Summary: New research shows that maternal obesity before conception can set lasting epigenetic marks in egg cells that influence neurodevelopment and produce autism-related behaviors in offspring. Using an IVF and embryo transfer approach in mice to isolate pre-conception effects, scientists identified altered DNA methylation patterns that changed expression of genes such as Homer1. In male … Read more

Summary: A new study explains why the blood-brain barrier — the brain’s protective lining — becomes more permeable with age and how that change can contribute to early memory decline. Researchers found that levels of two critical proteins, N-cadherin and occludin, fall over time, weakening the tight junctions that normally seal brain blood vessels. These … Read more

Summary: New research on prairie voles demonstrates that oxytocin is not absolutely required for forming social bonds, but it is essential for forming them quickly and keeping those bonds stable. Voles without functioning oxytocin receptors took up to a week to develop peer preferences that normal voles form in a day, and in group situations … Read more

Summary: A new study shows that the brain’s basal ganglia use two distinct neural “languages” to control movement: one code for acquired, learned skills and a different code for innate, natural behaviors. In experiments with rats, researchers found that the dorsolateral striatum (DLS) is critical for executing trained tasks but is not required for everyday … Read more

Summary: A new study identifies a novel strategy to treat proteinopathies—conditions caused by toxic buildup of misfolded proteins, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and prion diseases—by remodeling nuclear speckles, small membrane-less structures in the cell nucleus that regulate protein quality control. The research shows that pyrvinium pamoate, an FDA-approved antiparasitic, reduces the surface tension of nuclear speckles, … Read more

Summary: Researchers studying people with epilepsy have found that individual neurons in the medial temporal lobe synchronize their firing to slow brain rhythms to support memory formation and retrieval. This alignment, called theta-phase locking, occurs within a one to ten hertz frequency range and is present during both learning and recall. The investigators observed that … Read more

Summary: A recent study shows that oxytocin’s effect on social behavior depends strongly on the recipient’s current social motivation. In rhesus macaques, oxytocin enhanced and prolonged prosocial choices only when animals were already inclined to engage socially. When motivation was low, the hormone had little measurable impact. Neural recordings linked these behavioral effects to increased … Read more

Summary: Researchers report that the brain’s touch-processing region ages in a layer-specific pattern: some cortical layers remain robust while others thin with age. High-resolution 7T MRI scans show that the middle and upper layers of the primary somatosensory cortex often remain stable or even thicken, likely reflecting continued sensory use, while deeper layers that modulate … Read more

Summary: A recent study identifies sexual narcissism as a key psychological mechanism linking childhood trauma to compulsive sexual behavior (also called hypersexuality or Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder, CSBD). By comparing adults receiving support for sex addiction with matched controls, researchers found that histories of abuse and neglect predict sexually narcissistic attitudes, which in turn strongly … Read more

Summary: New research indicates that adult risk-taking behavior may be shaped more by the types of resources available during childhood than by an inherent tendency toward risk. In a study using fMRI, people who grew up with strong social support but limited economic means (“socially rich”) and those who grew up with greater economic resources … Read more