Behavior News

December 17, 2025

Top Headlines

Scientists Reveal Why Some Brains Stop Growing Too Soon

Dec. 17, 2025 Researchers used miniature human brains grown in the lab to uncover why certain genetic mutations lead to abnormally small brains. Changes in actin disrupted the orientation of early brain cell divisions, causing crucial progenitor cells to ...

The Brain Switch That Could Rewrite How We Treat Mental Illness

Dec. 13, 2025 Scientists exploring how the brain responds to stress discovered molecular changes that can influence behavior long after an experience ends. They also identified natural resilience systems that help protect certain individuals from harm. These ...

Scientists Reveal a Tiny Brain Chip That Streams Thoughts in Real Time

Dec. 9, 2025 BISC is an ultra-thin neural implant that creates a high-bandwidth wireless link between the brain and computers. Its tiny single-chip design packs tens of thousands of electrodes and supports advanced AI models for decoding movement, perception, ...

Her Food Cravings Vanished on Mounjaro Then Roared Back

Dec. 8, 2025 Deep-brain recordings showed that Mounjaro and Zepbound briefly shut down the craving circuits linked to food noise in a patient with severe obesity. Her obsessive thoughts about food disappeared as the medication quieted the nucleus accumbens, the ...

This Tiny Implant Sends Secret Messages to the Brain

Dec. 8, 2025 Researchers have built a fully implantable device that sends light-based messages directly to the brain. Mice learned to interpret these artificial patterns as meaningful signals, even without touch, sight, or sound. The system uses up to 64 ...

Scientists Find Hidden Brain Nutrient Drop That May Fuel Anxiety

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 ...

Scientists Uncover the Brain’s Hidden Learning Blocks

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 ...

A Hidden Brain Energy Signal Drives Depression and Anxiety

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 and communication. Altering a protein called ...

The Body Trait That Helps Keep Your Brain Young

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 protective ...

A Tiny Enzyme May Hold the Key to Safer Pain Relief

Nov. 23, 2025 Researchers have uncovered a surprising way the brain switches pain on, revealing that neurons can release an enzyme outside the cell that activates pain signals without disrupting normal movement or sensation. This enzyme, called VLK, modifies ...

Scientists Reveal a Hidden Hormone Switch for Learning

Nov. 21, 2025 Researchers uncovered how estrogen subtly reshapes learning by strengthening dopamine reward signals in the brain. Rats learned faster when estrogen levels were high and struggled when the hormone’s activity was blocked. The findings help explain ...

How to Keep Ozempic/Wegovy Weight Loss Without the Nausea

Nov. 18, 2025 Scientists are uncovering how GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy act on brain regions that control hunger, nausea, pleasure-based eating, and thirst. These discoveries may help create treatments that keep the benefits of weight loss while reducing ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:26am EST

These Simple Habits Could Make Your Brain 8 Years Younger, Study Finds

Dec. 15, 2025 New research shows that your brain’s “true age” can shift dramatically depending on how you live, with optimism, restorative sleep, stress management, and strong social support acting like ...

New Research Reveals How Everyday Cues Secretly Shape Your Habits

Dec. 10, 2025 Researchers uncovered how shifting levels of a brain protein called KCC2 can reshape the way cues become linked with rewards, sometimes making habits form more quickly or more powerfully than ...

Human Brains Light Up for Chimp Voices in a Way No One Expected

Dec. 10, 2025 Humans don’t just recognize each other’s voices—our brains also light up for the calls of chimpanzees, hinting at ancient communication roots shared with our closest primate relatives. ...

Scientists Reveal Five Big Moments When Your Brain Dramatically Changes

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 ...

Supercomputer Creates the Most Realistic Virtual Brain Ever

Nov. 18, 2025 Researchers have created one of the most detailed virtual mouse cortex simulations ever achieved by combining massive biological datasets with the extraordinary power of Japan’s Fugaku ...

Chimps Shock Scientists by Changing Their Minds With New Evidence

Nov. 16, 2025 Chimps may revise their beliefs in surprisingly human-like ways. Experiments showed they switched choices when presented with stronger clues, demonstrating flexible reasoning. Computational modeling ...

What Brain Scans Reveal About Soccer Fans’ Passion and Rage

Nov. 11, 2025 Researchers scanning soccer fans’ brains found that wins trigger bursts of reward activity while losses dampen control signals. The results show how loyalty and rivalry can override logic, turning ...

A 500-Million-Year-Old Brain "radar" Still Shapes How You See

Nov. 8, 2025 New research shows that the superior colliculus, a primitive brain region, can independently interpret visual information. This challenges long-held beliefs that only the cortex handles such complex ...

Scientists May Have Found How to Reverse Memory Loss in Aging Brains

Nov. 5, 2025 Virginia Tech researchers have shown that memory loss in aging may be reversible. Using CRISPR tools, they corrected molecular disruptions in the hippocampus and amygdala, restoring memory in older ...

A Breakthrough Map Reveals How the Brain Really Works

Nov. 5, 2025 Scientists have shown that brain connectivity patterns can predict mental functions across the entire brain. Each region has a unique “connectivity fingerprint” tied to its role in cognition, ...

Earlier Headlines

A Groundbreaking Brain Map Could Revolutionize Parkinson’s Treatment

Nov. 3, 2025 Duke-NUS scientists unveiled BrainSTEM, a revolutionary single-cell map that captures the full cellular diversity of the developing human brain. The project’s focus on dopamine neurons provides ...

MIT Scientists Discover How the Brain Spins Back Into Focus

Nov. 4, 2025 Researchers at MIT’s Picower Institute found that rotating waves of brain activity help restore focus after distractions. In animal tests, these rotations predicted performance: full rotations ...

Alzheimer’s Might Be Powered by a Broken Sleep-Wake Cycle

Nov. 3, 2025 Disrupted sleep patterns in Alzheimer’s disease may be more than a symptom—they could be a driving force. Researchers at Washington University found that the brain’s circadian rhythms are ...

Gum Disease May Quietly Damage the Brain, Scientists Warn

Oct. 29, 2025 People with gum disease may have higher levels of brain white matter damage, a new study finds. Researchers observed that participants with gum disease had significantly more white matter ...

Running Fixes What Junk Food Breaks in the Brain

Oct. 21, 2025 New research reveals that exercise counteracts the mood-damaging effects of a Western-style diet through specific gut and hormonal mechanisms. Running restored metabolites tied to mental well-being ...

Brain Fog During Menopause? Here’s What’s Really Going on

Oct. 21, 2025 Menopause brings profound shifts not just in hormones but in the very structure of the brain. Scientists have found that gray matter in regions tied to memory and thinking can shrink, while white ...

Online Brain Training Reverses 10 Years of Aging in Memory and Learning

Oct. 29, 2025 A new McGill-led study reveals that digital brain exercises can rejuvenate aging brain systems responsible for learning and memory. Older adults using BrainHQ for 10 weeks showed restored cholinergic ...

Scientists Discover Brain Circuit That Can Switch Off Chronic Pain

Oct. 10, 2025 Scientists have pinpointed Y1 receptor neurons in the brain that can override chronic pain signals when survival instincts like hunger or fear take precedence. Acting like a neural switchboard, these ...

Brain Cancer That Eats the Skull Stuns Scientists

Oct. 5, 2025 A new study shows glioblastoma isn’t confined to the brain—it erodes the skull and hijacks the immune system within skull marrow. The cancer opens channels that let inflammatory cells enter the ...

A Century-Old Piano Mystery Has Just Been Solved

Oct. 2, 2025 Scientists confirmed that pianists can alter timbre through touch, using advanced sensors to capture micro-movements that shape sound perception. The discovery bridges art and science, promising ...

Brain Fat, Not Just Plaques, May Be the Hidden Driver of Alzheimer’s

Sep. 24, 2025 For decades, scientists believed Alzheimer’s was driven mainly by sticky protein plaques and tangles in the brain. Now Purdue researchers have revealed a hidden culprit: fat. They found that brain ...

Scientists Find Brain Circuit That Traps Alcohol Users in the Vicious Cycle of Addiction

Oct. 6, 2025 Addiction often isn’t about chasing pleasure—it’s about escaping pain. Researchers at Scripps Research have discovered that a tiny brain region called the paraventricular nucleus of the ...

Junk Food Can Scramble Memory in Just 4 Days

Sep. 29, 2025 Scientists discovered that high-fat junk food disrupts memory circuits in the brain almost immediately. Within just four days, neurons in the hippocampus became overactive, impairing memory. ...

Why So Many Young Kids With ADHD Are Getting the Wrong Treatment

Sep. 16, 2025 Preschoolers with ADHD are often given medication right after diagnosis, against medical guidelines that recommend starting with behavioral therapy. Limited access to therapy and physician pressures ...

Breakthrough Brain Discovery Reveals a Natural Way to Relieve Pain

Nov. 4, 2025 Using powerful 7-Tesla brain imaging, researchers mapped how the brainstem manages pain differently across the body. They discovered that distinct regions activate for facial versus limb pain, ...

The Surprising Brain Chemistry Behind Instant Friendships

Aug. 13, 2025 UC Berkeley scientists found oxytocin is key for quickly forming strong friendships, but less critical for mate bonds. In prairie voles, a lack of oxytocin receptors delayed bonding and reduced ...

Lithium Deficiency May Be the Hidden Spark Behind Alzheimer’s

Aug. 29, 2025 Harvard scientists have uncovered that lithium, a naturally occurring element in the brain, may be the missing piece in understanding Alzheimer’s. Their decade-long research shows that lithium ...

Metformin’s Secret Brain Pathway Revealed After 60 Years

Sep. 10, 2025 Metformin, long trusted for diabetes, turns out to work in the brain too. By shutting down Rap1 in the hypothalamus, the drug lowers blood sugar more effectively than previously understood, opening ...

Johns Hopkins Scientists Grow a Mini Human Brain That Lights Up and Connects Like the Real Thing

Aug. 4, 2025 Scientists at Johns Hopkins have grown a first-of-its-kind organoid mimicking an entire human brain, complete with rudimentary blood vessels and neural activity. This new "multi-region brain ...

Alzheimer’s Risk May Start at the Brain’s Border, Not Inside It

Aug. 4, 2025 Your brain has its own elite defense team — and new research shows these "guardian" cells might be the real battleground for neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and stroke. ...