New Light-Activated Tool Reveals How Proteins Form Liquid and Solid Assemblies Inside Living Cells Summary: Researchers have created an optogenetic tool that helps explain how proteins assemble into both liquid droplets and gel-like solids inside living cells. Source: Princeton University. Researchers have developed a light-activated method called optoDroplet that enables precise control of protein phase … Read more

Summary: Researchers have identified a relationship between real-life creativity, the organization of semantic memory, and brain functional connectivity. Source: Institut du Cerveau The team led by Emmanuelle Volle at the Paris Brain Institute, together with international collaborators, has demonstrated for the first time a direct link between everyday creative behavior, the structure of semantic memory, … Read more

LMU researchers identify a novel signal transduction pathway that activates the parkin gene and prevents stress-induced neuronal cell death. Parkinson’s disease is the most common movement disorder and the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s. It is defined by the progressive loss of dopamine-producing neurons in the substantia nigra, a midbrain region essential for … Read more

Tübingen researchers identify neurons that let crows hold short-term memories despite having very different brains from mammals. Working memory — the brain’s short-term storage and processing system — is essential for many intelligent behaviors. It acts like a mental notepad that allows animals and humans to keep information readily available for ongoing tasks: following a … Read more

Summary: A novel vaccine strategy can direct the immune system to precisely attack gliomas, one of the most lethal types of brain tumor. This breakthrough demonstrates that immune cells can be trained to recognize proteins bearing cancer-driving mutations, opening a new avenue for targeted cancer immunotherapy. Clinical trials have confirmed that vaccines focused on the … Read more

Summary: Belief in conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic predicts resistance to vaccination and to preventive behaviors such as mask-wearing. Source: Annenberg Public Policy Center Belief in conspiracy theories about the coronavirus is both persistent and consequential. Researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center find that people who endorse COVID-19 conspiracy theories are less likely … Read more

Summary: New, population-level evidence links high social media use to later declines in adolescent mental health. The Child to Adult Transition Study (CATS) in Melbourne tracked nearly 1,200 participants from age 9 through 19 and found that spending two or more hours per day on social platforms predicts small but measurable increases in depressive symptoms … Read more

Summary: Scientists have uncovered how the brain converts sounds into actions, advancing our understanding of sensory decision-making. Their study shows that both sound-related and future action–related signals coexist across the cortex, challenging the idea that sensory and motor cortical areas are strictly separate in function. Using a carefully designed behavioral task in mice, the research … Read more

A specific region of the hippocampus helps detect subtle differences between stored memories and new experiences The hippocampus is a critical brain structure for encoding and retrieving spatial and contextual memories. It contains several subfields—each with specialized contributions to memory processing—but the precise role of some areas has remained unclear. Researchers at the Laboratory for … Read more

Researchers link traumatic brain injury to a toxic form of the tau protein Scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) have identified a molecular process that may help explain how traumatic brain injury (TBI) causes lasting neurological harm. Their work focuses on an abnormal assembly of the tau protein—known as tau … Read more