Summary: Chronic pain and depression often occur together, but many people remain emotionally resilient despite persistent pain. New research identifies how the hippocampus and immune cells in the brain determine whether chronic pain leads to depression. Researchers mapped a central emotional control region — the hippocampus — and found that depression is not an unavoidable … Read more

Summary: Researchers have developed an adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector that delivers an antibody targeting phosphorylated Tau (pTau) directly into the hippocampus, producing a substantial reduction in pTau accumulation associated with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in a mouse model. Source: Mary Ann Liebert Inc A new study demonstrates the feasibility of using gene therapy to address … Read more

Quantitative study identifies 239 genes whose ‘vulnerability’ to devastating de novo mutation makes them priority research targets. A team led by researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) this week publishes a new analysis in PNAS examining the genetics of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Many researchers have proposed that ASD can arise from combinations of … Read more

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) may help predict which patients in remission from major depressive disorder (MDD) are at higher risk for future depressive episodes, according to research published in JAMA Psychiatry. A team from King’s College London and The University of Manchester, with funding cited from the Medical Research Council (MRC), used task-based fMRI … Read more

How Brain Cells Work Together to Remember and Imagine Places Summary: Researchers have created a computational model that helps explain how mental images drawn from memory can be accounted for by the activity of specific neurons. Source: UCL Overview UCL researchers have developed a computational model that explains how mental images drawn from memory arise … Read more

Summary: A new study has mapped the molecular signature of neural stem and progenitor cells (NPCs), the rare cells that produce new neurons in the adult brain. By combining a computational digital sorting algorithm with cross-species validation, researchers identified 129 NPC-enriched genes, including 25 already linked to human neurological disorders and 15 additional candidate genes … Read more

Summary: Last summer’s “heat dome” that produced record temperatures across Western North America also led to measurable increases in climate change anxiety, a new study finds. Source: Simon Fraser University The 2021 Western North American “heat dome” did more than set temperature records: it coincided with a clear rise in anxiety about climate change among … Read more

New study deciphers bird sounds and reveals language precursors in babbler birds Researchers from the Universities of Exeter and Zurich have uncovered evidence that chestnut-crowned babblers—highly social birds native to Australia’s arid Outback—use rearranged, meaningless sound elements to create distinct, meaningful calls. This finding suggests a simple form of phonemic structuring in a nonhuman vocal … Read more

Summary: New research suggests that taking part in regular group singing can support recovery from anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions by improving mood, social connection and a sense of belonging. Singing Together Improves Mental Health and Wellbeing, Study Finds Researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) examined how community singing supports people … Read more

Summary: Infants as young as 15 months can use linguistic context to infer the meaning of words for objects they have never seen. In laboratory tests, 15-month-olds who heard a novel word embedded in a familiar conversation about fruits later identified the correct unseen object when it appeared, showing they had formed a mental “gist” … Read more