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Featured Genetics Neurology Neuroscience

·November 3, 2025·5 min read

Antioxidant Defense System in the Brain Discovered

A new study identifies biliverdin reductase A (BVRA) as a crucial enzyme defending neurons from oxidative stress, acting independently of its traditional role in bilirubin production. Using genetically modified mice, researchers found that BVRA binds directly to NRF2, a master regulator of antioxidant defense, ensuring the activation of protective genes that maintain cellular health.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 27, 2025·5 min read

Coding Comes Naturally to the Human Brain

Learning to code doesn’t require new brain systems—it builds on the ones we already use for logic and reasoning. Researchers found that when people learned programming, the same fronto-parietal brain regions that processed logical statements also lit up for computer code.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·October 6, 2025·6 min read

AI Images That Change When Rotated Reveal How the Mind Sees

Researchers have developed AI-generated “visual anagrams” — images that transform into entirely new objects when rotated — to explore how the brain processes perception. Unlike traditional optical illusions, these rotating images allow scientists to isolate how people interpret size, emotion, and animacy in visual information.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·July 15, 2025·7 min read

Hepatitis C Found in Brain Lining Linked to Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder

Researchers have discovered hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the brain lining of individuals with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, suggesting a possible link between infection and psychiatric symptoms. The study found HCV specifically in the choroid plexus, a structure producing cerebrospinal fluid, but not inside brain tissue itself.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·July 10, 2025·5 min read

Robot Achieves Complex Surgery Autonomously Through AI Training

A surgical robot trained on real procedure videos performed a critical phase of gallbladder removal autonomously, adapting to unexpected situations and responding to voice commands. This breakthrough shows how artificial intelligence can combine precision with the flexibility needed for real-world medicine.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·May 7, 2025·5 min read

Low Blood Sugar Triggers Retinal Damage, Vision Loss

New research reveals that hypoglycemia may worsen diabetic retinopathy by breaking down the blood-retinal barrier. In diabetic mice, low blood sugar increased levels of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), a protein linked to abnormal blood vessel growth and leakage.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 24, 2025·4 min read

AI Still Falls Short in Understanding Human Social Interactions

Humans significantly outperform AI models in interpreting dynamic social interactions, a skill critical for technologies like autonomous vehicles and assistive robots. In a new study, participants reliably judged short videos of social scenes, while over 350 AI models struggled to match human accuracy or predict brain responses.

Autism Featured Neuroscience

·April 17, 2025·5 min read

Autism Affects 1 in 31 Children Aged 8

A CDC report analyzing data from 16 U.S. sites, including Maryland, found that autism now affects 1 in 31 eight-year-olds nationwide. Maryland’s prevalence was slightly lower, with 1 in 38 eight-year-olds and 1 in 41 four-year-olds identified in 2022.

This shows a man drinking and a brain in a glass.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 2, 2025·5 min read

Heavy Alcohol Use Causes Long-Term Brain Damage

For the first time, scientists have shown how heavy alcohol use leads to long-term cognitive impairments by damaging brain circuits responsible for decision-making. In a rat model, animals exposed to high alcohol levels performed significantly worse on a complex, shifting-reward task, even after nearly three months of sobriety.

Featured Neuroscience

·March 31, 2025·5 min read

Glutamate Unlocks Brain Cell Channels to Enable Thinking and Learning

Researchers used advanced cryo-electron microscopy to capture atomic-level images of how glutamate, a key neurotransmitter, opens channels in brain cells. These channels, known as AMPA receptors, are essential for neuron-to-neuron communication and play a role in learning, memory, and disorders like epilepsy.

Featured Neuroscience

·March 20, 2025·5 min read

Brain Activity Reveals How We Learn From Mistakes

New research uncovers how the brain processes learning by identifying the exact moment an animal learns a new skill. By observing individual neurons in mice, scientists found that learning occurs much faster than previously thought, in as few as 20 to 40 tries.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·January 11, 2024·4 min read

How Human Retinas Create a Colorful World

In a groundbreaking study using lab-grown human retinas, researchers unveil the process behind our ability to see millions of colors, a trait unique to humans. The findings challenge previous beliefs and demonstrate how retinoic acid plays a crucial role in determining whether specialized cone cells sense red or green light.