Brain and Nervous System News

June 1, 2023 — The shape of the brain might play a greater role on our thoughts, feelings, and actions than traditionally believed, according to a new study in the journal Nature.

May 30, 2023 — A new study adds to the growing body of evidence that consuming certain nutrients may help the brain stave off the effects of aging. This latest indication, from researchers at Columbia and Harvard universities, shows that older people who had a diet low in flavanols boosted their scores on memory tests by 16% after taking a flavanol pill for one year.

May 25, 2023 — Older people who took a daily multivitamin for 1 year appeared to stave off the equivalent of 3 years of age-related decline in mental skills, according to a new study.

May 25, 2023 — The man was paralyzed 11 years ago from a bike accident. He can now walk 100 to 200 meters (up to about 660 feet) at a time, and can stand without using his hands for two or three minutes.

May 5, 2023 — In a first-of-its-kind in-utero surgery, researchers have successfully repaired a vein of Galen malformation, which often leads to heart failure, severe brain injury, or possibly death soon after birth.

May 3, 2023 — The drug maker Sarepta Therapeutics is seeking FDA approval to treat a rare form of muscular dystrophy with what would be the first gene therapy OK’d through the agency’s accelerated approval process.

May 2, 2023 — It’s an increasingly common trend: U.S. adults who are taking a stimulant medication, together with other drugs that target the central nervous system, such as antidepressants, opioids, and anti-anxiety medications.

April 27, 2023 — In identifying sounds and syllables under noisy conditions, older musicians did better than older non-musicians – and equaled young non-musicians.

April 26, 2023 — Adolescents who ate walnuts for at least 100 days were better able to think and reason on their feet and had fewer symptoms of ADHD – they could pay more attention in class and be less hyperactive.

April 26, 2023 — The FDA has approved the first treatment that takes a genetics-based approach to slowing or stopping the progression of a rare form of ALS, the debilitating and deadly disease for which there is no cure.

April 18, 2023 — Boys born to mothers with COVID-19 could face brain-development issues at a rate twice that of others, a new study found.

April 14, 2023 — For adults with hearing loss, using hearing aids could reduce the risk of developing dementia by 42%, a new study suggests.

April 13, 2023 — A small new study suggests that obstructive sleep apnea may cause problems with thinking skills.

April 3, 2023 — No one likes to sit in traffic. Now, new research finds that toughing out rush hour may also present significant brain health risks you never knew about.

March 31, 2023 — Earworms are usually harmless, except when they’re not.

March 22, 2023 — Teens experience many of the same symptoms of concussions as adults, but they may be worse, and take longer to end.

March 14, 2023 — The vast majority of concussion research has used male lab animals and men as subjects, although concussions are common in women too

March 10, 2023 — The differences in visual memory between former football players with the highest and lowest reported concussion symptoms were equivalent to differences in cognitive performance between a typical 35-year-old and a typical 60-year-old.

February 27, 2023 — The brain’s grid cells help us track other people’s movements, scientists report. This could shed light on why some become disoriented in crowds.

February 23, 2023 — In some cases, encephalitis, which can be difficult to diagnose, can lead to mental health issues, including thoughts of self-harm and suicide.

February 8, 2023 — The brains of nearly all NFL players studied showed signs of the impact-induced brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), researchers at Boston University announced.

February 6, 2023 — People in a study recalled the positions of dozens of objects with good if not perfect accuracy, a finding that expands our understanding of spatial and temporal memory.

February 2, 2023 — A new study suggests that following a healthy lifestyle is linked to slower memory decline in older adults, even in people with the apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) gene—one of the strongest known risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

January 24, 2023 — People hospitalized with viral infections like the flu are more likely to have disorders that degrade the nervous system, like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, later in life, a new analysis shows

January 19, 2023 — Medical research on the benefits of smell in virtual reality may start to move faster, thanks to breakthroughs in the entertainment industry.

January 4, 2023 — Losing your teammate or player to a potentially career-ending – or fatal – injury can weigh heavy.

December 22, 2022 — People who smoke are more likely to report memory problems and cognitive decline in midlife, a study from Ohio State University found. Study results also noted that former smokers who have quit face less likelihood of cognitive decline.

December 21, 2022 — Surprising Things Sense of Smell Reveals About Your Health

December 20, 2022 — A University of Michigan study highlights a possible mechanism for why exercise benefits the brain, providing insights on how intensely we need to exercise to fight cognitive decline.

December 12, 2022 — People who died of severe COVID-19 had brain tissue similar to that of people who were at least 71 years old, prompting Harvard Medical School researchers to recommend that recovered COVID-19 patients seek neurological follow-up care.

November 17, 2022 — Allowing young patients to return to their TikTok feeds may be better than screen-time bans, Canadian researchers say.

October 26, 2022 — Researchers have discovered a previously unknown part of the brain that lights up when we see food. Dubbed the “ventral food component,” this part resides in the brain’s visual cortex, in a region known to play a role in identifying faces, scenes, and words.

October 25, 2022 — A new study shows one-third of Americans age 65 or older have mild cognitive impairment or dementia.

October 12, 2022 — Brain implants can help paralyzed people move and minimally conscious people speak. But if we don’t address complicated ethical questions now, we could risk serious consequences.

September 16, 2022 — Cedars-Sinai neuroscientists have developed the most complex brain cell models to date, the latest advance in our decades-long pursuit to understand how the brain works.

September 16, 2022 — Hours of mentally hard work can lead to a buildup of toxic byproducts in the brain and alter its ability to function, French researchers found.

August 24, 2022 — Without the use of any medication, this device under development cools and numbs the nerve sending pain signals to the brain without affecting surrounding nerves or tissue.

August 23, 2022 — Electrically stimulating the brain improved immediate recall of words in people over 65, a report published in Nature Neuroscience says.

August 22, 2022 — More than 740 million adults worldwide have had at least one symptom of tinnitus, and about 120 million are severely affected, according to a new report.

August 3, 2022 — University of Copenhagen researchers have linked brief nighttime awakenings to better memory in mice, adding to our understanding of what happens in the brain during sleep.

July 28, 2022 — Prize is the third-largest in recent history

July 28, 2022 — College coeds who play action video games make faster, better decisions than non-gamers, a study shows.

July 27, 2022 — Sleep is crucial to our ability to make connections from information we pick up during the day, according to a computer model of two areas of the brain.

June 23, 2022 — Research shows humans can develop a bat-like ‘sixth sense’ with training.

June 8, 2022 — A Connecticut woman died after contracting the tick-borne Powassan virus, state health officials announced this week.

May 16, 2022 — Our ability to try new things and learn from successes and failures depends a lot on cells in the brain's frontal lobe behind the forehead, report researchers who learned more from new lab tests.

February 10, 2022 — With the recent news that comedian Bob Saget's death was due to head trauma, apparently from an accidental blow to the head, doctors say any injury to the head needs to be taken seriously.

December 10, 2014 — WebMD graphic shows what works for brain health.

June 6, 2001 — There Are Ways to Cope