Summary: Restoring sight with brain implants is a powerful goal, but a major obstacle remains: the brain’s immune response to foreign devices. A new study dismantles the standard assumptions about neural implants and offers practical guidance for designing devices that the brain can tolerate long-term. The research delivers a rigorous comparison between rigid silicon electrodes … Read more

Summary: Preclinical PET imaging can create a visual map of inflammation and may help evaluate new therapies for autoimmune and other inflammatory diseases. Source: Society of Nuclear Medicine. Preclinical PET imaging maps neuroinflammation and could accelerate development of therapies for multiple sclerosis Researchers presented findings showing that preclinical positron emission tomography (PET) imaging can visualize … Read more

Summary: Over time, cortical thinning was linked to bipolar disorder patients who experienced more manic episodes. These changes were most pronounced in the prefrontal cortex, a region involved in emotional regulation and executive function. Source: Elsevier Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe psychiatric condition marked by alternating episodes of depression and mania. While prior small … Read more

Summary: A study from the University of Bonn reports that prolonged low-dose THC treatment restored memory and reversed molecular signs of brain ageing in mice, suggesting potential avenues for treating dementia and other neurodegenerative conditions. Source: University of Bonn University of Bonn researchers restore memory performance of elderly mice to a youthful state As we … Read more

Midday Naps Linked to More Happiness, Better Self-Control, and Higher Academic Scores in 10–12-Year-Olds Summary: A new analysis of nearly 3,000 children shows that brief midday naps are associated with improved mood, greater self-control and grit, fewer behavioral problems, and higher cognitive and academic performance—especially in older elementary students. Source: University of Pennsylvania Parents have … Read more

Summary: A new study shows that an early relative of mammals already had an enlarged brain with a neocortex-like region. Researchers report this feature in a late Permian therapsid, indicating that a neocortex-like structure appeared roughly 25 million years before the first true mammals. Source: UDE Researchers have discovered that a distant relative of mammals … Read more

Diaminothiazole Kinase Inhibitors Reduce Tau Pathology and Protect Neurons in Alzheimer’s Mouse Models Building on research published eight years earlier in the Journal Chemistry and Biology, Kenneth S. Kosik, Harriman Professor in Neuroscience and co-director of the Neuroscience Research Institute (NRI) at UC Santa Barbara, and his laboratory have extended those findings to two widely … Read more

Summary: New AI technology can identify the type of post-stroke depression in patients, enabling more targeted treatment and potentially improving recovery. Source: Hiroshima University Researchers at Hiroshima University have developed an artificial intelligence system that can help clinicians detect different types of post-stroke mood disorders—such as depression, apathy, and anxiety—by analyzing routine clinical evaluation data. … Read more

Summary: A large long-term study found that people who followed diets richer in high-quality plant-based foods and lower in added sugars and refined grains had about a 10% lower risk of experiencing a stroke—particularly ischemic stroke—later in life. Source: AAN Eating a diet focused on high-quality plant foods—such as leafy greens, fruits, whole grains, beans … Read more

Summary: A new preclinical study shows the hippocampus does more than store memories: it actively reorganizes them to predict future rewards. By tracking hippocampal activity in mice over several weeks, researchers observed neurons shift their firing from the moment of reward to the moments that lead up to it, effectively building a predictive model of … Read more