Neuroscience

  1. An illustration of a body created with light blue lines to simulate electricity.
    Life

    ‘We Are Electric’ delivers the shocking story of bioelectricity

    Sally Adee’s new book spotlights the underexplored science of the body’s electricity and investigates how bioelectricity could advance medicine.

    By Meghan Rosen
  2. An illustration of Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria, represented as orange circles, infecting brain cells.
    Neuroscience

    How meningitis-causing bacteria invade the brain

    Microbes behind bacterial meningitis hijack pain-sensing nerve cells in the brain’s outer layers, disabling a key immune response, a mouse study shows.

    By Jackie Rocheleau
  3. A photo of a woman sitting on a couch and holding a baby while she talks on the phone and types one handed on a laptop.
    Neuroscience

    ‘Mommy brain’ doesn’t capture how the brain transforms during pregnancy

    During the transition to motherhood, there's more going on than “momnesia,” neuroscientists argue. The brain changes to prep for the job of caregiving

    By Aimee Cunningham
  4. A microscope image of a nerve cell with colors highlighting special receptors.
    Health & Medicine

    Psychedelics may improve mental health by getting inside nerve cells

    Psychedelics can get inside neurons, causing them to grow. This might underlie the drugs’ potential in combatting mental health disorders.

    By McKenzie Prillaman
  5. An illustration of a nerve cell with extensions branching out to create connections called synapses.
    Neuroscience

    Adult mouse brains are teeming with ‘silent synapses’

    Nerve cell connections thought to be involved mainly in development could explain how the brain keeps making new memories while holding onto old ones.

    By Claudia López Lloreda
  6. A white rat inside a clear case with a one red dot on its tail and three colored dots in a straight line on its head
    Neuroscience

    Rats can bop their heads to the beat

    Rats’ rhythmic response to human music doesn’t mean they like to dance, but it may shed light on how brains evolved to perceive rhythm.

    By Deborah Balthazar
  7. An illustration of a woman with the top of her appearing to open on a hinge and her pull a thin white string out of a tangled collection of string where her brain would be
    Neuroscience

    New brain implants ‘read’ words directly from people’s thoughts

    In the lab, brain implants can translate internal speech into external signals, technology that could help people who are unable to speak or type.

    By Laura Sanders
  8. A photo of a women asleep in a bed
    Psychology

    A new treatment for debilitating nightmares offers sweeter dreams

    A new study combines standard nightmare disorder therapy with a memory-enhancing technique to create happier dreams and bring greater, lasting relief.

    By Jackie Rocheleau
  9. an organoid made of human nerve cells, shown in bright green, on the upper left side of a rat brain, shown in dark green
    Neuroscience

    Clumps of human nerve cells thrived in rat brains

    New results suggest that environment matters for the development of brain organoids, 3-D nerve cell clusters that grow and mimic the human brain.

    By Laura Sanders
  10. Tua Tagovailoa, wearing a teal jersey with the number 1, tries to throw a football amid a tackle
    Neuroscience

    Why traumatic brain injuries raise the risk of a second, worse hit

    Recent hits to Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa have reignited discussions of brain safety for professional football players. Brain experts weigh in.

    By Laura Sanders
  11. photo of six gray sperm whales diving down from the ocean surface
    Animals

    ‘Wonderful nets’ of blood vessels protect dolphin and whale brains during dives

    Complex networks of blood vessels called retia mirabilia that are associated with cetaceans’ brains and spines have long been a mystery.

    By Claudia López Lloreda
  12. Emily Jacobs and Caitlin Taylor look at images of the brain on a computer.
    Neuroscience

    Emily Jacobs wants to know how sex hormones sculpt the brain

    Emily Jacobs studies how the brain changes throughout women’s reproductive years, plus what it all means for health.

    By Cassie Martin