Summary: A massive neuroimaging meta-analysis combining 40 fMRI datasets across 2,175 participants challenges a central dogma in affective neuroscience and clinical psychology. Conducted by the international NIDER consortium across 32…
Category: Life
Why do flamingos dance while they eat? This scientist found out
On a family trip to Atlanta, Víctor Ortega Jiménez spent time taking pictures and videos of flamingos as they fed in their pond. It wasn’t to admire their long legs…
Genetics of IQ: At what age do various forms of intelligence peak?
Bad news for anyone counting on getting sharper with age: once a few statistical quirks are corrected, overall IQ most likely peaks in your thirties, not your seventies. That’s the…
Finding the Brain’s Mood Switch in Bipolar Disorder
Summary: A multi-institutional consortium led by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC’s Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Stanford University, and Johns Hopkins University has received a $4.5…
Brain Stimulation Stops Sexual Objectification
Summary: A neurocognitive study from the University of Exeter reveals that non-invasive brain stimulation can temporarily eliminate a perceptual signature linked to the sexual objectification of women. Using transcranial direct…
Daily Exercise Weakens the Grip of Genetic Risk for Depression
Summary: A nationwide genomic and wearable tracking study led by Kansas State University reveals that daily physical activity significantly attenuates the impact of high genetic susceptibility to major depressive disorder.…
Psilocybin Replaces Lost Synapses in Depressed Brains
Summary: A neuroimaging and genetic investigation led by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, reveals precisely how psilocybin restructures neural connectivity in living brains. Publishing in Nature Neuroscience,…
Neural Chip Powers Adaptive DBS for Depression
Summary: Engineers at EPFL’s Integrated Neurotechnologies Lab have developed LogSync, an ultra-low-power, implantable system-on-chip designed to transform deep brain stimulation (DBS) for severe psychiatric conditions like treatment-resistant depression and PTSD.…
Why did humans’ brains surpass chimps’? A tiny foe might help explain it
Viruses may be minuscule, but one could have influenced major differences between human and chimpanzee brains. Millions of years ago, a virus left DNA behind in an African ape’s genome,…
