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mental health

·July 22, 2025·4 min read

COVID Stress May Have Aged Brains Faster

Living through the Covid-19 pandemic may have accelerated brain ageing, even in people who were never infected, a new study finds. Brain scans of nearly 1,000 adults showed older, male, and disadvantaged individuals were most affected.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·July 22, 2025·7 min read

Why the Psychopathic Brain Struggles With Emotion and Control

New research reveals how structural brain connectivity shapes psychopathic traits and externalizing behaviors. Using advanced connectome modeling, scientists identified two key networks: one tied to impaired emotional processing, the other to poor attentional control.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Psychology

·July 21, 2025·7 min read

Most Mental Illnesses Arise Without Family History

A massive Danish study shows that most mental illnesses—like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression—occur in people with no close family history of the condition. Analyzing data from over 3 million individuals, researchers found that while heredity increases risk, most diagnosed individuals do not have affected relatives.

This shows a pregnant woman and gut bacteria.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·July 21, 2025·7 min read

Pregnancy Stress Disrupts Baby’s Microbiome, Increasing Depression Risk

Prenatal stress in mothers can leave a lasting imprint on their offspring, predisposing them to depression-like behaviors. Researchers found that maternal stress disrupts the gut microbiome and metabolite production, which are vertically transmitted to the young.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Psychology

·July 19, 2025·6 min read

Genetic Link Between Cannabis Use Disorder and Mental Health

A large genetic study reveals that cannabis use disorder (CanUD) is strongly linked to increased risk for multiple psychiatric disorders, including depression, PTSD, ADHD, and schizophrenia. By analyzing global and local genetic correlations, colocalization, Mendelian randomization, and structural equation modeling, researchers showed CanUD has distinct genetic signatures compared to casual cannabis use.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·July 19, 2025·6 min read

More Than Serotonin: How Psychedelics Engage the Whole Brain

Classical psychedelics like LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline are known for activating the 5-HT2A serotonin receptor, but a new study reveals their effects go far beyond. Researchers profiled 41 psychedelics against over 300 human receptors and found potent activity at serotonin, dopamine, and adrenergic sites.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Psychology

·July 19, 2025·7 min read

Why Antidepressants Work Better for Some

A meta-analysis of gene expression data from humans and rodents reveals key biological pathways influencing response to the antidepressant fluoxetine. The study highlights the role of immune-related pathways, including toll-like receptor signaling, and neural signal transduction mechanisms in distinguishing responders from non-responders.

This shows a doctor and herbal remedies.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·July 18, 2025·4 min read

Illusory Beliefs Fuel Risky Health Choices

Beliefs in pseudoscientific health ideas can undermine trust in conventional medicine and lead to riskier health decisions, a new study finds. Researchers analyzed over 1,500 participants and showed that stronger illusory beliefs were linked to higher use of unvalidated therapies and lower adherence to evidence-based practices.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·July 18, 2025·5 min read

How the Brain Decodes Social Emotions and Anxiety

The anterior temporal lobe (ATL) plays a key role in interpreting social hierarchies and facial emotions, offering insight into anxiety and mood disorders. A research project used advanced imaging techniques to overcome past challenges in studying the ATL, revealing its strong activation during social and emotional decisions.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·July 17, 2025·8 min read

Overactive Anterior Insula May Fuel Anxiety and Depression

New research shows that elevated glutamate-glutamine (Glx) levels in the anterior insular cortex (AIC) make people more sensitive to mistakes and more prone to anxiety and depression. Using functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy and reinforcement learning tasks, scientists found that high AIC Glx predicted both a general internalizing symptom score and heightened error sensitivity, which mediated this relationship.

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Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·July 16, 2025·7 min read

Do Supplements Work for Depression? Some Do, Study Says

A comprehensive review of over 23,000 studies identified 64 over-the-counter (OTC) supplements and herbal products evaluated in clinical trials for depression. St John’s Wort, saffron, probiotics, vitamin D, and omega-3s showed the strongest evidence, while others like lavender, zinc, and chamomile showed promise but need more research.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Psychology

·July 15, 2025·7 min read

Tiny Brain Region Orchestrates How We Segment and Remember Life Events

Our memories don’t flow like a continuous stream—they’re divided into meaningful events, thanks to a tiny brain region called the locus coeruleus. New research shows this region acts like a “reset button,” activating at event boundaries to signal the hippocampus to store distinct memories.