All articles tagged with #brain research
Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing optogenetics, a technique using light to control neurons. Deisseroth, a Stanford professor, learned of the award late at night and planned to prepare his children's school lunches before celebrating.
A new study in Nature Neuroscience reveals that general anesthesia induces a conserved neural dynamic across six species spanning 700 million years of evolution. Led by Andrea Luppi of the University of Oxford, the research shows that while brain regions remain active under anesthesia, their coordination and temporal predictability break down. This 'spatiotemporal isolation' suggests a universal mechanism for unconsciousness, distinct from simply shutting down the brain. Concurrently, UCLA researchers demonstrated that human stem cell-derived brain assembloids can replicate these slow-wave electrical patterns without a thalamus, confirming that minimal cortical circuits are sufficient to generate anesthetic signatures.
Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel have been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing optogenetics, a technique that uses light to control nerve cells in living brains. The award recognizes their work in mapping neural circuits and understanding the biological basis of behaviors and disorders.
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel for developing optogenetics, a technique that uses light to control and map neural activity. This innovation allows scientists to identify specific brain circuits responsible for behaviors and disorders, potentially leading to new treatments for conditions like depression and blindness.
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel for the development of optogenetics. This technique uses light to control nerve cells, allowing scientists to map brain functions and study neurological disorders.
Researchers have published a comprehensive map of gene activity in the human prefrontal cortex, analyzing over 6.3 million cells from 1,494 deceased donors. This detailed atlas, developed through nine studies, identifies molecular changes associated with aging and disorders like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and schizophrenia. By pinpointing specific cell types and biological processes affected by these conditions, the research aims to accelerate the development of targeted therapies and distinguish normal aging from disease-related decline.
Researchers in California have successfully fused millions of human neurons into the brains of mice to create a new model for studying brain disorders. This advanced technique allows scientists to observe how human brain cells integrate and function within a living animal, potentially accelerating the development of treatments for neurodevelopmental and neurocognitive diseases.
Stanford researchers transplanted human brain organoids into mice with greatly reduced cortex, enabling human cells to integrate with the mouse brain and circuits. The animals showed largely normal behavior, offering a potential new model for studying human brain disorders and testing treatments, but the work does not make mice think like humans and raises significant ethical questions about animal cognition and welfare.
A biotech startup called Bexorg keeps recently donated human brains on its BrainEX life-support system, arguing the preserved brains offer a more realistic testbed for drugs (including Alzheimer’s candidates) than animal models. The brains hover between life and death, show no consciousness, and are dosed with anesthetic; after about 24 hours they’re sliced into hundreds of pieces for analysis. Bexorg aims to process up to 1,600 brains per year, while pharma firms like Biohaven have already used donor brains for drug testing, fueling ethical and philosophical debates over the use of near-living tissue in research.
New MIT Media Lab work shows heavy use of AI chatbots can dampen brain activity linked to creativity and memory, with evidence of poorer recall and a 'cognitive surrender' where users accept AI outputs without scrutiny. While AI can assist, overreliance may harm long-term cognition; experts advocate 'hybrid intelligence'—thinking first, using AI to challenge later—and strategies like nemesis prompts to keep minds engaged.
Recent advances in neuroscience suggest that memory can be manipulated in lab settings, with potential applications for healing mental health issues, though ethical concerns remain about its use in humans.
The article discusses a paradigm shift in neuroscience towards neuroethology, which studies animals in naturalistic settings to better understand complex cognitive behaviors like social interactions and decision-making, moving beyond traditional lab-based methods to capture the brain's functioning in real-world contexts.
UVA researchers have identified a physiological cause of memory loss in Alzheimer's, involving protective 'nets' around neurons in the hippocampus, and found a drug used for cancer and arthritis that may prevent this loss in mice. Human trials are still years away, but the findings could lead to new treatments for Alzheimer's disease.
Researchers have developed a novel ultrasound helmet that can non-invasively target and modulate deep-brain structures with high precision, potentially transforming the study and treatment of neurological and psychiatric conditions like Parkinson's disease and depression.
A new study suggests that loss of the sense of smell may be an early warning sign of Alzheimer's disease, linked to damage in the brainstem and immune response, although it is not currently used in diagnosis and could be confused with normal aging changes.