CBD Calms the Inflamed Alzheimer’s Brain
Summary: A new study reveals that cannabidiol (CBD) can significantly reduce neuroinflammation associated with Alzheimer’s disease. In experiments using an Alzheimer’s mouse model, researchers found that inhaled CBD lowered the activity of key genes driving inflammation and decreased harmful proinflammatory molecules in the brain. The compound interacted with specific immune regulators that control the body’s […]
Neurons Burn Fat for Fuel: Discovery Could Reverse Brain Damage
Summary: Scientists have shown that neurons don’t rely solely on sugar for energy — they can also burn fat. When energy demand spikes, neurons even create their own fats by recycling parts of themselves, a process dependent on a key protein called DDHD2. In Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia 54 (HSP54), DDHD2 malfunctions, cutting off this energy […]
AI Images That Change When Rotated Reveal How the Mind Sees
Summary: Researchers have developed AI-generated “visual anagrams” — images that transform into entirely new objects when rotated — to explore how the brain processes perception. Unlike traditional optical illusions, these rotating images allow scientists to isolate how people interpret size, emotion, and animacy in visual information. Early experiments revealed that people’s aesthetic preferences still matched […]
AI Learns to Design the Human Body’s Most Elusive Proteins
Summary: A new machine learning method has achieved what even AlphaFold cannot — the design of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), the shape-shifting biomolecules that make up nearly 30% of all human proteins. These unstable proteins play key roles in cellular communication, sensing, and disease, yet their ever-changing structures have defied traditional AI prediction models. Using […]
Head Injuries in Adults Linked to Dementia
Summary: A large-scale Canadian study has found that older adults who sustain traumatic brain injuries (TBI) face a significantly higher risk of developing dementia, needing home care, or being admitted to long-term care. Researchers found that TBIs, most commonly caused by falls, increase dementia risk by up to 69% in the first five years following […]
Why It’s Time to Retire the Body Mass Index
Summary: A growing number of researchers are calling for the end of BMI as a measure of health, arguing it’s outdated, misleading, and rooted in discrimination. The metric, a simple weight-to-height ratio, fails to account for fat distribution, muscle mass, age, or ethnicity—yet it still influences medical decisions and public perception. A new study urges […]
Do You Get Déjà Vu? Memory Glitches Make Time Feel Repeated
Summary: Déjà vu—the eerie feeling that a new moment has happened before—has puzzled scientists and philosophers for centuries. Neuroscientists now believe it’s a normal brain glitch tied to how memory and perception interact. Studies show that brief electrical discharges in the temporal lobe and hippocampus can evoke this sensation, similar to what occurs in mild […]
Misophonia Might Be a Brain Regulation Disorder
Summary: A new study shows that misophonia, strong negative reactions to certain sounds, is closely linked to cognitive and emotional inflexibility. Participants with high misophonia severity struggled to shift between emotional tasks and reported rigid thinking in daily life. The condition was also strongly associated with rumination, or repetitive negative thinking, which may drive or […]
How Growing Up Changes the Way We Hear, and Feel, Music
Summary: Our music preferences evolve across life — from youthful exploration to nostalgic reflection. A large-scale analysis of 40,000 users’ streaming data over 15 years revealed that young listeners engage broadly with new and popular music, while adults settle into more personal and emotionally rooted tastes. With age, nostalgia becomes a dominant force, shaping listening […]
Born to Connect: Newborn Brain Already Wired for Social Awareness
Summary: A new study reveals that the brain’s social perception pathway—a network that processes faces, gaze, and speech—is already active at birth or shortly thereafter. Using advanced imaging data, researchers showed that newborns exhibit robust connectivity in regions responsible for visual and social processing. Infants with stronger early connectivity paid greater attention to faces at […]