Neuroscience

Executive Function in Children’s Academic and Life Outcomes

On September 30, 2020, BrainFutures’ Holly McCormack facilitated a powerful conversation between Goldie Hawn and Bruce Wexler as part of the Aspen Brain Institute’s Expert Series. The conversation explored the current state of education, young student brain development, and brain fitness interventions that can increase executive function (EF), a set of comp...

How COVID-19 Stress Compromises Children’s Brains

By Jude O’Brien It is a strange new world, and we are all doing the best we can to manage and minimize COVID-19. Top of the list: masks and social distancing. For most of us, these steps, and larger ones like self-quarantining and working and learning from home, all can understandably amplify fear and stress. A recent OpEd in the Hechinger Report by Goldie ...

Magnetic Stimulation Improves Concussion Symptoms in Mice

Research from the University of Saskatchewan (USask) shows that low-frequency magnetic stimulation can reverse concussion-related cognitive impairment in mice. Concussions, also known as mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), affect millions of people a year and cost billions in treatment and lost income. Concussions can cause chronic headache, loss of balance, co...

Microglia: Repair Cells of the Central Nervous System Play a Larger Role Than Previously Thought

Scientists have discovered that microglia, cells which were previously thought to clean up damage exclusively within the central nervous system (CNS), also function in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) -- the part of the nervous system that contains most of the body’s sensory and motor neurons. Researchers at the University of Notre Dame have discov...

Roots of Autism May Lie in Embryonic Brain Development

A new study strengthens the theory that neurological irregularities giving rise to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) develop in the cerebral cortex before birth. Research from scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, recently published in Nature Neuroscience, provides insight into when and where such anomalies first appear. Their work demonstrate...

There Are No Candidate Genes for Depression, Study Concludes

For years, researchers have looked for specific genes linked to depression, with the goals of developing genetic testing for the disease and creating new, targeted anti-depression drugs. To this end, scientists focused on a small set of genes and gene-variants believed to be likely "candidate genes" for the disease. However, a recent study from University of ...

'When Neurons Are Out of Shape, Antidepressants May Not Work'

Salk Institute researchers may be a step closer to discovering why 30% of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) do not respond to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Their hypothesis is this: “When neurons are out of shape, antidepressants may not work.” Understanding why some patients respond to SSRIs, while others do not, has on...

Can Neuroscience Help Explain Why Shorter Days Can Lead to Darker Moods?

The winter months bring shorter days and darker nights, but for some they also bring a darker mood. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a type of seasonal depression commonly known as “winter blues” affects one in five people. To be diagnosed with SAD, people must meet full criteria for major depression coinciding with specific seasons (appearing in the wi...