Summary: A new study highlights the placenta’s role in neuropsychiatric development, showing that DNA methylation influences gene expression tied to psychiatric disorders. Researchers found strong links between placental DNA methylation and conditions like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression.These findings suggest that genetic risk factors for psychiatric disorders may be...

Summary: A new study reveals that memory-related brain activity continues to shift even after learning, challenging traditional views of stable neural representations. Researchers analyzed hippocampal neurons in mice and found that their “place cells,” which encode spatial memory, subtly changed each time the mice revisited a familiar environment.Using computational modeling,...

Summary: A new study has identified brain regions crucial for remembering words and how they are affected in people with temporal lobe epilepsy. Researchers found that shrinkage in the prefrontal, temporal, and cingulate cortices, as well as the hippocampus, was linked to difficulty recalling words.Using high-resolution MRI scans, they examined...

Summary: A new study finds that women in their 80s who develop increasing daytime sleepiness over five years are twice as likely to develop dementia. Researchers tracked 733 women without cognitive impairment, using wrist devices to monitor sleep and circadian rhythms.Those who showed stable sleep patterns had the lowest dementia...

Summary: New research challenges the idea that infants cannot form memories, showing that babies as young as 12 months old can encode experiences. Using fMRI scans, researchers found that the hippocampus, a brain region critical for memory, is active in infants during a memory task.These findings suggest that infantile amnesia—the...

Summary: New research uncovers how the brain processes learning by identifying the exact moment an animal learns a new skill. By observing individual neurons in mice, scientists found that learning occurs much faster than previously thought, in as few as 20 to 40 tries.Surprisingly, this learning activity takes place in...

Summary: A new study found that popular ADHD-related content on TikTok often misaligns with clinical guidelines, potentially influencing how young adults perceive the disorder. Researchers analyzed the top 100 ADHD videos and found that less than half of the claims matched professional diagnostic criteria.Young adults who consumed more of this...

Summary: A new study finds that staying up late, known as having an “evening chronotype,” is associated with a higher risk of depression. Researchers analyzed data from 546 university students and found that this link is influenced by sleep quality, alcohol consumption, and mindfulness levels.Evening chronotypes had poorer sleep, consumed...

Summary: Early-life adversity affects over half of children worldwide, increasing the risk of cognitive and mental health issues later in life. A new review highlights how unpredictable sensory experiences, beyond traditional stressors like abuse and neglect, can disrupt brain development.Researchers explore key questions, including what stress means for a developing...

Summary: A new study finds that the brain processes artificial languages, such as Esperanto and Klingon, using the same neural network as natural languages. Researchers scanned the brains of 44 speakers of constructed languages and observed activation in language-processing regions when participants listened to sentences in their conlang.This contrasts with...