An international research team led by the University of Granada has provided the first robust scientific evidence that depression is linked to significant disturbances in oxidative stress, supporting the view that depression should be regarded as a systemic disease affecting the whole body. The findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, help explain the … Read more

Summary: A new study identifies a meaningful link between the spatial arrangement of urban greenspace and residents’ mortality risk, showing that connected, aggregated, and irregularly shaped parks are associated with lower death rates. Source: Texas A&M Researchers Huaqing Wang, a Ph.D. student in Urban and Regional Sciences, and Professor Lou Tassinary of visualization found that … Read more

Summary: New research shows that synaptic vesicles are a major contributor to the brain’s energy use even when neurons are not actively firing. Source: Weill Cornell University The brain consumes far more energy per gram than any other organ, and much of that demand persists even during periods when neurons are largely inactive. Researchers at … Read more

Male Starlings Sing Less to Females Exposed to Low Levels of Antidepressants Summary: A new study finds that male songbirds reduce courtship singing to females that have been exposed to low, environmentally relevant levels of the SSRI antidepressant fluoxetine (Prozac). Source: University of York Key finding: In a field-relevant experiment, male European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) … Read more

Summary: Researchers investigated how stress hormones such as cortisol affect the risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Using a rat model with an inherently blunted hormonal stress response, they found behavioral, structural, and sleep-related changes consistent with PTSD. Combining a therapy-like behavioral intervention with corticosterone treatment reduced these symptoms, offering insights into possible therapeutic … Read more

Summary: New Caltech research shows that serotonin produced by neurons in the raphe nuclei is essential for normal sleep in both zebrafish and mice. Raphe neuron activity and tonic serotonin release appear to build sleep pressure, clarifying why drugs that increase brain serotonin can alter sleep. Source: CalTech Serotonin is a versatile neurotransmitter found throughout … Read more

Indiana University researchers have found that rats can remember not just facts, but the source of those facts — how they acquired a sought-after piece of chocolate. The new study, published in Current Biology, presents the first experimental evidence of source memory in a nonhuman animal. The discovery has broad implications, said principal investigator Jonathon … Read more

Summary: Researchers present a unified framework for naming and classifying the many cell types of the cerebral cortex, a step that could clarify how brain networks are organized and function. Source: Columbia University The human brain contains roughly 100 billion neurons, connected in enormously complex networks—the kind of biological labyrinth that Spanish neuroanatomist Ramón y … Read more

Summary: Analysis of Spotify listening data by researchers at Aarhus University reveals that the music people choose for studying and the tracks they select to fall asleep to share more similarities with each other than either does with general music listening. Source: Aarhus University What music do you pick for study sessions, and what do … Read more

Summary: Using advanced live-cell super-resolution imaging, researchers have observed new patterns of molecular organization that form as neuronal connections grow stronger during learning-like stimulation. Source: Thomas Jefferson University. When we learn, the connections between neurons grow stronger. Conditions such as addiction and some neurodevelopmental disorders are associated with abnormally strengthened synapses. But what exactly changes … Read more