Summary: A pilot randomized controlled clinical trial provides the first targeted clinical evidence that immunotherapy may offer a new treatment avenue for people with treatment-resistant depression. The study tested whether tocilizumab, an anti-inflammatory drug used for autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, can reduce depressive symptoms by blocking the interleukin‑6 (IL‑6) inflammatory pathway. Researchers screened … Read more

Summary: A new study shows how early brain activity actively shapes the circuits that support vocal communication by regulating the gene Foxp2, a gene strongly associated with human speech and communication disorders. Rather than being a fixed genetic program, early vocal circuit development is dynamically guided by neural activity in a higher-order forebrain pathway linking … Read more

Summary: A computational neuroscience study has developed a precise, data-driven method to quantify human pain by tracking invisible, high-speed facial micromovement spikes. Using artificial intelligence and high-frame-rate video analysis, the research offers an objective alternative to the widely used, but subjective, 1-to-10 pain scale by decoding minute motor fluctuations that are imperceptible to the human … Read more

Summary: Researchers report the first direct experimental evidence showing how the severity of genetic mutations changes sex-specific vulnerability to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Autism is diagnosed about four times more often in males than in females, which has led scientists to propose that females possess biological protective mechanisms. This study establishes that while mild CHD8 … Read more

Summary: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial found that switching from combustible cigarettes to a pod-based salt-nicotine electronic cigarette substantially increased short-term smoking cessation and reduced exposure to several tobacco-related toxicants. In the trial, daily smokers assigned to a 5% nicotine pod-based e-cigarette were about three times more likely to quit smoking within six weeks … Read more

Summary: A landmark cognitive science study provides the first rigorous empirical evidence that modern artificial intelligence can pass the classic Turing test. In randomized, controlled experiments that faithfully applied Alan Turing’s 1950 three-party conversation framework, researchers show that contemporary large language models (LLMs) can imitate human conversational behavior so convincingly that people often cannot tell … Read more

Summary: Researchers have identified the first pharmacological strategy to extend the rapid but typically short-lived antisuicidal effects of ketamine. A single ketamine infusion can sharply reduce severe suicidal thoughts within hours, yet that relief commonly wanes after about a week. This new approach uses a daily, low-dose course of buprenorphine for four weeks after ketamine … Read more

Summary: A new study reveals an unexpected link between schizophrenia and the peripheral immune system. Researchers found that neutrophils—the most abundant circulating white blood cells—actively produce C4A, a complement protein previously thought to be produced mainly in the liver. C4A is the strongest common genetic risk factor for schizophrenia and promotes excessive synaptic pruning in … Read more

Summary: A new research letter warns that a recently promoted statistical method used to support a class of Alzheimer’s drugs can dramatically overstate clinical effects. The study evaluated “quantile aggregation,” a technique that groups patients by measured outcomes, averages those results, and then examines trends across those groups. Computational simulations show this approach can hide … Read more

Summary: A significant technical advance has removed a long-standing barrier in behavioral neuroimaging. Researchers have introduced Neuroplex, an open-source imaging pipeline that enables simultaneous mapping of real-time functional activity for up to nine distinct neuronal populations in freely moving mice. Neuroplex pairs lightweight, head-mounted miniscopes with high-resolution spectral confocal imaging and a custom Python alignment … Read more