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Northwestern University

·August 9, 2025·5 min read

Why Some 80-Year-Olds Have the Memory of 50-Year-Olds

For 25 years, scientists have studied “SuperAgers”—people aged 80 and above whose memory rivals those decades younger. Research reveals that their brains either resist Alzheimer’s-related plaques and tangles or remain resilient despite having them.

Featured Neuroscience

·July 23, 2025·6 min read

Your Brain Maps the Same Path Differently Every Time

New research shows that our brain’s internal map rewrites itself every time we navigate a familiar environment. Even when mice experienced identical virtual mazes with controlled sensory input, their hippocampal neurons activated in different patterns on each run.

This shows a brain and a football helmet.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·July 11, 2025·5 min read

Study Challenges Link Between Football and Brain Protein Buildup

A new study questions whether playing youth football leads to harmful protein buildup in the brain. Researchers examined 174 donated brains, including former high school and college players, and found no link between contact sports and excess tau protein in a key memory region.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 20, 2025·4 min read

Body’s Own Cannabinoids May Help Control Trauma-Linked Fear

A new study reveals that a natural cannabinoid in the body, 2-AG, plays a crucial role in regulating fear responses, particularly in individuals with PTSD and anxiety. Researchers found that lower levels of 2-AG in both mice and humans were linked to exaggerated or overgeneralized fear reactions to non-threatening stimuli. This suggests that 2-AG helps the brain distinguish real threats from harmless cues, acting as a natural filter for fear.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·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

·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

·April 22, 2025·6 min read

Your Brain Learns From Fear, Thanks to Dopamine

New research reveals how dopamine helps the brain learn to avoid unpleasant outcomes by responding differently in distinct brain regions during negative experiences. In a study with mice, scientists tracked dopamine activity over time as animals learned to escape an adverse event, showing that one brain area adapted early in learning while another supported long-term avoidance behavior.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·April 12, 2025·5 min read

New Genes Linked to Parkinson’s Risk Revealed

Researchers have long wondered why some people with high-risk Parkinson’s gene variants develop the disease while others don’t. A new study has uncovered that additional genetic players, particularly the Commander gene complex, influence whether the disease manifests.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 3, 2025·5 min read

Study Reveals Brain Circuits That Drive Political Passion and Intensity

A new study has identified specific brain networks that regulate the intensity of political engagement, regardless of ideology. By analyzing Vietnam War veterans with localized brain injuries, researchers found that damage to the prefrontal cortex increased political fervor, while damage to the amygdala reduced it.

Featured Neuroscience

·March 3, 2025·5 min read

How the Brain Transforms Speech Pitch into Meaning

A new study reveals that Heschl’s gyrus, once thought to only process sound, actually plays a crucial role in interpreting speech melody, or prosody. Researchers tracked brain activity in epilepsy patients with implanted electrodes and found that this region encodes pitch accents as meaningful linguistic signals, separate from word sounds.

Featured Neuroscience

·December 17, 2024·4 min read

Breathing Rhythms During Sleep Strengthen Memory Consolidation

New research shows that breathing rhythms during sleep synchronize brain waves in the hippocampus, a region essential for memory consolidation. These brain waves—slow waves, spindles, and ripples—occur at specific points in the breathing cycle, suggesting breathing plays a key role in memory processing.

Featured Neuroscience

·December 3, 2024·5 min read

Gut Microbes May Have Powered Evolution of Larger Brains

A new study suggests that gut microbes played a key role in the evolution of larger brains in primates by influencing energy production and usage. Researchers implanted microbes from humans, squirrel monkeys (large-brained species), and macaques (small-brained species) into mice, observing that microbes from larger-brained primates enhanced energy production, while those from smaller-brained primates favored fat storage.

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Northwestern University

Why Some 80-Year-Olds Have the Memory of 50-Year-Olds

Your Brain Maps the Same Path Differently Every Time

Study Challenges Link Between Football and Brain Protein Buildup

Body’s Own Cannabinoids May Help Control Trauma-Linked Fear

Lingering Bacterial Debris May Drive Post-Treatment Lyme Symptoms

Babies Learn Words Without Visuals

Your Brain Learns From Fear, Thanks to Dopamine

New Genes Linked to Parkinson’s Risk Revealed

Study Reveals Brain Circuits That Drive Political Passion and Intensity

How the Brain Transforms Speech Pitch into Meaning

Breathing Rhythms During Sleep Strengthen Memory Consolidation

Gut Microbes May Have Powered Evolution of Larger Brains

Brain’s Internal Disappointment Meter Forces Behavioral Change

Octopuses Can Use Mirrors to Find Food

Why the Brain Doesn’t Need Choices to Generate Intent

Brain Integrates Paper Book Narratives Faster Than Digital

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