Latest

brain research

Research articles and news stories tagged with brain research

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Psychology

·April 16, 2025·4 min read

From Anxiety to Alzheimer’s, Music Makes a Difference

Music therapy is proving to be a powerful adjunct treatment for a range of conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, chronic pain, movement disorders, and mental health issues. Research highlights how music can regulate heart rate, reduce anxiety, and even improve communication in patients with memory loss.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 16, 2025·3 min read

How Obesity Rewires the Brain’s Food Reward Circuits

A new research initiative is investigating how obesity reshapes brain circuits involved in reward, motivation, and emotion, potentially driving unhealthy food decisions. The cross-disciplinary team will use cutting-edge electrochemical techniques to measure real-time brain chemical responses to food-related stimuli in humans.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·April 16, 2025·5 min read

AI Tool Predicts Toxic Protein Structures Behind Brain Disorders

A new AI tool called RibbonFold is revolutionizing how scientists understand misfolded proteins linked to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Unlike existing tools such as AlphaFold, which predict correctly folded proteins, RibbonFold is specifically designed to model the twisted, ribbonlike shapes of amyloid fibrils that accumulate in neurodegenerative diseases.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 16, 2025·5 min read

Mental Health Disorders Linked to Lower Parenthood Rates

A large-scale study using Finnish national data has found that young adults diagnosed with mental disorders are significantly less likely to become parents by age 39. The most pronounced effect was seen in individuals with schizophrenia, while common disorders like depression and anxiety also reduced parenthood rates—especially among men.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 16, 2025·4 min read

Realistic AI Avatars Boost Trust in Science Communication

AI-generated avatars are increasingly used to deliver science content on platforms like TikTok, raising questions about how their appearance affects viewer trust. A new study tested whether avatar realism and gender influenced perceived trustworthiness among nearly 500 participants.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 16, 2025·4 min read

Plant-Based Proteins Diet Linked to Longer Life

A global analysis of dietary trends across 101 countries over 60 years reveals that populations consuming more plant-based proteins tend to live longer. While animal-based proteins are linked to lower infant mortality, plant-based sources such as legumes, tofu, and grains are associated with increased adult life expectancy.

This shows a shadowy politician on a stage.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 15, 2025·4 min read

Dark Personality Traits in Politicians Fuel Political Polarization

New research reveals that politicians with narcissistic, psychopathic, or Machiavellian traits significantly increase affective polarization among voters. When citizens identify ideologically with such leaders, they become more hostile toward political opponents.

This shows people surrounded by screens.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·April 15, 2025·4 min read

Brain Learns to Tune Out Distractions with Repeated Exposure

Our brains can adapt to filter out repeated distractions, according to a new EEG study. Participants learned to ignore frequent visual distractions, such as a red shape in the same location, while searching for a target.

Autism Featured Neuroscience

·April 15, 2025·5 min read

Fussiness at 9 Months May Signal Early Autism Risk

Signs of autism may be detectable as early as 9 months of age, well before the typical diagnosis window of 3 to 5 years. Researchers found that infants who were described by parents as fussy, slow to adapt, or delayed in development were more likely to show autism-related traits by 12 months.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 15, 2025·4 min read

Bouncing to Bond: How the Brain Syncs During Social Dance

New research reveals how our brains coordinate with others during dancing, highlighting the importance of shared rhythm and visual contact. When dancers moved to the same song and could see each other, unique neural signals emerged to support social coordination.

Autism Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·April 15, 2025·6 min read

Early Brain Circuit Disruption Linked to Autism Social Challenges

New research has uncovered a disrupted brain communication pathway in children with autism that impairs their ability to quickly shift attention—an essential skill for social interaction. This discovery was made by studying both children with autism and genetically modified mice lacking the Shank3 gene, a common cause of ASD.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 15, 2025·5 min read

Mild Brain Stimulation Alters Decision-Making Speed and Flexibility

A new study shows that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a non-invasive brain stimulation method, can influence how quickly and flexibly people make decisions. Researchers targeted the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex—key in planning and action—while participants performed simultaneous visual and auditory tasks.