Nervous System News

August 25, 2025

Top Headlines

Your Brain Works Overtime at Night to Burn Fat and Prevent Sugar Crashes

Aug. 24, 2025 — Researchers uncovered that hypothalamic neurons safeguard blood sugar overnight by directing fat breakdown, preventing hypoglycemia during early sleep. This subtle control system may explain abnormal metabolism in ...

A New Cancer Vaccine Just Wiped Out Tumors in Mice

Aug. 19, 2025 — A breakthrough mRNA cancer vaccine has shown the ability to supercharge the effects of immunotherapy in mice, sparking hope for a universal “off-the-shelf” treatment that could fight multiple cancers. Unlike traditional vaccines designed to ...

Scientists Discover Brain Layers That Get Stronger with Age

Aug. 12, 2025 — Researchers have discovered that parts of the human brain age more slowly than previously thought—particularly in the region that processes touch. By using ultra-high-resolution brain scans, they found that while some layers of the cerebral cortex ...

Scientists Reversed Memory Loss by Powering the Brain’s Tiny Engines

Aug. 12, 2025 — Scientists have discovered a direct cause-and-effect link between faulty mitochondria and the memory loss seen in neurodegenerative diseases. By creating a novel tool to boost mitochondrial activity in mouse models, researchers restored memory ...

Scientists Uncover Hidden Brain Shortcut to Weight Loss Without the Nausea

Aug. 10, 2025 — Scientists have uncovered a way to promote weight loss and improve blood sugar control without the unpleasant side effects of current GLP-1 drugs. By shifting focus from neurons to brain support cells that produce appetite-suppressing molecules, ...

Breakthrough Lung Cancer Treatment Supercharges Immune Cells with Mitochondria

Aug. 3, 2025 — Scientists have found a way to supercharge lung cancer treatment by transplanting healthy mitochondria into tumors, which both boosts immune response and makes chemotherapy far more effective. By ...

This New Drug Could Help PTSD Patients Finally Let Go of Trauma

Aug. 3, 2025 — Researchers discovered that PTSD may be driven by excess GABA from astrocytes, not neurons. This chemical imbalance disrupts the brain’s ability to forget fear. A new drug, KDS2010, reverses this effect in mice and is already in human trials. It ...

A Tiny Chemistry Hack Just Made MRNA Vaccines Safer, Stronger, and Smarter

July 21, 2025 — What if mRNA vaccines could be made more powerful and less irritating? Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have found a way to do just that—by tweaking a key molecule in the vaccine’s delivery system. Using a century-old chemical trick ...

Can Zebrafish Help Humans Regrow Hearing Cells?

July 14, 2025 — Zebrafish can regenerate sensory hair cells that humans permanently lose, like those in the inner ear linked to hearing and balance. New research reveals two specific genes that control how different supporting cells in zebrafish divide and ...

This Tiny Brain Molecule Could Hold the Key to Learning, Memory—and Alzheimer’s Treatment

July 12, 2025 — A team of researchers has discovered that a protein called cypin plays a powerful role in helping brain cells connect and communicate, which is crucial for learning and memory. By uncovering how ...

How a Hidden Brain Circuit Fuels Fibromyalgia, Migraines, and PTSD

July 10, 2025 — What if your brain is the reason some pain feels unbearable? Scientists at the Salk Institute have discovered a hidden brain circuit that gives pain its emotional punch—essentially transforming ordinary discomfort into lasting misery. This ...

Your Brain’s Hidden Defenses Against Alzheimer’s

July 10, 2025 — Scientists at UCSF combined advanced brain-network modeling, genetics, and imaging to reveal how tau protein travels through neural highways and how certain genes either accelerate its toxic journey or shield brain regions from damage. Their ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:55am EDT

New Research Confirms That Neurons Form in the Adult Brain

July 4, 2025 — Researchers from Sweden have discovered that the human brain continues to grow new cells in the memory region—called the hippocampus—even into old age. Using advanced tools to examine brain ...

Parkinson’s Reversal? One Drug Brings Dying Brain Cells Back to Life

July 3, 2025 — Stanford researchers discovered that dialing down an overactive enzyme, LRRK2, can regrow lost cellular “antennae” in key brain cells, restoring vital dopamine communication and neuroprotective ...

Scientists Just Found a Sugar Switch That Protects Your Brain from Alzheimer's

June 30, 2025 — Scientists have uncovered a surprising sugar-related mechanism inside brain cells that could transform how we fight Alzheimer’s and other ...

A Tiny Implant Just Helped Paralyzed Rats Walk Again—is Human Recovery Next?

June 28, 2025 — A groundbreaking study from the University of Auckland and Chalmers University of Technology is offering new hope for spinal cord injury patients. ...

USC's New AI Implant Promises Drug-Free Relief for Chronic Pain

June 24, 2025 — A groundbreaking wireless implant promises real-time, personalized pain relief using AI and ultrasound power no batteries, no wires, and no opioids. Designed by USC and UCLA engineers, it reads brain ...

Iron Overload: The Hidden Culprit Behind Early Alzheimer’s in Down Syndrome

June 21, 2025 — USC researchers have uncovered a hidden driver behind the early and severe onset of Alzheimer's in people with Down syndrome: iron overload in the ...

The Hunger Switch in Your Nose: How Smells Tell Your Brain to Stop Eating

June 12, 2025 — A team of scientists has discovered a direct link between the smell of food and feelings of fullness at least in lean mice. This brain circuit, located in the medial septum and triggered by food ...

Scientists Found the Brain Glitch That Makes You Think You’re Still Hungry

June 11, 2025 — A team of scientists has identified specialized neurons in the brain that store "meal memories" detailed recollections of when and what we eat. These ...

New Discovery: Tylenol Stops Pain at the Nerves, Before It Hits the Brain

June 10, 2025 — Acetaminophen may be doing more than just dulling pain in your brain it could be stopping it before it even starts. Scientists at Hebrew University have discovered that a metabolite of the drug, ...

New mRNA Vaccine Is More Effective and Less Costly to Develop

June 3, 2025 — A new type of mRNA vaccine is more scalable and adaptable to continuously evolving viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and H5N1, according to a new ...

Researchers Develop Innovative Model to Study Sense of Smell

June 3, 2025 — Scientists at Tufts have created a powerful 3D model of nasal tissue that reveals surprising new insights into how our sense of smell regenerates and why it sometimes fades. Contrary to past ...

Brain Training Game Offers New Hope for Drug-Free Pain Management

June 2, 2025 — A trial of an interactive game that trains people to alter their brain waves has shown promise as a treatment for nerve pain -- offering hope for a new generation of drug-free ...

Immune System Discovery Reveals Potential Solution to Alzheimer's

June 2, 2025 — A new way of thinking about Alzheimer's disease has yielded a discovery that could be the key to stopping the cognitive decline seen in Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases, ...

Sustained in the Brain: How Lasting Emotions Arise from Brief Stimuli, in Humans and Mice

May 29, 2025 — Humans and mice share persistent brain-activity patterns in response to adverse sensory experience, scientists find, opening a window to our emotions and, perhaps, neuropsychiatric ...

Unlocking Precise Composition Analysis of Nanomedicines

May 29, 2025 — Current regulations for nanomedicines overlook the effects of the different forms of the same element, such as ions, nanoparticles, and aggregates. In a recent study, researchers developed a new ...

Newly Identified Group of Nerve Cells in the Brain Regulates Bodyweight

May 28, 2025 — Obesity is a global health problem that affects many people. In recent years, very promising anti-obesity drugs have been developed. Despite these successes, there are patients who do not respond to ...

A Switchboard With Precision: How the Brain Licenses Movements

May 28, 2025 — Neurons deep in the brain not only help to initiate movement -- they also actively suppress it, and with astonishing precision. The findings are especially relevant for better understanding ...

How Brain Stimulation Alleviates Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease

May 27, 2025 — Persons with Parkinson's disease increasingly lose their mobility over time and are eventually unable to walk. Hope for these patients rests on deep brain stimulation, also known as a brain ...

Potential New Treatment for Alzheimer's Disease, Other Neurodegenerative Conditions

May 22, 2025 — Worldwide, more than 55 million people suffer from dementia caused by Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and other conditions that destroy cells in the brain and nervous system. While there is no ...

Researchers Identify a Dual Origin of Cells Controlling Puberty and Reproduction

May 21, 2025 — Researchers have shown that gonadotrophs, cells in the pituitary gland with a key role in puberty and reproduction, come from two different populations, with the majority produced after birth rather ...

Toothache from Eating Something Cold? Blame These Ancient Fish

May 21, 2025 — New research shows that dentine, the inner layer of teeth that transmits sensory information to nerves inside the pulp, first evolved as sensory tissue in the armored exoskeletons of ancient ...

Scientists Design Gene Delivery Systems for Cells in the Brain and Spinal Cord

May 21, 2025 — Research teams have created a versatile set of gene delivery systems that can reach different neural cell types in the human brain and spinal cord with exceptional accuracy. These delivery systems ...

Clinical Trial Shows Improvements for Spinal Cord Injuries

May 21, 2025 — Researchers demonstrated unprecedented rates of recovery for spinal cord injuries. Individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury safely received a combination of stimulation of a nerve in the neck ...

New Research on ALS Opens Up for Early Treatment

May 20, 2025 — Using the gene scissors CRISPR and stem cells, researchers have managed to identify a common denominator for different gene mutations that all cause the neurological disease ALS. The research shows ...

How Molecules Can 'Remember' and Contribute to Memory and Learning

May 20, 2025 — Researchers have discovered how an ion channel in the brain's neurons has a kind of 'molecular memory', which contributes to the formation and preservation of lifelong memories. The ...

Study Reveals Impacts of Alzheimer's Disease on the Whole Body

May 16, 2025 — While Alzheimer's disease is mostly considered a disorder of the brain, emerging evidence suggests that the condition also affects other organs of the body. Working with the laboratory fruit ...

A Step Forward in Treating Serious Genetic Disorders Prenatally

May 14, 2025 — Evidence is mounting that clinicians can treat serious genetic disorders prenatally by injecting medicine into the amniotic fluid, thus preventing damage that begins in ...

Hormone Cycles Shape the Structure and Function of Key Memory Regions in the Brain

May 13, 2025 — Hormone levels fluctuate like the tides, ebbing and flowing according to carefully orchestrated cycles. These hormones not only influence the body, but can cross into the brain and shape the behavior ...

May 12, 2025 — Researchers confirm and explore the role of estrogen-related receptors in regulating energy production in muscle cells during exercise. The findings indicate that developing a drug to boost ...

CAR-T Cell Therapy for Cancer Causes 'Brain Fog,' Study Shows

May 12, 2025 — Cancer treatment with a cell-based immunotherapy causes mild cognitive impairment, a Stanford Medicine team found. They also identified compounds that could treat ...