Summary: New structural work reveals how tiny electrical gates in the brain—NMDA receptors (NMDARs)—are regulated to control learning, memory and neuron survival. Using high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy, researchers captured atomic-scale images showing how a natural neurosteroid, 24S-hydroxycholesterol (24S‑HC), stabilizes a fully open channel, while a synthetic modulator locks the channel into a partially open state. The … Read more

Summary: New research reveals that after a night of poor sleep, brief lapses in attention coincide with pulses of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaving the brain—the same cleansing process that normally occurs during deep sleep. Using simultaneous EEG and fMRI, researchers show these fluid pulses align precisely with attention failures, suggesting the brain attempts to recover … Read more

Summary: MRI scans of former American football players reveal subtle but consistent differences in the brain’s outer grooves (sulci) compared with scans from otherwise healthy men who never played contact or collision sports. The changes—most notably shallower grooves in a frontal region previously associated with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)—align with patterns seen in autopsy-confirmed CTE … Read more

Summary: A new Aalto University study shows that when people rely on AI systems like ChatGPT, they tend to overestimate their own performance—regardless of experience. The familiar Dunning-Kruger pattern, where lower-skilled individuals overrate themselves more than experts, disappears. Instead, users who consider themselves more AI-literate were the most overconfident. The research highlights a growing problem … Read more

Summary: Researchers have identified a surprising link between blood circulation and the movement of newly formed neurons in the adult brain. Using advanced imaging in mice, the team found that neuron migration is faster along blood vessels with higher blood flow, and that the hunger hormone ghrelin amplifies this migration by activating internal cell movement. … Read more

Summary: In one of the largest human studies on this topic to date, researchers report that raising dopamine levels with the precursor L-DOPA modestly increased people’s willingness to wait for larger, delayed rewards. On average, participants became about 20% less impulsive under L-DOPA than under placebo. The results challenge earlier small-sample studies that linked dopamine … Read more

Summary: Researchers have identified the gene CHRNA3 as a major regulator of alcohol sensitivity, helping to explain why some individuals tolerate alcohol better than others. In laboratory models, mutations in CHRNA3 caused slower avoidance of alcohol and greater voluntary intake, with reduced sensitivity to alcohol’s calming effects. The CHRNA3 mutation also changed expression of key … Read more

Summary: A multi-year, open-label follow-up study reports that daily 40Hz light-and-sound stimulation (GENUS) may slow cognitive decline and reduce a key Alzheimer’s biomarker in people with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Over roughly two years of at-home treatment, late-onset participants preserved stronger cognitive performance than matched patients in national datasets and showed notable reductions in plasma tau … Read more

Summary: Researchers have identified a rare class of cortical neurons whose overactivity appears to drive schizophrenia-like features in a mouse model, including cognitive deficits and disrupted sleep. Dampening the activity of these neurons restored normal sleep patterns and improved behavior in mice carrying a schizophrenia-linked genetic microdeletion. The study points to a small, specific population … Read more

Summary: New research shows that even relatively mild early-life adversity can alter development, attachment behavior, and stress regulation in young mice. When mother mice were given limited nesting materials, their caregiving became fragmented and less consistent. This reduced care corresponded with higher stress hormone activity, slower physical growth, and anxiety-like behaviors in their pups. The … Read more