Neuroscie
Prenatal Stress Alters the Placenta to Shape Fetal Brain Development
Summary: Chronic stress during pregnancy fundamentally shifts how the placenta communicates with the fetus, altering vital antiviral immune signaling, cellular energy metabolism, and gene-regulatory programs. These placental changes, confirmed across…
Key Brain Circuit Linked to Teen Anxiety Identified
Summary: Brain imaging in nearly 3,500 adolescents reveals that disrupted connectivity across a key subcortical-cerebellar circuit—connecting the amygdala, thalamus, and cerebellum, is directly associated with heightened anxiety. The alterations, already…
LSD Microdosing Enhances Sustained Attention in Women
Summary: A pilot study reveals that low doses of LSD significantly improve sustained attention and reduce attention lapses in women, while producing no comparable cognitive enhancement in men. The preliminary…
Cannabis Destroys Sleep Quality – Neuroscience News
Summary: A 35-year study following adults from young adulthood into middle age reveals that both lifetime and recent cannabis use are tied to worse objectively measured sleep quality, characterized by…
Life
Nature
Newfound bat skeletons are the oldest on record
Two fossilized bat skeletons unearthed in western Wyoming represent a new species and are the oldest set of bat bones yet discovered, researchers say. The incredibly complete fossils of Icaronycteris…
Astronomy
Asteroid 2024 YR4 was Earth’s first real-life defense test
Artist’s depiction of an asteroid floating in space. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb), Martin Kornmesser (ESA), Serge Brunier (ESO), Nick Risinger (Photopic Sky Survey) At this point in…
How do you fire someone into the sun?
Firing our villain straight at the Sun results in a big miss. Credit: Michael Brown, CC BY To point a rocket directly at the sun and hit would require great…
Cosmic ray puzzle resolved as scientists link ‘knee’ formation to black holes
LHAASO experiment. Credit: LHAASO Collaboration Milestone results released by the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) on November 16 have solved a decades-old mystery about the cosmic ray energy…
If the supernova standard candle is wrong, it could solve the Hubble tension
An illustration showing how Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs) expand with the universe. Credit: Gabriela Secara, Perimeter Institute CC-BY-4.0 Last time I wrote about new data that overturns the standard cosmological…
