Brain News and Research

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The human brain is the center of the human nervous system and is a highly complex organ. Enclosed in the cranium, it has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times as large as the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size.

Researchers Link Prenatal Fructose Exposure to Reduced Adult Neurogenesis

Nutritional imbalance during pregnancy can have long-lasting effects on the health status and disease susceptibility of the offspring.

3 Jul 2026

Study Reveals Common Brain Processing Rules Across Diverse Species

Line up the brains of a fish, bird and a mammal, and something unexpected comes up. You do not see three different answers to the problem of making sense of the world. You see one answer, tilted three different ways.

3 Jul 2026

Salk Study Identifies Brain Signaling Target to Prevent Cancer Cachexia

According to the Cleveland Clinic, a quarter of cancer deaths can be attributed to one source: cachexia. Cachexia is a syndrome that accompanies underlying chronic illness and causes unwanted muscle and fat loss, reducing quality of life and sometimes even limiting treatment options.

3 Jul 2026

Scientists Identify Biological Link Between Low Birth Weight and Chronic Disease

Researchers have long sought to discover why babies who weigh less than expected at birth, a condition known as small for gestational age, or SGA, are at higher risk for heart, lung and metabolic diseases as adults.

3 Jul 2026

New Analysis Supports Brain Lag Hypothesis in Primate Evolution

A new analysis supports the previously overlooked "brain lag" hypothesis-the idea that, in some primate lineages, the evolution of larger body size preceded the evolution of larger brain size-while also building on that hypothesis by suggesting that some lineages' brain sizes then continued to grow beyond an expected baseline.

2 Jul 2026

Ancient Brainstem Neurons That Help The Brain Ignore Distractions

The PLTi circuit in the brainstem plays a key role in spatial attention, enabling target selection by suppressing distractions without affecting vision.

2 Jul 2026

New Study Defines Molecular Features That Guide the Oncogenic Enzyme Called NSUN2

An RNA-modifying enzyme linked to cancer and neurological disorders selects its targets by recognizing specific RNA shapes and sequences, according to a study by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers. The findings, published in Nature, define the molecular features that guide the enzyme, NSUN2, to the RNAs it modifies and could help researchers investigate how abnormal RNA modification contributes to disease.

1 Jul 2026

Wearable Device Restores Touch And Hand Movement

The SensoExo system enhances hand function through robotic support and electrical nerve stimulation, offering new hope for those with neurological impairments.

1 Jul 2026

Researchers Identify Crucial Cell Death in Down Syndrome

Researchers at the Alzheimer's Center at Temple have identified evidence of a new form of cell death known as necroptosis in the brains of individuals with Down Syndrome, with the corresponding biomarkers providing new clues to potential treatment also for Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.

1 Jul 2026

EPFL Study Reveals Mice Actively Seek Better Visual Infotaxis

Animals don't experience the world passively. A hawk tilts its head to track prey. A person leans forward to read a sign. Scientists call this "active sensing": moving the body to gather better information.

1 Jul 2026

Sleep helps neural networks recover adaptive performance after absorbing daily life shocks

Every animal that has ever been studied closely, from the fruit fly to the philosopher, surrenders each day to a state that looks, from the outside, like a small rehearsal for death.

1 Jul 2026

University of Utah Study Identifies Arc Protein as Alzheimer's Driver

Alzheimer's disease is driven by a buildup of a toxic protein called Tau that kills neurons. As toxic Tau spreads to new regions of the brain, symptoms become worse and ultimately fatal.

30 Jun 2026

Three Hundred Million Year Old Fish Brain Overturns Paleontology Assumptions

Over 300 million years ago, a minnow-sized fish died and fell to the bottom of the prehistoric swamp near the village of Trawden, Lancashire, in northwest England.

30 Jun 2026

Researchers Develop Non-Toxic Way to Generate the Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease

Scientists usually use animal models when studying Parkinson's disease because these models mimic the disease well.

30 Jun 2026

Researchers Analyze Dopamine Dynamics Governing Human Learning and Memory

Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC neuroscientist Read Montague is heading to Braitenberg 100 at Germany's Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, joining the researchers who helped build modern computational neuroscience.

29 Jun 2026

Salk Institute Decodes Molecular Timeline of Age-Related Neurodegeneration

Neurodegenerative diseases affect tens of millions of people worldwide.

26 Jun 2026

Open-Source Genomic Tool Accelerates Diagnoses for Rare Diseases

A newly developed open-source tool designed for rigorous reanalysis of genomic data is highly effective at detecting new rare disease diagnoses.

26 Jun 2026

New Karyoptosis Mechanism Linked to Alzheimer's and Frontotemporal Dementia

Markers of a new mechanism for cell death, called karyoptosis, have been found in brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

26 Jun 2026

Scientists Decode 3D Structure of Vision Proteins to Fight Blindness

They allow us to see the world in thousands of colors: red strawberries, green leaves, the blue sky.

26 Jun 2026

Researchers Discover Molecules Targeting Vital Cell Signaling Proteins

To function normally, nearly every cell in the human body relies on G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) to receive and send signals. That's why GPCRs are targeted by roughly one-third of all FDA‑approved drugs.

25 Jun 2026