Cortex News and Research

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Researchers Locate Cortical Cells That Actively Trigger Brain Sleep

What makes the brain fall asleep? For nearly a century, scientists have looked to structures deep within the brain for the answer.

12 Sep 2026

Novel Microscopy Method Captures Live Body-Wide Organismal Cellular Signaling

We can't hear it, but the different parts of our body are in constant conversation, communicating to keep the entire system running efficiently.

10 Sep 2026

Scientists Discover How Elusive Brain Stem Cells Make Decisions

As the human brain takes shape before birth, a remarkable type of stem cell helps give it many of the features that make it distinctly human.

7 Sep 2026

New Understanding of Brain Circuitry Genes Opens Door for Targeted OCD Therapies

A Rutgers-led international team co-authored a study, which was published in Nature Neuroscience, revealing 36 genes significantly increasing the risk for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and chronic tic disorders. This research offers the most comprehensive biological insight into the development of these conditions and potential future treatments.

4 Sep 2026

Unexpected Mechanism Shows Muscle Cells Limit Rather Than Drive Membrane Growth

Every movement we make, from blinking to sprinting, depends on the ability of muscle fibers to contract in a rapid and coordinated way. Achieving this precision requires an intricate internal membrane network known as the transverse tubule, or T-tubule, system.

3 Sep 2026

Scientists Give Lab-Grown Brain Organoids a Regional Biological Compass

The human brain is often described as one of the most complex structures in biology, and much of its power comes from how it's organized.

21 Aug 2026

Modular Brain Structures Reuse Neural Networks to Simplify Complex Actions

As we move through everyday life, our brains engage in a huge variety of cognitive tasks. For example, during a grocery run, we might have to recall the items for a recipe, remember where the clerk said the flour was located, and count out money to pay.

18 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

New Imaging Workflow Tracks Nanoplastics Distribution in Neonatal Mouse Brains

Nanoplastics-plastic particles smaller than one micrometer-are generated through the degradation and abrasion of plastic products and are increasingly detected in food, drinking water, air, and biological tissues.

30 Jul 2026

Structural Proteins Control Stem Cell Division to Stop Tissue Tumors

In many animal tissues, stem cells continually divide to create new cells that replace old or damaged ones. However, this capacity requires strict regulation, as uncontrolled stem cell proliferation can disrupt tissue homeostasis and contribute to tumorigenesis.

29 Jul 2026

Scientists Discover Altered 3D Genome Structure in Alzheimer’s Brains

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the University of Washington shed new light on Alzheimer's disease that could point to new directions for treatment.

24 Jul 2026

Salk Neuroscientists Discover Computational Power of Traveling Brain Waves

Your brain has something surprising in common with the ocean: waves! Electrical activity washes over the brain's surface, creating what are called traveling brain waves or neural traveling waves.

22 Jul 2026

Dynamic Multi Tasking Neurons Help Brains Solve Varied Daily Tasks

What scientific findings proved so compelling that more than 11,000 preliminary copies of them have been downloaded before they finally appeared in today's Nature?

16 Jul 2026

Study Links Human and Mouse Brain Smell Processing Rhythms

Picture a mouse taking rapid, staccato sniffs of a crumb it's found while foraging for food. Now compare that with a human, leaning in for a single, deep inhale to gauge if a cantaloupe is ripe.

6 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

Single Nucleus RNA Sequencing Decodes Tomato Plant Early Stage Development

Seedling emergence is one of the most vulnerable stages in plant life. In darkness, seedlings undergo skotomorphogenesis, forming elongated hypocotyls and curved apical hooks that protect the shoot tip as it pushes through soil.

29 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

Early Visual Experiences Reshape the Retina and Change Behavior

King's College London neuroscientists examined the fish over the first five days of their lives to see if the visual characteristics of their upbringing had an impact on the development of the eye's cells.

24 Jun 2026

Scientists Discover Hidden Brain Development Signaling Pathway

The cytoskeleton gives cells their shape and helps them move. Researchers at Helmholtz Munich and the Ludwig Maximilian University now show that, in neural stem cells, proteins of the cytoskeleton are also found in the cell nucleus, where they can influence developmental programs.

23 Jun 2026

Migrating Neurons Break and Repair Their Own DNA During Brain Cortex Formation

Newborn nerve cells must squeeze through crowded, narrow spaces-through dense tissue, past other cells, between fibers-to reach the areas where they form neural circuits in the brain cortex.

18 Jun 2026