Summary: A new noninvasive method now makes it possible to monitor gene expression and cellular activity in the living brain through a simple blood test. Researchers have translated a blood-to-brain reporting platform—released markers of activity (RMAs)—from mice into rhesus macaques, demonstrating a viable path toward human application and enabling much finer, longitudinal insight into brain … Read more

Summary: Have you ever reached for a cookie after a large meal and wondered why you still craved it? New research shows this is not simply a failure of willpower. The brain continues to register food cues as rewarding even after the body is fully satiated, making it easier to overeat in environments filled with … Read more

Summary: Childhood memories shaped by harsh criticism or neglect often show up in adulthood as a persistent fear of failure. A recent randomized clinical trial demonstrates that imagery-based therapy can effectively alter how these memories affect emotions, stress responses, and beliefs about failure. Researchers used a technique called Imagery Rescripting (ImRs) in which participants revisited … Read more

Summary: Tau PET scans are a powerful tool for visualizing Alzheimer’s biology in living patients, but the most commonly used tracer—Flortaucipir (Tauvid)—can produce signals that do not always correspond to tau tangles. In a high-precision study, researchers used AI-enabled, voxel-by-voxel alignment to compare living PET scans directly with postmortem brain tissue, revealing that off-target factors … Read more

Summary: For decades, antidepressant treatment focused mainly on medications that altered monoamines such as serotonin and norepinephrine—drugs that often take weeks to relieve symptoms, and that fail for many patients. A major shift in research has reframed our understanding by revealing the rapid antidepressant effects of ketamine. Unlike conventional antidepressants, ketamine acts on the brain’s … Read more

Summary: Being a morning person and maintaining regular physical activity are linked to a lower risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In a large preliminary study of more than 500,000 people, participants who identified as morning chronotypes had about a 20% lower risk of ALS than those who favored late-night schedules. Regular, moderate weekly … Read more

Summary: In former college and professional football players, higher levels of inflammation were linked to measurable changes in brain white matter, particularly within limbic pathways, and those structural changes were associated with poorer memory performance. Blood and cerebrospinal fluid markers of inflammation correlated with reduced white matter integrity in regions that support emotion, memory and … Read more

Summary: Unexpected rewards can make people move faster in a fraction of a second, highlighting how closely motivation and movement are tied in the brain. In a joystick-based reaching task, participants reached faster toward targets with higher reward probability, and their movements received a brief burst of extra speed when a low-probability reward appeared unexpectedly. … Read more

Summary: Long established epidemiological data show smokers are about four times more likely to develop age-related macular degeneration (AMD). New research from Johns Hopkins Medicine reveals why: cigarette smoke triggers widespread epigenetic changes in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), altering chromatin accessibility and preventing activation of the genes required for cellular repair. These changes undermine … Read more

Summary: Newborns are born with low stores of vitamin K, a nutrient essential for normal blood clotting. To prevent a serious and potentially fatal condition called vitamin K deficiency bleeding, most hospitals offer a single vitamin K injection at birth. A recent systematic review, to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 78th Annual … Read more