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science

·September 4, 2025·5 min read

Astrocyte Disruption Tied to Depression After Childhood Stress

Researchers have shown that astrocytes in the lateral hypothalamus play a pivotal role in how stress shapes behavior, particularly after early-life adversity. In mice, stress led to smaller, less branched astrocytes and abnormal orexin neuron activity, with sex-specific patterns in activity levels.

This shows a mom and baby surrounded by speech bubbles.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 4, 2025·5 min read

Why Babies Babble: New Clues Reveal Language Origins

Human babies’ babbling is more than cute noise—it’s a feedback-driven learning strategy that sets the foundation for language. A new study shows that marmoset monkeys, despite being distant relatives, also babble and learn faster when adults respond, suggesting a shared mechanism.

This shows a sleek robotic hand and a cup of coffee.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 3, 2025·4 min read

AI Robots Learn Touch and Vision to Handle Objects Like Humans

A new breakthrough shows how robots can now integrate both sight and touch to handle objects with greater accuracy, similar to humans. Researchers developed TactileAloha, a system that combines visual and tactile inputs, enabling robotic arms to adapt more flexibly to real-world tasks.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 3, 2025·5 min read

How the Brain Extinguishes Fear Memories

Scientists have, for the first time, identified the brain signals linked to extinguishing fear memories in humans. Using implanted electrodes and advanced Representational Similarity Analysis, they showed that theta activity in the amygdala increases when previously unpleasant cues are re-learned as safe.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 3, 2025·7 min read

New Brain Map Shows How Decisions Emerge Across the Brain

In a groundbreaking collaboration, scientists created the first complete brain-wide map of decision-making in mammals, charting the activity of more than 600,000 neurons across 279 regions in mice. Using steering wheel tasks and high-density electrode recordings, they found that decision-related signals are far more widely distributed across the brain than previously thought.

This shows the outline of a man and a woman.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·September 3, 2025·3 min read

Sex Shapes the Course of Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia

A large multicenter study has revealed that sex influences the course and characteristics of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Women with schizophrenia tended to begin treatment later, while men with schizophrenia had the highest rates of substance use.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·September 2, 2025·5 min read

3-Minute Brainwave Test Detects Alzheimer’s Years Before Symptoms

A team of researchers has developed a simple three-minute brainwave test called Fastball EEG that can detect early signs of memory impairment linked to Alzheimer’s disease. Unlike traditional memory tests, it is passive and requires no active participation, making it more objective and accessible.

This shows a statue of a person holding their head. Neurons are overlayed.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·September 2, 2025·6 min read

Chronic Stress Sends Immune Cells to Brain, Driving Depression

A new study shows that chronic stress causes immune cells called neutrophils to leave bone marrow in the skull and collect in the brain’s protective membranes, where they contribute to depressive symptoms. In mice, blocking an immune “alarm” pathway reduced these cells and improved mood-related behaviors.

This shows a brain and an aging timeline.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 2, 2025·5 min read

Attention and Focus Abilities Peak Between Ages 27 and 36

Researchers analyzed 139 neuroimaging studies spanning ages 5 to 85 to map the brain’s activity in cognitive control. They found an inverted U-shaped lifespan trajectory, with brain activity rising through adolescence, peaking between ages 27 and 36, and then gradually declining.

Brain Cancer Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·September 2, 2025·5 min read

Freezing Brain Molecules Could Halt Deadly Cancer Spread

Scientists have identified a new way to stop glioblastoma — the deadliest form of brain cancer — from spreading by altering its environment rather than targeting the tumor directly. The team showed that cancer cells depend on flexible hyaluronic acid molecules to invade surrounding brain tissue, but when these molecules were "frozen," cells became immobile and dormant.

Featured Genetics Neurology Neuroscience

·September 2, 2025·9 min read

Alzheimer’s Linked to Epigenomic Breakdown, Not Just Plaques

A new large-scale study shows that Alzheimer’s disease is marked by the erosion of epigenomic control, where brain cells lose the ability to maintain stable gene expression. Using a multi-region atlas of 3.5 million cells, researchers found that vulnerable cells in key memory regions such as the hippocampus suffer breakdowns in nuclear compartmentalization and lose their “epigenomic information.”

This is a drawing of a shrew and a brain.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 1, 2025·7 min read

Shrews Shrink and Regrow Brains, Offering Clues for Human Diseases

Scientists used non-invasive MRI to study shrews that seasonally shrink and regrow their brains, uncovering water loss as the key driver of this rare phenomenon. Despite losing about nine percent of their brain volume in winter, shrew brain cells remain alive, with aquaporin-4 proteins playing a key role in regulating water movement.