins in the gut of Parkinson’s patients with dementia, suggesting a possible link between oral hygiene, gut health, and neurodegeneration.

Featured Genetics Neurology Neuroscience

·June 12, 2025·5 min read

Healthy Habits May Offset Brain Aging Linked to Shorter Telomeres

New research shows that healthy lifestyle choices can reduce the risk of stroke, dementia, and depression—even in people with biologically shortened telomeres. Telomeres are protective DNA caps that naturally shrink with age and environmental stress, increasing vulnerability to age-related brain diseases.

Featured Neuroscience

·June 12, 2025·4 min read

Smelling Food Triggers Fullness, But Only in Lean Brains

Researchers have identified a new brain pathway in mice that links the smell of food to feelings of fullness—offering insight into how scent influences appetite. When lean mice smelled food, a group of nerve cells in the medial septum activated rapidly, signaling satiety and reducing food intake.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·June 12, 2025·4 min read

Negative Surroundings Skew Emotions in People with Depression

People with depressive symptoms are more likely to interpret neutral images as negative when those images are surrounded by unrelated negative visuals. This emotional “spillover” effect shows how peripheral cues—like background imagery or context—can shape our emotional responses more than we realize.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·June 11, 2025·4 min read

How Serotonin Circuits Learn from Motion to Regulate Behavior

Scientists have uncovered how serotonergic neurons in larval zebrafish process visual information tied to movement to determine when and how much serotonin to release. This neuromodulator fine-tunes the fish’s swimming effort, adjusting behavior based on the effectiveness of past actions.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·June 11, 2025·5 min read

Fast-Track to Happiness: One Week of Micro-Acts Makes a Difference

A new study has shown that just seven days of small, daily acts of kindness and gratitude can significantly improve emotional wellbeing. In the web-based Big Joy Project, nearly 17,600 participants from around the world performed micro-acts like sharing joyful moments and listing things they’re grateful for.

Featured Genetics Neurology Neuroscience

·June 11, 2025·7 min read

New Map Reveals First Steps of Protein Clumping in Alzheimer’s

Scientists have mapped how over 140,000 mutations affect the formation of amyloid beta fibrils, offering an unprecedented look at early events in Alzheimer’s disease. By combining DNA synthesis, genetically engineered yeast, and machine learning, they built a detailed energy landscape of the protein’s transition state—an elusive moment before plaque formation begins.

Featured Neuroscience

·June 11, 2025·7 min read

Brain Maps of Reward Adapt Fast to New Experiences

A new study reveals that the brain rapidly rewires itself to map rewarding experiences like food, even when the location of those rewards changes. Using virtual reality and real-time brain imaging, researchers observed how mice formed flexible "reward maps" in the hippocampus that updated within moments of reward relocation.

Featured Neuroscience

·June 11, 2025·8 min read

How the Brain Solves Problems When It Can’t Be Perfect

A new study reveals how humans use flexible problem-solving strategies like hierarchical and counterfactual reasoning when faced with complex tasks. Researchers had participants predict a hidden ball’s path through a maze, requiring them to make real-time decisions based on sound cues and memory.