Weekly Neuroscience Update

Children with more autistic traits favored a brain activity pattern tied to sight and movement (left) before age 9 and one tied to social and emotional processing (right) after 14, suggesting interventions could be tailored by age. Credit: OCEAN Labs

Children with more autistic traits view and experience the world differently than their peers do, and those differences change as the children grow, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Insomnia is associated with a 26% higher risk of stroke and 28% higher odds of hospital admission, according to new research in Sleep Medicine Reviews. The researchers say the findings support recognizing insomnia as an important marker of brain, mental and general health.

Adults in their 60s who scored lower on tests of overall thinking ability, memory and how quickly they processed information were more likely to have a stroke years later, according to new research conducted in Sweden.

A well-known brain-healthy diet may help ward off cognitive decline and dementia by protecting arteries, a new study suggests. People who followed the MIND diet had healthier blood vessels in their brains, which was associated with larger brains and better cognitive function, researchers report in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.

Adults with hard-to-treat epilepsy who used cannabis most days had more than twice as many convulsive seizures per year and became resistant to antiseizure medications more quickly than nonusers, according to new research.

A new study reveals that the brain uses shared neural codes for speaking and listening during short verbal exchanges, but relies on distinct timing networks to process longer, overarching ideas. These findings, published in Nature Human Behaviour, help map how the brain navigates the back-and-forth demands of natural social interaction.

Low-dose aspirin was associated with a 70% lower risk of dementia among older people with a particular genetic profile, a new Monash University analysis has found, raising the possibility of a more personalized approach to dementia prevention.

A study published in Science Advances reveals that machine-learning models analysing speech can estimate chronological age and provide insights into brain and biological aging, cognitive health, and dementia. The “speech clock” developed in the study predicts age based on acoustic and linguistic features, with the difference between actual age and predicted age linked to various markers of cognitive and brain health.

Engineers created a smart shoe that analyzes walking patterns, potentially aiding in the monitoring of movement disorders, with the prototype achieving 95.4% accuracy in tracking steps and estimating calories burned.

A new study published in Brain Communications found that a transcranial low-amplitude magnetic field intervention delivered twice weekly into the brain through a noninvasive headset was associated with improvements in several measures of cognitive function and emotional well-being in people experiencing cognitive impairment associated with long COVID.

Researchers have discovered how a metabolite produced by gut bacteria can influence brain damage after stroke. Their paper is published in the journal Cell.

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Electrode locations from all patients aligned to a common brain atlas and color-coded by region. The “preSMA” and “dACC” together comprise the medial frontal cortex in our study. Credit: Courellis et al.

Scientists carried out a study aimed at better understanding how neurons preserve context over time as the goals of an ongoing task change. Their findings, published in Nature Human Behaviour, suggest that the brain can represent the same information through different patterns of neuronal activity that vary in stability and flexibility.

New research found that an unhealthy Western-style diet accelerates cognitive decline in individuals genetically predisposed to Alzheimer’s disease.

A scientific team has shown that a new brain-computer interface (BCI) can allow people with vocal tract and bodily paralysis to convey both speech and upper-body gestures simultaneously. While BCIs have facilitated one or the other in the past, this new system is the first to enable both modes of communication at once, more closely replicating natural expression.

In a study analysing nearly 3,000 brain MRI exams, researchers found that living in highly disadvantaged neighbourhoods was associated with adverse brain health.

Neuroscientists have found that a centralized genetic switch in the neuron’s cell body, rather than just local cues at the axon tips, directs axon navigation. By analysing over 12,000 developing neurons, they created a genetic atlas that could lead to new therapies for repairing damaged neural pathways after strokes or spinal cord injuries.

New research suggests that losing muscle as we age may indicate a higher risk of dementia, with individuals suffering from sarcopenia—characterized by muscle loss and decreased strength—facing a 42% increased risk.

Researchers have discovered that spontaneous eye-blink rate serves as a simple, noninvasive marker for tracking the development of executive function in early childhood. The study revealed that children aged 3–6 with higher blink rates performed better on cognitive flexibility tasks, an association specifically linked to focused activation within the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

Scientists at the University of Galway have taken part in a first-in-human study of stroke patients using a thin wire fitted with sensors to assess and map their clots.

A new study reveals the human brain is composed of two independently evolved organs, enabling the first lab-grown human hindbrain neurons. Published in Nature Neuroscience, the research shows that what we call the human brain is actually two ancient, independent nervous systems assembled side by side over hundreds of millions of years of evolutionary history.

A clinical trial has found that exercise has a significant effect on mood and lab-based measures of new brain cell formation in healthy middle-aged participants.

A recent study reveals a connection between spinal deterioration and cognitive decline, indicating that individuals with lower bone density in thoracic vertebrae experience quicker cognitive decline and microstructural brain injury, as assessed through a deep learning model analysing clinical imaging data.

A new computational model shows how cortical feedback slashes neural chaos by 93%, explaining how our vision stays stable despite fluctuating brain activity.

A research team has created a vision transformer architecture named the 4D fMRI CrossFormer (4DfCF) to analyze four-dimensional fMRI data, aiming to enhance AI-assisted brain disorder diagnosis and promote a more transparent computer-aided diagnosis system for clinicians to review AI predictions.

Neurodivergent individuals, especially those with autism or ADHD, are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at younger ages, with a significant prevalence among those diagnosed before age 20.

Scientists using magnetoencephalography (MEG) discovered five neurophysiological subtypes of major depressive disorder based on brain connectivity, revealing that patients with the same diagnosis can have opposite brain activity patterns, which explains previous research discrepancies and promotes personalized psychiatric treatment.

A new study found that 85% of patients with aura-dominant migraine experienced a reduction in monthly aura days by at least half following treatment with the anti-epileptic drug lamotrigine.

Researchers from Alzheimer Center Amsterdam and the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience discovered that personally meaningful music elicits a stronger brain response than neutral music in individuals with dementia, with variations in response based on dementia type.

Finally, this week, chronic stress and perceived social support may play a role in how memory and thinking abilities change with age, according to a new study,

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Microwire locations, task, ripple characteristics and increased co-firing during co-ripples at all recording separations. Credit: *Nature Neuroscience* (2026).

Researchers have discovered that high-frequency brain waves, known as ripples, may facilitate synchronization between distant brain regions during working memory tasks, highlighting their potential role in coordinating neural activity across long distances during cognitive processes.

Having normal blood pressure, no diabetes, and not smoking from age 48 to 68, are associated with nearly 13 additional years on average of dementia-free life, a new study shows.

Childhood epilepsy is linked to significantly poorer exam grades and long-term educational attainment, with the lowest levels of academic achievement among those whose neurological disorder started when they were very young, finds a large, long-term Danish study published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

In a paper appearing in Nature Communications, researchers show how music produces distinct patterns in the regions of the brain associated with imagination and meaning, similar to those prompted by spoken narratives.

A new study suggests that Alzheimer’s disease may be detected by brain imaging more than seven years earlier than previously assumed. The study suggests that the gold standard for imaging in Alzheimer’s disease (amyloid-PET) has not been sensitive enough to detect early brain processes associated with the disease, such as the accumulation of amyloid plaques in the brain. The researchers found signs of Alzheimer’s at least seven years before plaques became visible.

A person’s sleep patterns could be an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease, a new study says. A greater number of micro-awakenings during sleep is linked to a greater genetic risk for Alzheimer’s, researchers report in the journal Sleep.

People living with severe mental illness face a substantially higher risk of dementia throughout adulthood, as well as a significantly elevated risk of stroke in early and middle adulthood, according to a large new study based on health records from Catalonia, Spain. The findings, published in European Neuropsychopharmacology, suggest that physical health risks linked to severe psychiatric conditions emerge much earlier than many clinicians may expect, underscoring the need for general health care to be more integrated into mental health care.

A new study published in Brain Stimulation shows that the brain’s ongoing activity before stimulation can predict much of this variability, offering a path toward more reliable neuromodulation therapies.

A new AI model analyzes routine sleep study data to reveal patients’ long-term health risks, such as heart disease and cognitive decline. The study indicates that standard medical tests hold more physiologic information than typically recognized, with AI uncovering significant patterns in sleep data that traditional measures miss.

Published in the Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, a new study found six one-minute bouts of stair climbing improved people’s cognitive health.

Researchers have identified a possible biological marker linked to severe suicidal thoughts. The finding, published in The British Journal of Psychiatry, may also help explain why some people recover from these thoughts, opening a new path for research into resilience and suicide prevention.

A research team has demonstrated that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) significantly improves depression and apathy in patients with Parkinson’s disease.

A recent study suggests that a single 20-minute session of noninvasive deep brain stimulation, paired with mindful breathing, may strengthen the brain’s response to reward and reduce anxiety. Changes in reward-related brain activity remained detectable for approximately one week after the session.

Researchers have created an AI-based method to produce detailed maps revealing how different brain areas age and their correlation with cognitive function over a lifetime.

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Credit: *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences* (2026)

Scientists have developed a computer model of the human cortex that links its microscopic chemistry to its brain-wide patterns of activity, providing new evidence that regional differences in receptor density help shape how activity and information move across the brain.

An international consortium has established the first consensus-based framework and standardized taxonomy for vocal biomarkers.

A novel AI model can use information collected during routine sleep studies to identify patients’ long-term health risks, according to a new study published in Nature Communications. Developed by a multidisciplinary research team, the model uncovered hidden sleep patterns linked to risks including heart disease, cognitive decline and death.

Experiencing severe stress during childhood can make a person more vulnerable to anxiety, depression and other mood disorders when faced with hardships as an adult.

A new study reveals that during deep REM sleep, the human brain shifts its sensory processing focus from external sounds to internal cardiac signals. As responsiveness to outside noise decreases, the processing of these internal signals increases. The researchers created an audio-cardio index to measure this neural shift, providing a new physiological marker for evaluating altered states of consciousness.

Researchers have created an energy-efficient AI model that mimics hippocampal brain mechanisms, enabling it to construct cognitive maps, perform stochastic computations, and solve complex planning tasks efficiently.

A new mathematical model that reproduces the relapsing-remitting pattern of multiple sclerosis (MS) offers scientists a tool to better understand how the disease progresses. The model, developed by QUT researchers from the School of Mathematical Sciences, is published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

The first U.S. clinical trial evaluating psilocybin-assisted therapy in military veterans with treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has demonstrated significant safety and clinical efficacy.

A new study in Nature Genetics reveals a detailed map of brain immune cells involved in Alzheimer’s disease, highlighting a protective subtype that grows as the disease advances and identifying the molecular pathway that helps these cells defend the brain, with potential implications for future therapies.

A clinical trial, has found that oral semaglutide significantly reduces heavy drinking days, daily cravings, and alcohol-related problems in adults with moderate-to-severe Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD).

Scientists have found that the human brain processes low-frequency infrasound through a unique mechanism where acoustic waves bypass auditory hair cells and activate inner ear support cells, generating electric fields that stimulate different nerve pathways, causing infrasound to be felt more as a physical sensation than an audible sound.

Scientists have uncovered how a major Parkinson’s disease gene disrupts the brain’s most vulnerable dopamine-producing neurons before detectable neuronal loss. The study findings are published in Nature Communications.

A compound produced by bacteria in many people’s digestive tracts increases the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and speeds cognitive decline in dementia patients, making it a potential target for a treatment that could reduce Alzheimer’s risk, according to a new study published in Nature Communications.

Researchers have found that depression is associated with smaller volume in a specific part of the hippocampus, a brain region essential for learning and memory.

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Scientist fitting EEG cap on seated woman while others work on brain imaging and data analysis

Results from a small clinical trial suggest it may be possible to reduce the risk of dementia by eating during fewer hours of the day. The pilot study, which involved a weight-loss program for older women with overweight or obesity, showed modest cognitive improvements among those who limited their daily eating window instead of just reducing their calorie intake.

Scientists have introduced the world’s first chip capable of matching the operational speed of the human brain.

Researchers have developed a methodology that uses artificial intelligence to analyse the brain’s electrical activity during sleep, facilitating early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. The study, published in the journal GeroScience, shows that analysing nocturnal brain waves through machine learning techniques allows for the identification of early neuronal alterations and the classification of patients into three distinct biological subgroups.

A new study demonstrates that whether an individual’s eyes are open or closed completely reverses the relationship between alpha band brain activity and mind wandering.

A study on human intracranial recordings shows that memory consolidation during sleep relies on coordinated activity among the orbitofrontal cortex, thalamus, and hippocampus. It provides direct evidence of how interactions between these regions affect memory performance, highlighting that synchronised neural signalling during sleep enhances memory retention.

New blood tests for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease offer a less invasive diagnostic alternative to brain scans and spinal taps, allowing for earlier identification and potentially more effective treatment options.

A recent study found that the human brain experiences significant changes in gene regulation and genome structure starting in midlife, particularly in the hippocampus. Researchers identified a notable shift in the brain’s immune system between ages 50 and 75, where embryonic-derived microglia decrease and are replaced by cells from peripheral blood with increased inflammation. These changes, along with a reduction in cells that maintain the blood-brain barrier, could explain why ageing is a key risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Scientists have shed new light on Alzheimer’s disease that could point to new directions for treatment.

Widespread evidence suggests that years of heading, tackling, and collisions in football and rugby may increase the risk of dementia and neurological diseases. A preliminary study presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in July 2026 examined 142 former professional footballers aged 30–60 alongside 56 individuals without a history of contact sports. While both groups performed similarly in cognitive tests, the retired footballers reported worse mood, higher anxiety levels, and poorer cognitive function.

A landmark study by scientists at King’s College London has identified new genetic risk factors for fibromyalgia syndrome, emphasising the nervous system’s role in the disorder’s development.

A pan-European study highlights key behavioural factors impacting health care professionals’ decisions to prescribe new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. The findings emphasise the potential of behaviour change frameworks to enhance the adoption of these transformative therapies, addressing the rising global health care challenge posed by diseases like Parkinson’s. Understanding these prescribing influences is crucial for ensuring patient access to the best treatment options.

Analyzing UK sugar rationing data shows that limiting sugar exposure in utero and during the first two years of life reduces dementia risk by up to 23% and delays disease onset by 2.6 years

Researchers have developed an AI-powered speech neuroprosthesis that decodes high-density intracortical signals into fluent, high-fidelity synthetic speech. The dual-stage deep learning pipeline leverages a phonetic decoding layer paired with a large language model linguistic processor to achieve greater than 99% word accuracy with a processing latency of just 30 milliseconds.

A recent study showed that a three-week digital training program alongside standard drug treatment for Parkinson’s significantly improved patients’ motor function and brain motor circuits.

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*Credit: Biological Psychiatry / Volpi et al.*

A new brain imaging study published in eBioMedicine, provides the strongest evidence to date that long COVID is associated with injury to dopamine-releasing neurons in the brain—a finding that may explain symptoms such as lack of motivation due to fatigue, slowed movement and memory difficulties, and could open the door to new treatment strategies.

New research shows that sleep disorders are associated with structural changes in brain regions involved in attention, motivation and decision-making.

A new study reports that sensors can accurately monitor disease progression in patients with Parkinson’s, addressing the limitations of wearable technologies. The research, conducted by scientists from the UK Dementia Research Institute, aims to create a zero-burden method for tracking movement changes in affected individuals

Drugs commonly used for weight loss, known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, have been found to reduce the key symptoms of binge eating disorder, in a new review of evidence led by University College London (UCL) researchers.

Scientists at Trinity College Dublin have discovered that, for a short period of around one to two seconds, the brain can begin following a new conversation before it has fully let go of the previous one. The findings challenge the long-held view that we can only focus on one speaker at a time.

People with dementia, mild cognitive impairment, alcohol addiction or psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia show increased brain ageing, each in specific patterns within the brain, according to a study published in PLOS Medicine.

Individuals with psychiatric conditions have less flexibility in their brain network dynamics, as found in a new Rutgers study. The brain is made up of networks that adapt and reorganise to handle changing cognitive and emotional needs. This ability to reconfigure supports how we manage our thoughts and behaviours.

A new neuroimaging study published in the journal Brain Imaging and Behavior provides some of the first evidence that strengthening your brain health through daily habits rewires its physical architecture

Researchers have conducted one of the most comprehensive studies on how the autistic brain processes faces. Some hallmark characteristics of autism include tendencies to avoid looking at others’ faces and to make less eye contact. The research is published in the journal Nature Mental Health.

A new study highlights “gut jet lag”, the desynchronization between host biological clocks and gut microbiota rhythms during long-haul travel.

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*Credit: Jeffrey Parr/University of Southern Mississippi*

New research indicates that athletes with ADHD need even more scrutiny when head injuries are involved.

Scientists have made progress in finding better pain treatments with a new study aimed at reducing the addictive effects of morphine. They found that activating a dopamine receptor called D4 boosts morphine’s pain-relieving effects and helps prevent tolerance.

Prefrontal transcranial pulse stimulation is associated with antidepressant effects, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open

Cerebrovascular disease can cause serious problems if not treated quickly, but it’s hard to spot before symptoms show up. Researchers have developed an AI technology that analyses daily activities and environmental data from older adults to identify signs of cerebrovascular disease risk based on small changes in their home lives.

Researchers have developed a small graphene-based sensor to noninvasively measure dopamine in artificial tears, enabling rapid neurodegenerative screening.

The Consortium for Biomedical Research and Artificial Intelligence in Neurodegeneration (C-BRAIN) has launched three open-source AI tools. These tools act as team members in biomedical research, analysing global neuroscience literature, identifying patterns in hidden data, and providing objective peer reviews to accelerate the development of life-saving treatments.

A retrospective cohort study of 19,824 NFL players confirms that professional football veterans face a fourfold increase in neurodegenerative mortality, including a 3.8-fold surge in all-cause dementia and Parkinson’s disease.

A study in Neurology found that people with early-onset dementia had lower work productivity up to 15 years before they were diagnosed, with variations by type of dementia. Early-onset dementia refers to anyone under 65 diagnosed with dementia. The study only shows a link between early-onset dementia and reduced productivity, not that one causes the other.

A research team created a brain implant that can modulate neural activity with temperature, offering new opportunities for brain-computer interfaces and neurological treatments.

New research has used advanced EEG-fMRI tracking to show that the brain doesn’t operate as a single process. Instead, the human connectome manages multiple separate, asynchronous streams of information processing that happen simultaneously, providing new insights into clinical neuro-diagnostics and cognitive complexity.

A new study has introduced a novel machine learning method for analysing how the brain organises complex behaviours, offering fresh evidence that neural activity is built from reusable “building blocks.” The study is published in Neuron.

Scientists have conducted a study that enhances the understanding of the brain’s neuromodulators—acetylcholine, dopamine, and serotonin. The research integrates advanced experimental measurements with detailed computational models of the brain, demonstrating how these chemical messengers influence the electrical activity of numerous neurons in the developing brain.

Exposure to high temperatures during pregnancy and early infancy is linked to slower thalamic growth in childhood, as indicated by research from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health.

A new study has found that older adults who participated in a structured, 2-year healthy lifestyle program saw a significant improvement in memory and thinking skills, approximately 55% greater per year, compared with those who received only general health advice.

Research has shed new light on the biological basis of schizophrenia by directly measuring synaptic connections in the human brain using specialised positron emission tomography (PET) imaging.

A major study involving over 214,000 older adults from 14 countries shows that common risk factors for dementia—like low education, high blood pressure, and smoking—differ greatly between countries. This indicates that a single approach to prevention won’t be effective everywhere.

Natural plant compounds called polyphenols, found in foods such as berries, tea, cocoa, coffee, and extra-virgin olive oil, may positively influence biological processes associated with Alzheimer’s disease and nerve cell loss, claims a recent review.

A recent study found that poor sleep affects brain communication in adults, particularly highlighting that older women with poor sleep exhibited abnormal connectivity between the Default Mode Network and the Frontal Parietal Network. This over-communication correlated with worse memory performance and resembled brain patterns observed in early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

Rare DNA changes are most strongly linked to cognition in early childhood, but the link fades as children age, while common DNA changes show stronger links later in childhood, a new study finds.

Researchers have demonstrated a novel AI model that can predict which DNA molecules bind with which other DNA molecules. Providing a more thorough understanding of these hypercomplex binding relationships has utility in applications ranging from biomedical diagnostic tools to DNA computing.

A study revealed that heightened amygdala activity in adolescents viewing emotional faces can forecast their social health two years later, showing that for girls it indicated greater peer engagement, while for boys it indicated less.

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Researchers have conducted a psychophysical study using virtual reality (VR) to investigate how humans flexibly use exploratory behaviours—such as changing their viewpoint by moving their head and manipulating objects with their hands—when discriminating the material properties of objects. The study was published in the Journal of Vision.

A new study establishes a robust link between long-term exposure to air pollution and the risk of Parkinson’s disease.

An international team of scientists and clinicians have developed a generative artificial intelligence framework that unmasks these previously hidden cortical lesions by analysing existing legacy MRI scans. By synthesising minor, sub-visual discrepancies across multiple image contrasts, the AI acts as a computational lens, extracting vital diagnostic data from ordinary scans and revealing an entirely invisible layer of MS pathology.

New research in General Psychiatry has uncovered a link between higher levels of daytime light exposure and a lower risk of dementia.

A recent study discovered that randomly played sounds during sleep can actively impair memory consolidation. By utilising real-time electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring, the researchers proved that ambient sound clicks disrupt deep slow-wave sleep, arresting the physical propagation of slow brain waves across the cortex and fracturing the crucial transfer of information required to form long-term memories.

A research team has uncovered new insight into how the brain senses movement. Their findings could potentially help improve sensation and movement for prosthetic limbs.

A new study has demonstrated that introducing inflammatory signalling molecules directly into human hippocampal stem cells halts new neuron production. Instead of simply dying or becoming damaged, the brain’s neural stem cells abandon their regenerative responsibilities, entering an “immune alert” state that fuels localised neuroinflammation.

People who speak more than one language seem to have younger brains, according to research presented at the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) Forum 2026.

A new research framework that combines large language models (LLMs) with choice mathematics to evaluate human decision-making. By deploying LLMs to automatically interpret and code thousands of free-text participant thought justifications, the framework provides a scalable, validated methodology demonstrating that human reasoning strategies shift dynamically with a problem’s structure.

Scientists have found that human cortical neurons function like advanced microchips, demonstrating computational abilities comparable to those of deep artificial neural networks, rather than merely acting as simple switches.

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Regions-of-interest representing delay discounting neural processes. Nucleus accumbens activation represents reward valuation (orange). Hippocampal activation is involved in imagining the future or prospection (yellow). The middle frontal gyrus is involved in cognitive control (red). Regions were defined from the Desikan-Killiany atlas. Credit: *Alcohol, Clinical and Experimental Research* (2026). DOI: 10.1111/acer.70300

Brain activity in young adults regarding reward valuation is connected to long-term drinking habits, as shown in a study of college students with family histories of alcohol use disorder (AUD). The research suggests the potential for precision medicine to create tailored interventions for those at risk of addiction, highlighting that a family history of AUD triples or quadruples the likelihood of alcohol-related issues.

A research team has developed technology that uses artificial intelligence to analyse electroencephalogram signals triggered by thermal stimuli and objectively classify pain intensity.

A recent study analysed 73 research articles on dietary patterns and their effect on cognitive performance in youth aged 8 to 19, highlighting that nutritional deficiencies in early life can lead to lower intelligence scores in adolescence, and indicating a need for more high-quality research on potential nutritional interventions during this period.

An 8-month-old infant with severe genetic epilepsy has become the first patient in the world to receive an experimental gene replacement therapy designed to restore the function of the WWOX gene directly in the brain.

Researchers employed machine learning to detect neurological warning signs in the brain’s electrical rhythms, enabling epilepsy diagnosis without capturing active seizures. An advanced algorithm identified EEG abnormalities associated with genetic epilepsy accurately.

A recent study has found a dynamic relationship between brief physical activity and improved mood, utilising data from over 8,000 global participants with wearable sensors.

A new AI platform has been developed to decode and measure human pain, surpassing reliance on subjective self-reporting. It employs a self-correcting algorithm to analyse EEG signals in response to thermal stimuli, mapping brainwave activity to produce an objective measure of physical suffering.

Researchers found postoperative delirium was strongly associated with long-term cognitive decline, and the effect was not explained by rehospitalisations, highlighting the long-term impact of delirium on brain health.

A new study reveals that menopause is a significant neurological phase rather than just a reproductive milestone, tracking brain activity during premenopause, perimenopause, and postmenopause. It finds that “resting-state” neural networks experience substantial changes linked to estrogen fluctuations, shedding light on the biological factors affecting midlife cognitive changes and long-term brain ageing in women.

The largest genome-wide association study on anxiety has identified the polygenic basis of worry and fear responses by analysing data from 693,869 individuals, shifting the focus from binary diagnoses to the spectrum of symptom severity.

Analysing 12 years of deidentified patient electronic records using AI, researchers discovered that glucosamine use among individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is associated with a 25% higher likelihood of progressing to full dementia, alongside a 25% spike in mortality for established Alzheimer’s patients.

Finally this week, a recent study has found that the relationship between a person’s progesterone and estradiol levels at a given moment, measured in saliva, could help predict participants’ performance in a learning and memory task.

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Illustration of human brain surrounded by glowing neurons and synapses with scientific terms

A pioneering, first-of-its-kind study demonstrated that a personalised, machine-learning-guided lifestyle coaching program can nearly double the remission rates of mild-to-moderate depression. The research tracks how individual behavioural factors uniquely predict low mood states.

Scientists say they’ve uncovered striking new evidence of how alcohol addiction impacts the brain’s learning systems—and how those systems may slowly adapt during recovery—in a new study published in Clinical Neurophysiology.

New research by a collaboration of U.K.-based scientists has revealed that common indoor and outdoor air pollutants can alter both brain and respiratory function within just four hours of exposure, offering key insights into how air pollution impacts brain health and may contribute to dementia risk.

Children recover significantly faster from concussion after receiving early, multidisciplinary care designed to treat persistent symptoms, according to a new study.

Researchers have discovered the first definitive neural evidence of how the brain creates and reuses abstract symbols to think creatively. The research tracks the neural substrates of “compositional generalisation”, the foundational cognitive ability to take familiar components and recombine them into entirely fresh ideas.

A neuroimaging study has challenged the idea that chronic brain inflammation causes Long COVID, using PET and MRI scans to analyse patients with Long COVID, healthy individuals, and MS patients.

Scientists have uncovered a vital mechanism of the “heart-brain axis,” showing that a heart attack can alter brain function, leading to depression, anxiety, and cognitive decline. After such an event, a toxic byproduct called methylglyoxal (MG) increases in the bloodstream and accumulates in the brain’s mood and memory centres.

Frequent changes in blood pressure could affect cognitive health and contribute to brain changes associated with dementia risk, according to new research.

A new study identified the architectural and evolutionary principles that govern how both children and artificial neural networks absorb language. The research bridges cognitive linguistics and deep learning to demonstrate the power of “iterated learning”, the process where language reshapes itself over multiple generations to become increasingly structured and structured data becomes easier to learn.

New research has uncovered how a protein strongly linked to Alzheimer’s disease plays a critical role in forming long-lasting memories—opening up new directions for future dementia treatments.

A new study finds that caffeine negatively impacts sleep quality by reducing slow-wave activity, even if total sleep duration seems normal. Researchers used electroencephalography (EEG) to show that this reduction leads to a more wakeful brain state, hindering the central nervous system’s ability to regenerate physically and cognitively.

In people with epilepsy, a new study has found a smartwatch application accurately detected tonic-clonic seizures, seizures with major convulsions, with a low rate of false alarms.

A recent study identified sleep behaviours as early indicators of brain ageing in healthy adults by analysing MRI data from over 23,000 individuals. It found that sleep durations outside the recommended seven-to-nine hours, frequent daytime napping, and chronic sleeplessness are associated with greater white matter lesions, a marker of cognitive decline, regardless of other factors.

Finally this week, quitting smoking is associated with a lower risk for dementia, especially for those with no or modest weight gain after cessation, according to a study published in Neurology.