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Neuroscience

Male African striped mice's parenting styles vary greatly: Some fathers groom and protect their pups from the elements, while others ignore or even attack their young.

Some Mice Are Doting Dads, While Others Ignore or Attack Their Offspring. Researchers Just Figured Out Why

In African striped mice, the activity of one gene can dramatically change a male’s parenting style, according to a new study

A donated super-ager brain

Some People Keep Razor-Sharp Minds Into Their 80s and Beyond. A New Study Reveals Their Secrets

“Super-agers” seem to produce more new nerve cells in a brain region important for memory than other people their age

The study focused on Kanzi, a language-trained bonobo who died in March 2025 at the age of 44.

Can Apes Play Pretend? What Scientists Learned From Having Imaginary ‘Tea Parties’ With Kanzi the Bonobo

A new study provides evidence for imagination in a captive-raised, English language-trained animal

By age 20, autism diagnoses are almost equal among men and women in Sweden, a new study suggests.

Is Autism Really a Male-Dominated Condition? A New Study Suggests Women Have It Just as Often, but Are Diagnosed Later in Life

Researchers examined the prevalence of autism among nearly three million people born in Sweden over the past four decades

Some solutions are reached incrementally, with logic or calculations. But others seem to just pop into your head—and neuroscientists are investigating how this happens.

‘Aha’ Moments Seem to Come Out of Nowhere. How Does the Brain Create These Sudden Bursts of Insight?

Neuroscientists are tracking the brain activity that underlies a cognitive breakthrough and unraveling how it might boost memory

A neural circuit that processes motivation and reward seems to act as a "brake" when faced with an unpleasant task, a study suggests.

Can’t Get Started on a Daunting Task? This Brain Circuit That Slams the Brakes on Motivation Might Be to Blame

Monkey experiments hint at a “motivation brake” pathway between two brain regions. Manipulating it may lead to new treatments for depression and other psychiatric conditions

Brainless upside-down jellyfish, like this one in its natural habitat near Eilat, Israel, spend about one-third of their time asleep.

Even Though They Don’t Have Brains to Rest, Jellyfish and Sea Anemones Sleep Like Humans

Sleep may have evolved to help reduce DNA damage in nerve cells long before they became centralized in the brain, a study suggests

Stimulants prescribed for ADHD target the parts of the brain related to wakefulness and reward, shown in yellow and orange, according to a new study.

How Do These ADHD Medications Work in the Brain? The Mechanisms Are Different Than Once Thought, a Study Suggests

Adderall, Ritalin and other stimulants prescribed for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder seem to work on brain areas involved with wakefulness and reward, rather than attention

Pigeons can sense magnetic fields via their inner ears, new research suggests.

Pigeons Rely on the Earth’s Magnetic Field to Navigate. Now, Researchers May Have Uncovered How They Do It

The vestibular system, a set of structures in the inner ears that helps with balance, may grant the birds their special ability

Researchers studied thousands of brain scans to see how the organ's architecture changes over a lifetime.

Your Brain Goes Through Five Distinct Epochs of Neural Wiring During Your Lifetime, New Research Suggests

These eras of brain architecture are marked by four major turning points, which occur around the ages of 9, 32, 66 and 83, according to a new study

New research suggests multilingualism may slow cognitive aging. 

Neuroscientists Studied More Than 80,000 People and Found That Speaking Multiple Languages Might Slow Down Brain Aging

An enormous analysis of data from a broad array of participants found an association between multilingualism and cognitive aging

New research strives to understand what happens in the brain at the transitions between sleeping and being awake.

At the Mysterious Boundary Between Waking Life and Sleep, What Happens in the Brain?

Neuroscientists studying the shifts between sleep and awareness are finding many liminal states, which could help explain the disorders that can result when sleep transitions go wrong

Researchers found an association between moderate step counts and slower cognitive decline among people at risk of developing Alzheimer's. 

A Short Walk in the Park Might Slow Cognitive Decline in People at Risk of Developing Alzheimer’s

New research indicates that even moderate step counts, as low as 3,000 steps daily, were linked with delayed symptom onset

A new study investigates addiction-like behaviors in dogs.

Does Your Dog Love Chasing a Ball? Study Suggests Dog Toy ‘Addiction’ Is Real

The research documents addiction-like tendencies in canines, offering scientific evidence that appears to support owners’ own observations

The researchers found that tango is especially good at slowing brain aging. 

Creative Hobbies Like Tango Dancing or Playing Musical Instruments May Help Keep Your Brain Young, Study Finds

Scientists discovered that talented experts had “younger” brains than those of their less experienced counterparts, and even those who only dabbled in creativity reaped benefits

People with a rare form of epilepsy have reported feelings of bliss just before having a seizure. A French Swiss neurologist has pinned down where this “aura” originates in the brain in hopes that one day, that feeling might be reproduced non-invasively in others.

Some People Experience Blissful Ecstasy Right Before a Seizure. Could Understanding This Feeling Help Treat Depression?

A neurologist shares her thoughts and research about “ecstatic epilepsy” in a wide-ranging conversation on how we perceive the world—and create the world we perceive

A sea lamprey shows off its nightmarish mouth.

This Invasive Vampire Fish Is Helping Researchers Understand the Human Nervous System in Jaw-Dropping Ways

The sea lamprey looks like it’s from another planet, but this ancient creature has a surprising amount in common with humans

Huntington's disease gradually damages the caudate nucleus, pictured in red. 

Experimental Gene Therapy Successfully Treats Huntington’s Disease for the First Time

Preliminary results from a small study offer hope for treatment of the degenerative disease

Stuttering affects roughly 1 percent of the world's population, yet it is not well researched.

What Causes Stuttering? A Large DNA Analysis Study Offers New Clues, Uncovering Links to 48 Genes

Scientists analyzed data from more than one million users of 23andMe and found associations between certain genes and stuttering

A healthy volunteer takes the Fastball test in his home alongside lead researcher George Stothart.

Three-Minute Take-Home Test May Identify Symptoms Linked to Alzheimer’s Disease Years Before a Traditional Diagnosis

Researchers say the experimental tool has huge implications for public health, especially in conjunction with Alzheimer’s drugs that are most effective in the disease’s early stages

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