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Psychopharmacology
Psychopharmacology is the study of drug-induced changes in mood, thinking, and behavior. These drugs may originate from natural sources such as plants and animals, or from artificial sources such as chemical syntheses in the laboratory. These drugs interact with particular target sites or receptors found in the nervous system to induce widespread changes in physiological or psychological functions. The specific interaction between drugs and their target sites or receptors is referred to as drug action. The widespread changes in physiological or psychological function is referred to as drug effect. In psychopharmacology, researchers are interested in a wide range of drug classes such as antidepressants and stimulants. Drugs are researched for their pharmaceutical properties, physical side effects, and psychological side effects.
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Mind & Brain News
December 5, 2025
Dec. 5, 2025 A large study found that people with impaired kidneys tend to have higher Alzheimer’s biomarkers, yet they don’t face a higher overall risk of dementia. For those who already have elevated biomarkers, kidney problems may speed up when symptoms ...
Dec. 4, 2025 Researchers found that people with anxiety disorders consistently show lower choline levels in key brain regions that regulate thinking and emotions. This biochemical difference may help explain why the brain reacts more intensely to stress in ...
Dec. 4, 2025 Researchers studying people with major psychiatric disorders found that drinking up to four cups of coffee a day is associated with longer telomeres. This suggests a potential slowing of biological aging by about five years. However, drinking five ...
Dec. 3, 2025 A unique vaccine rollout in Wales gave researchers an accidental natural experiment that revealed a striking reduction in dementia among seniors who received the shingles vaccine. The protective effect held steady across multiple analyses and was ...
Dec. 2, 2025 Researchers have solved the decades-old mystery behind how a common pregnancy drug lowers blood pressure. It turns out the medication blocks a fast-acting “oxygen alarm” inside cells. That same ...
Dec. 2, 2025 Scientists have discovered that a single gene, GRIN2A, can directly cause mental illness—something previously thought to stem only from many genes acting together. People with certain variants of this gene often develop psychiatric symptoms much ...
Dec. 2, 2025 Nitrous oxide may offer quick, short-term relief for people with major depression, especially those who haven’t responded to standard medications. The meta-analysis found rapid improvements after a single dose and more sustained benefits after ...
Dec. 1, 2025 A high-speed “zap-and-freeze” method is giving scientists their clearest view yet of how brain cells send messages. By freezing tissue at the instant a signal fires, researchers revealed how synaptic vesicles behave in both mouse and human ...
Nov. 28, 2025 Researchers found that repeated head impacts can disrupt a key system that helps the brain wash away waste. In professional fighters, this system initially seems to work harder after trauma, then declines over time. MRI scans revealed that these ...
Nov. 28, 2025 Princeton researchers found that the brain excels at learning because it reuses modular “cognitive blocks” across many tasks. Monkeys switching between visual categorization challenges revealed that the prefrontal cortex assembles these blocks ...
Nov. 28, 2025 Researchers identified a new, sticky form of mitochondrial DNA damage that builds up at dramatically higher levels than in nuclear DNA. These lesions disrupt energy production and activate stress-response pathways. Simulations show the damage makes ...
Nov. 27, 2025 Spermine, a small but powerful molecule in the body, helps neutralize harmful protein accumulations linked to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. It encourages these misfolded proteins to gather into manageable clumps that cells can more efficiently ...
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Dec. 1, 2025 A large study of brain scans shows that our neural wiring evolves through five major stages from birth to late old age. These phases are separated by sudden turning points that mark big shifts in how ...
Nov. 30, 2025 MIT scientists found that what we see is strongly influenced by how alert or active we are. Parts of the brain responsible for planning and control send specialized signals that either boost or quiet ...
Nov. 30, 2025 Scientists have uncovered a stepwise system that guides how the brain sorts and stabilizes lasting memories. By tracking brain activity during virtual reality learning tasks, researchers identified ...
Nov. 27, 2025 Scientists studying young adults with obesity discovered early indicators of brain stress that resemble patterns seen in cognitive impairment. The group showed higher inflammation, signs of liver ...
Nov. 27, 2025 A massive veteran study found a strong connection between untreated sleep apnea and a higher chance of Parkinson’s. CPAP users had much lower odds of developing the condition. Researchers believe ...
Nov. 26, 2025 Scientists discovered that lowered brain energy signaling in the hippocampus can lead to both depression- and anxiety-like behaviors in mice. Stress reduced ATP, a molecule important for cell energy ...
Nov. 25, 2025 Scientists discovered that more muscle and less hidden abdominal fat are linked to a younger biological brain age. Deep visceral fat appeared to accelerate brain aging, while muscle mass offered a ...
Nov. 25, 2025 Personalized algorithms may quietly sabotage how people learn, nudging them into narrow tunnels of information even when they start with zero prior knowledge. In the study, participants using ...
Nov. 25, 2025 Scientists have found that a mutation tied to Alzheimer’s disrupts the production and quality of exosomes—tiny cell-made communication packets. Cells with the defective SORLA protein generate ...
Nov. 24, 2025 Hypertension begins harming the brain surprisingly early, even before measurable blood pressure increases. Key cells related to blood vessels, signaling, and myelin maintenance begin aging ...