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Breakthrough Discovery Pinpoints How Brain Immune Cells Respond to Toxic Cellular Waste

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, and their colleagues have discovered a critical cellular mechanism that causes brain degeneration in both a rare childhood condition and the far more prevalent Alzheimer’s disease.

17 Aug 2026

High-Speed Microscope Captures Millisecond-Scale Brain Signaling Activity

Within the brain, neurons compute by generating electrical impulses. These signals travel throughout neurons, which are in turn connected in vast networks that control brain functions such as sensory perception, memory formation, and control of movement.

17 Aug 2026

Researchers Map Immune Molecule Behavior in Affected Motor Neurons

Immune-related molecules change in motor neurons affected by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but they do not appear to be major drivers of disease progression.

17 Aug 2026

New Study Links TIMP2 Loss to Microglial Immune Dysfunction

Researchers at The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have identified a role for the youth-associated protein TIMP2 in supporting the healthy function of microglia, the brain's resident immune cells.

17 Aug 2026

New Mouse Study Challenges Traditional Theories of Long-Term Memory Storage

Memories can survive even after the brain temporarily loses more than half of its synaptic connections, according to a new mouse study, which challenges the long-held view that long-term memories depend on stable individual synapses.

14 Aug 2026

New Roadmap Fixes Cellular Waste Accumulation to Halt Brain Degeneration

Researchers at University of California San Diego and their colleagues have identified a key cellular pathway that drives brain degeneration in both a rare childhood disorder and the far more common Alzheimer's disease.

13 Aug 2026

New Single-Cell Database Reveals Hidden Inner Workings of Spinal Cord Circuits

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital created a single-cell atlas of a key class of spinal neurons involved in motor coordination. From that resource, they identified a small subgroup of interneurons associated with the speed of rhythmic movements such as walking. The findings, which have implications for understanding spinal cord function and recovery from injury, were published today in Nature Communications.

11 Aug 2026

Brain Executive Control Centers Block Creative Problem Solving in Mice

The prefrontal cortex, a brain region long associated with learning more flexible behaviors, can sometimes block the ability to think outside the box, a new study in mice shows. Science Advances published the finding by biologists at Emory University.

8 Aug 2026

Research Reevaluates Crucial Microtubule Stabilizing Protein in Dementia Progression

A protein named tau, which has been highly implicated in the world's No. 1 cause of dementia - Alzheimer's disease - and several other neurodegenerative disorders, may spur these diseases in a way that differs greatly from the pathological pathway usually ascribed to it.

7 Aug 2026

Emerging m6A RNA Biology Explains Brain Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards

A growing understanding of RNA biology is reshaping how scientists view the relationship between environmental toxicants, brain development, and neurodegenerative disease.

7 Aug 2026

Researchers Identify Neurons Responsible for Regulating Motivated Behavior

What enables us to sustain effort toward goals, even when the task becomes increasingly difficult? A recent study by researchers at Nagoya University in Japan revealed the underlying brain mechanism, showing that orexin neurons play a crucial role in driving and regulating motivated behavior.

3 Aug 2026

Harvard Biologists Discover Unique Ribosome Adaptation in Shallow Water Octopuses

The octopus is a biological oddity. It can use tools, open jars, and its complex nervous system supports as many neurons as a small primate.

30 Jul 2026

Scientists Discover How Brain Cells Overcome the Effects of a Disease-Causing Genetic Deletion

Scientists at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC have discovered how an experimental therapy can help brain cells overcome the effects of a disease-causing genetic deletion.

29 Jul 2026

FlatMux Imaging Platform Captures Live Brain Circuit Activity

The brain is a vast, densely interconnected network of neurons computing in parallel. Watching these computations unfold in real time could reveal how the brain processes sensation and guides behavior.

24 Jul 2026

Elevated Levels of Acid Ceramidase Make Zombie Cells Susceptible to Ferroptosis

Our population is aging. The United Nations reports that by 2050, the number of people over the age of 85 on our planet is set to triple.

24 Jul 2026

Study Reveals How Fruit Flies Navigate Odor Plumes Using Directional Memory

When a fruit fly catches a whiff of a ripe peach, it quickly heads toward it. Time after time, it finds the fruit-even from many feet away and even if the scent arrives only as a few drifting, disconnected puffs.

23 Jul 2026

Individual Brain Cells Store Long-Term Memories Utilizing Independent Dendrites

Branchlike structures called dendrites that extend from neurons appear to make their own computations independent of the cell body, helping individual brain cells store memories of the past, respond to the present, and anticipate the future, a study led by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers suggests.

17 Jul 2026