Neuroscience News

Boscaini et al. reveal previously unrecognized effects of coffee on the microbiota-gut-brain axis, suggesting that microbiome profiles could potentially predict coffee consumption patterns and highlighting a close association between coffee intake and gut microbial composition. Image credit: Sci.News.

New Study Links Coffee Intake to Microbiome Changes and Improved Mental Well-Being

Apr 21, 2026 by News Staff

New research led by University College Cork scientists suggests that both caffeinated and decaf coffee reshape the gut microbiome in ways tied to lower...

Vitamin D3 may be effective in the treatment of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases, including heart failure, myocardial infarction, vasculopathy, stroke and diabetes. Image credit: Aloísio Costa Latgé.

Higher Vitamin D in Midlife May Be Associated with Lower Levels of Alzheimer’s Biomarker Years Later

Apr 2, 2026 by News Staff

In new research, University of Galway’s Dr. Martin David Mulligan and his colleagues followed nearly 800 participants from the Framingham Heart Study...

Extra-virgin olive oil, a major component of the Mediterranean diet, protects against cognitive decline. Image credit: Steve Buissinne.

Virgin Olive Oil Tied to Slower Cognitive Decline through Gut Microbiome Changes

Feb 24, 2026 by Natali Anderson

A large prospective cohort study finds that older adults who eat more virgin olive oil — a key component of the Mediterranean diet — have slower...

Kanzi the bonobo. Image credit: Ape Initiative.

Bonobos Demonstrate Imaginative Ability in New Experiments

Feb 5, 2026 by News Staff

The consistent performance of Kanzi the bonobo in pretend play experiments suggests that the mental capacity to imagine nonexistent objects may trace back...

Weekend recovery sleep doesn’t prevent weight gain or reduce insulin sensitivity. Image credit: Wok & Apix.

Night Owls and Early Birds Aren’t Enough: Scientists Identify Five Distinct Sleep-Wake Profiles

Feb 3, 2026 by News Staff

New research led by McGill University scientists suggests human sleep patterns (chronotypes) fall along a broader biological spectrum — with each...

DeCasien et al. provide the first empirical data showing the direct role the gut microbiome plays in shaping differences in the way the brain functions across different primate species. Image credit: DeCasien et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2426232122.

Gut Microbes Played Role in Evolution of Human Brain, New Study Suggests

Jan 5, 2026 by News Staff

Compared to other primates, humans have remarkably large brains relative to their body sizes. The resultant high demands for glucose may have been supported...

Severity of Alzheimer’s disease correlates with NAD+ homeostasis dysregulation. Image credit: Chaubey et al., doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2025.102535.

New Research Reveals Potential Path to Alzheimer’s Recovery by Targeting Cellular Energy Deficits

Dec 30, 2025 by News Staff

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is traditionally considered irreversible. However, a team of scientists led by Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals...

Mousley et al. compared the brains of 3,802 people between zero and ninety years old using datasets of MRI diffusion scans, which map neural connections by tracking how water molecules move through brain tissue. Image credit: Mousley et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-65974-8.

Neuroscientists Identify Five Major Epochs of Brain Structure over Course of Human Life

Dec 2, 2025 by News Staff

Neuroscientists have detected five broad phases of brain structure in the average human life, split up by four pivotal turning points between birth and...

Maldarelli & Güntürkün show that there is growing evidence that (i) birds have sensory and self-awareness, and (ii) they also have the neural architecture that may be necessary for this. Image credit: Kutte.

Birds May Possess Fundamental Forms of Conscious Perception: Study

Nov 25, 2025 by News Staff

In their new paper in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Ruhr University Bochum researchers Gianmarco Maldarelli and Onur Güntürkün...

Scholars argue that consciousness is a fundamental quality of the Universe. Image credit: NASA / ESA / JPL-Caltech / STScI / Sci-News.com.

There Are Three Types of Phenomenal Consciousness, Researchers Say

Nov 24, 2025 by News Staff

Our conscious experience makes up our lives, often through positive pleasure: I feel the warm Sun on my skin, I hear the singing of birds, I enjoy the...

Lead exposure to humans in modern times versus our ancestors. Image credit: J. Gregory / Mount Sinai Health System.

Lead Exposure May Have Influenced Evolution of Human Brain, Behavior, and Development of Language

Oct 20, 2025 by News Staff

Several hominids — Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus robustus, early Homo sp., Gigantopithecus blacki, Pongo sp., Papio sp., Homo neanderthalensis,...

White matter degenerating microglia are a novel therapeutic target to potentially reduce the impact of white matter injury and myelin loss on the progression of cognitive impairment. Image credit: Miroslaw Miras.

Researchers Develop Self-Administered Digital Test for Diagnosing Alzheimer’s Disease

Sep 15, 2025 by News Staff

A proof-of-concept study by a team of Lund University scientists shows that their brief, self-administered digital cognitive test — named BioCog...

Anauralia is the phenomenon of an absence of auditory sensory imagery -- not hearing anything in one’s inner ear. Image credit: Vat Loai.

Study: Signals from Visual Areas of Human Brain Can Reveal Colors Observer is Seeing

Sep 10, 2025 by News Staff

Does a given color elicit comparable neural activity in two different observers? Do colors elicit area-specific response patterns? To address these questions,...

Sleep is known to promote tissue growth and regulate metabolism, partly by enhancing growth hormone (GH) release, but the underlying circuit mechanism is unknown. Ding et al. demonstrate how GH release, which is enhanced during both rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM (NREM) sleep, is regulated by sleep-wake-dependent activity of distinct hypothalamic neurons expressing GH-releasing hormone (GHRH) and somatostatin (SST). SST neurons in the arcuate nucleus suppress GH release by inhibiting nearby GHRH neurons that stimulate GH release, whereas periventricular SST neurons inhibit GH release by projecting to the median eminence. GH release is associated with strong surges of both GHRH and SST activity during REM sleep but moderately increased GHRH and decreased SST activity during NREM sleep. Furthermore, Ding et al. identified a negative feedback pathway in which GH enhances the excitability of locus coeruleus neurons and increases wakefulness. Image credit: Ding et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.05.039.

Animal Study Sheds New Light on How Sleep and Growth Hormone Regulation Interact

Sep 9, 2025 by News Staff

Neuroscientists from the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University have explored brain circuits that control growth hormone release during...

People who walk a lot have less back pain than people who do not walk much -- and the volume is what matters most, not the intensity. Image credit: Tung Lam.

Regular Walking May Reduce Risk of Chronic Low Back Pain

Sep 5, 2025 by News Staff

In a new study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, daily walking volume and walking intensity were inversely associated with the risk of chronic...

Kartar et al. suggest that circuitries supporting the integration of interoceptive representations and processing of affective memories are putative neurobiological substrates of HVB-induced ASCs. Image credit: Ram Jain.

Study: Breathwork While Listening to Music May Induce Blissful State in Practitioners

Sep 1, 2025 by News Staff

In a new study, high ventilation breathwork while listening to music was associated with reports of blissful states and reduced negative emotions, accompanied...

Memories of navigating familiar paths are more fluid than previously thought, activating different neurons with each journey. Image credit: Zeinab Vessal.

Memories Drift across Neurons over Time, Animal Study Suggests

Jul 30, 2025 by News Staff

The brain’s internal GPS changes each time mice navigate a familiar, static environment, according to a new study by neurobiologists from Northwestern...

Seven-Year Experiment Uncovers New Insights into Nature of Consciousness

May 1, 2025 by News Staff

A multinational team of neuroscientists has tested two competing theories of consciousness: the integrated information theory (IIT) and the global neuronal...

Postigo et al. aim to see if neurons can transport light like fiber-optic communications channels. Image credit: Gemini AI.

Scientists Investigating Whether Neurons Can Transmit Light through Their Axons

Apr 30, 2025 by News Staff

Neurons communicate by firing electrical pulses, but scientists have found hints that neurons may transmit light as well. Researchers at the University...