Summary: Researchers have identified two distinct pathways for how amyloid pathology develops in Alzheimer’s disease. Source: Karolinska Institute Two commonly used methods to detect amyloid pathology in Alzheimer’s disease—amyloid PET imaging and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis—sometimes give conflicting results, which can lead to delayed or incorrect clinical decisions. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, in collaboration with … Read more

A team of scientists from Lomonosov Moscow State University, together with researchers from the Institute of Molecular Biology at the Russian Academy of Sciences and King’s College London, has clarified key steps in the development of Alzheimer’s disease and identified a likely trigger. Their study was published in Scientific Reports. “Alzheimer’s disease is a common … Read more

One single dose of the antidepressant escitalopram alters resting-state network connectivity across the brain within hours. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig have shown that escitalopram, a commonly prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), produces measurable changes in brain-wide functional connectivity just a few hours after intake. … Read more

Summary: A new University of Missouri study links working memory to learning in young children and points to classroom strategies that could help students with language-based learning difficulties. Source: University of Missouri Columbia. One in five people experience language-based learning disabilities, according to the National Center for Learning Disabilities. Dyslexia — difficulty reading or interpreting … Read more

Summary: Scientists have shown for the first time that Heliconius butterflies can learn and remember spatial locations. This experimental evidence demonstrates that these butterflies use spatial information to locate and revisit reliable food sources, a behavior that supports their long-distance foraging strategy known as traplining. Until now, experimental work on insect spatial learning has emphasized … Read more

Summary: Researchers have developed a new method that enables soft robots to move with motions closer to biological limbs. Source: Harvard. Tool simplifies the design of soft robots that bend and twist like real joints. Designing a soft robot to move in natural, limb-like ways — bending like a finger or twisting like a wrist … Read more

Summary: Triggering peripheral inflammation in mice produced a rapid onset of delirium-like cognitive dysfunction, driven by disruptions in brain energy metabolism. Source: TCD Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have identified a clear connection between impaired brain energy metabolism and delirium — a sudden, severe disturbance in attention and cognition that is especially common in older … Read more

Summary: A large-scale genetic study finds that genetic variation contributes to same-sex sexual behavior, but no single “gay gene” determines orientation. The research identifies five genetic loci linked to having at least one same-sex partner and estimates that genetic factors explain roughly 8–25% of variation in same-sex sexual behavior, while many other biological, developmental, and … Read more

Summary: Researchers report the creation of highly bio-realistic and complex computer models of individual brain cells at an unprecedented scale. Source: Cedars-Sinai Cedars-Sinai investigators have developed the most bio-realistic and anatomically detailed computer models of single neurons created to date, produced at an unprecedented scale. Published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell Reports, the study describes … Read more

Summary: A new AI-driven study examines evolutionary differences between male and female birdwing butterflies, offering fresh insight into a long-standing debate between Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. Using machine learning to analyze more than 16,000 museum photographs, researchers show that both sexes play important roles in species-level diversity. Males frequently display greater visible variation, … Read more