Summary: A recent study finds that sharks of the same species display distinct personalities, with consistent differences in boldness and stress reactivity. Source: Wiley New research shows individual personality differences in Port Jackson sharks Researchers report that juvenile Port Jackson sharks (Heterodontus portusjacksoni) show consistent, individual differences in behavior. In controlled tests, some sharks were … Read more

Summary: New research suggests that a controlled amount of psychological stress can stimulate aspects of the immune system and may provide protection against subsequent intestinal injury. Source: Case Western Reserve Stress is often linked to health problems such as insomnia, high blood pressure, obesity and heart disease. Yet some stress — the kind that sharpens … Read more

Like Duke Ellington’s 1931 jazz classic, the human brain improvises while a steady internal rhythm keeps time. New research led by UC Berkeley shows that when people tackle mentally demanding tasks, groups of neurons briefly tune into the same rhythm for fractions of a second to coordinate activity, then return to their spontaneous, improvisational patterns. … Read more

Summary: Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine report that skin-associated stem cells called melanocyte stem cells can, under appropriate conditions, generate myelin-producing cells in mice. This discovery suggests a potential, minimally invasive route to restore the myelin sheath lost in disorders such as multiple sclerosis. Source: University of Maryland School of Medicine … Read more

Summary: A York University study reports that 30 minutes of once-weekly cognitive-motor training can slow dementia progression and, for some participants in the earliest stages, restore cognitive performance to healthy levels. Source: York University Cognitive-Motor Training: A Simple Weekly Exercise That May Slow or Reverse Early Dementia Researchers at York University’s Faculty of Health report … Read more

Summary: A new study resolves a century-old question about how the brain matches blood vessel distribution to local energy use. Source: UCSD Our brains are continuous energy consumers. A dense network of blood vessels, when laid end to end, reaches a length comparable to the distance from San Diego to Berkeley, supplying a steady flow … Read more

Neuroscientists running the largest longitudinal adolescent brain imaging study to date report that predicting teenage binge drinking is feasible. In their published analysis, researchers found that a combination of factors—including genetics, brain function and roughly 40 demographic, psychological and behavioral variables—can forecast which adolescents are likely to develop a pattern of binge drinking with about … Read more

Summary: A large new analysis reveals a clear biological association between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and higher long-term brain cancer mortality. Researchers examined nearly four decades of data from the TBI Model Systems National Database, following more than 20,000 civilian patients who received inpatient neurorehabilitation. After adjusting for age, sex, race, calendar year and known … Read more

Summary: New research shows that human olfaction relies heavily on predictive coding—more so than vision—reframing smell as a sophisticated, proactive sense rather than a primitive, reactive one. Behavioral tests and fMRI scans reveal that odors that violate expectations trigger not only olfactory regions but also visual brain areas, highlighting smell’s multisensory and anticipatory processing. These … Read more

Scientists at the University of Manchester have applied a novel comparative approach to identify a gene linked to neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers led by David Ashbrook, working with collaborators in the UK and the USA, compared large-scale brain imaging and genetic datasets from humans and mice to pinpoint a gene that influences … Read more