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brain research

Research articles and news stories tagged with brain research

·April 24, 2025·6 min read

Lingering Bacterial Debris May Drive Post-Treatment Lyme Symptoms

New research suggests that lingering cell wall fragments from the Lyme disease bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, may be responsible for persistent symptoms long after antibiotic treatment. These fragments, made of a unique form of peptidoglycan, appear to accumulate in the liver and joints, triggering inflammation and immune responses even after the infection is gone.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 24, 2025·5 min read

How the Quest for Significance Fuels Conspiracy Beliefs

A deep psychological need to feel significant drives much of human behavior—and can also lead people toward conspiracy theories and extremist beliefs. Drawing from decades of research and real-world examples, experts explain how feelings of insignificance, especially in uncertain times, make people more susceptible to narratives that promise belonging, identity, and a sense of control.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·April 24, 2025·3 min read

Metabolic Syndrome in Midlife Linked to Higher Dementia Risk

A large-scale study has found that having metabolic syndrome in midlife—marked by excess belly fat, high blood pressure, and abnormal cholesterol or blood sugar—is associated with a significantly higher risk of developing young-onset dementia before age 65. The analysis, based on nearly two million people, showed that the more components of metabolic syndrome a person had, the greater their dementia risk, with women and those in their 40s being most vulnerable.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 24, 2025·5 min read

Gun Culture a Key Factor in School Shooter Backgrounds

A comprehensive analysis of all known U.S. school shootings reveals that most shooters grew up in social environments where guns were a central part of family bonding and identity. These cultural meanings of affection, fun, and belonging made firearms easily accessible to the shooters—often without barriers at home. In many cases, parents purchased the firearms used or stored them in places their children could reach.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·April 24, 2025·5 min read

Experimental Alzheimer’s Vaccine Shows Promise

Researchers have developed a tau-targeting vaccine that could help prevent the progression of Alzheimer’s disease by generating a strong immune response against abnormal tau proteins. The vaccine showed effectiveness in mice and non-human primates, prompting researchers to pursue human clinical trials.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 24, 2025·7 min read

Maternal Childhood Trauma Linked to Rapid Weight Gain in Baby Boys

A new study reveals that maternal childhood trauma—such as neglect or abuse—can trigger rapid weight gain in male infants as early as the first two months of life. Researchers found that boys born to mothers who experienced early-life adversity gained significantly more weight per day than average, despite being full-term, healthy, and mostly breastfed.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 24, 2025·4 min read

Immune Resilience Identified as Key to Healthy Aging and Longevity

A new study reveals that immune resilience, a person’s ability to maintain a robust, youthful immune system, plays a critical role in promoting long-term health and extending life. By analyzing data from over 17,000 individuals, researchers found that immune resilience, particularly involving the TCF7 gene, protects against chronic inflammation, immunosenescence, and cell death.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 23, 2025·6 min read

Can Brain Scans Tell Which Antidepressant Will Work for You?

A new study shows that brain connectivity patterns, especially in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, can help predict how patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) will respond to antidepressants. By combining brain imaging with clinical data, researchers developed machine learning models that accurately predicted treatment outcomes across two large trials.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 23, 2025·4 min read

People Worry More About Today’s AI Harms Than Future Catastrophes

A new study finds that people are more concerned about the immediate risks of artificial intelligence—like job loss, bias, and disinformation—than they are about hypothetical future threats to humanity. Researchers exposed over 10,000 participants to different AI narratives and found that, while future catastrophes raise concern, real-world present dangers resonate more strongly.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 23, 2025·6 min read

Babies Learn Words Without Visuals

Infants as young as 15 months can use language context to infer the meaning of words referring to objects they’ve never seen. Researchers found that when 15-month-olds heard a new word in a familiar context—like "kumquat" during a conversation about fruit—they later identified the unseen object correctly.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology Visual Neuroscience

·April 23, 2025·9 min read

Human Eyes See New Color “Olo” for the First Time

Scientists have created a technology called Oz that stimulates individual photoreceptor cells in the human eye to create an entirely new, ultra-saturated color never seen in nature—dubbed olo. Using microdoses of laser light, Oz activates specific combinations of cone cells to generate this vivid blue-green hue, which vanishes the moment the precision targeting is disrupted.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 23, 2025·6 min read

The Brain Remembers Cold: How Memories Drive Metabolism

New research reveals that the brain stores memories of cold experiences, which can later trigger metabolic responses in anticipation of cold environments. Mice trained to associate visual cues with cold temperatures began to increase their metabolism when shown those cues—even at room temperature.

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