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MIT

·December 10, 2025·9 min read

How the Brain Interprets Sarcasm, Tone, and Hidden Meaning

A large study of 800 adults shows that pragmatic language skills—the ability to understand sarcasm, indirect requests, tone, and nonliteral meaning—organize into three distinct cognitive clusters. These clusters draw on social-rule knowledge, understanding of how the physical world works, and sensitivity to speech intonation.

Brain Cancer Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·December 4, 2025·9 min read

Fungal Molecule Shows Promise Against Brain Cancer

For the first time, chemists have fully synthesized verticillin A, a notoriously complex fungal molecule with striking anticancer potential. The molecule’s fragile structure required a complete rethinking of its synthetic sequence, enabling researchers to not only recreate it but design more stable and potent derivatives.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 29, 2025·8 min read

Your Brain “Zones Out” After Poor Sleep To Clean Itself

New research shows that during moments of lost focus after poor sleep, the brain releases a wave of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)—the same cleansing process that normally occurs during deep sleep. Using simultaneous EEG and fMRI scans, scientists found that these fluid pulses occur precisely when attention lapses, suggesting the brain is attempting to catch up on missed “housekeeping.”

This shows a map, half Is red and covered in negative emojis, the other is blue and covered with positive emojis, symbolizing the effect heat has on mood.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·August 31, 2025·6 min read

Extreme Heat Makes People More Negative

A large-scale global study shows that extreme heat affects not just our bodies, but also our emotions. Researchers analyzed over a billion social media posts and found that when temperatures exceeded 95°F (35°C), expressed sentiments became more negative, particularly in lower-income countries where effects were three times stronger.

This shows a brain and a range of objects including shapes and bouncing balls.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·July 31, 2025·6 min read

Brain Sorts ‘Stuff’ from ‘Things’ Using Separate Neural Circuits

A new study reveals that our brains separate “stuff” like water and sand from “things” like balls or tools, using specialized circuits in the visual cortex. Functional MRI scans showed distinct areas within the ventral and dorsal visual pathways that preferentially respond to the fluidity or rigidity of materials. T

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·July 5, 2025·8 min read

Blurry Beginnings Shape Brain’s Visual Pathways

New research reveals how early-life blurry, low-color vision may help shape the brain’s visual pathways into specialized systems. Using computational models trained on low-quality images followed by high-quality ones, scientists showed this developmental trajectory produces distinct magnocellular and parvocellular-like processing.

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.

Featured Neuroscience

·June 6, 2025·7 min read

Brain Area Stores and Resolves Hypotheses for Landmark Ambiguity

Researchers have discovered that the mouse brain can simultaneously encode multiple hypotheses about its spatial location while navigating environments with ambiguous landmarks. In a complex task requiring mice to distinguish between identical cues, neurons in the retrosplenial cortex (RSC) exhibited distinct activity patterns reflecting different possibilities of where the mouse might be.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 29, 2025·8 min read

Astrocytes May Hold the Key to Brain’s Vast Memory Capacity

New research proposes that astrocytes—long thought to be merely supportive cells—may significantly enhance the brain’s ability to store memories. Unlike neurons, astrocytes cannot fire electrical signals but can influence synaptic activity through calcium signaling and gliotransmitters.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 7, 2025·8 min read

Immune Signals Shape Social Behavior and Anxiety in the Brain

New research reveals that the immune molecule IL-17 can influence behavior by acting directly on specific regions of the brain. IL-17 reduces neuron excitability in the cortex to enhance sociability, while in the amygdala, it increases excitability and induces anxiety.

Featured Neuroscience

·March 19, 2025·8 min read

From High Valyrian to Klingon: Artificial Languages Engage the Brain Like Natural Speech

A new study finds that the brain processes artificial languages, such as Esperanto and Klingon, using the same neural network as natural languages. Researchers scanned the brains of 44 speakers of constructed languages and observed activation in language-processing regions when participants listened to sentences in their conlang. This contrasts with computer programming languages, which engage different brain areas linked to logical reasoning.

This shows people around a campfire talking.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·March 18, 2025·7 min read

When Did Humans First Speak? Genes Offer New Clues on Language Origins

New genetic research suggests that humans first developed language around 135,000 years ago when populations began geographically splitting, followed by widespread social use around 100,000 years ago. Using data from 15 genetic studies, researchers found that early human groups branched out approximately 135,000 years ago, which likely coincides with the origin of language as a cognitive system.

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MIT

How the Brain Interprets Sarcasm, Tone, and Hidden Meaning

Fungal Molecule Shows Promise Against Brain Cancer

Your Brain “Zones Out” After Poor Sleep To Clean Itself

Extreme Heat Makes People More Negative

Brain Sorts ‘Stuff’ from ‘Things’ Using Separate Neural Circuits

Blurry Beginnings Shape Brain’s Visual Pathways

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

Brain Area Stores and Resolves Hypotheses for Landmark Ambiguity

Astrocytes May Hold the Key to Brain’s Vast Memory Capacity

From High Valyrian to Klingon: Artificial Languages Engage the Brain Like Natural Speech

When Did Humans First Speak? Genes Offer New Clues on Language Origins

Memory Rewritten: Study Finds No Clear Line Between Episodic and Semantic Retrieval

Brain Stimulation Method Can Evaluate Consciousness in Alzheimer’s Disease

Early Intervention Helps Most Autistic Children Acquire Spoken Language

Brain Conductors Find Precise Connection to Target Cells via Protein Handshake

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