THE LATEST RESEARCH
New findings about the brain, behavior and mental health—with the evidence and limits in view.
TL;DR: In a 2026 study, 9 people with spinal cord injuries wore a brain-wave cap and imagined moving their left or right foot. A new AI model named the imagined foot correctly 85% of the time, vs 75% for the best older model, but it was tested on recorded data…
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TL;DR: A 2026 review gathered human studies comparing the gut contents of people with and without Parkinson’s disease. Bacteria and the compounds they make showed the most consistent differences, including fewer bacteria that ferment fiber, while research on g…
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TL;DR: A 2026 study found that a gene called MAFF was more active in brain tissue from people who had Parkinson’s disease than from people who didn’t. A genetic analysis linked naturally higher MAFF to a slightly lower risk of Parkinson’s, but that result was…
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TL;DR: In a 2026 lab study, researchers looked at the chemical switches that turn genes on and off in medulloblastoma, a brain cancer that mostly affects children. Removing a protein called KDM2B slowed the growth of 2 of the cancer’s main types in lab dishes…
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TL;DR: In a 2026 study, 12 healthy volunteers wore a brain-wave cap and silently imagined singing a song, moving a hand or their feet, or doing both at once. A computer told all 8 mental tasks apart about half the time, far better than the 1-in-8 expected by g…
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TL;DR: A 2026 review summed up years of studies that filmed brain cells lighting up in living mice bred to develop Alzheimer’s-like disease. Some cells fired far more than normal, especially near the protein clumps typical of Alzheimer’s, while others went sil…
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TL;DR: In a 2026 mouse study, researchers injected a toxic chemical into the eyes of mice to kill the nerve cells that carry vision to the brain, then treated some eyes with tiny particles carrying myricetin, a plant compound. Treated mice kept more of these c…
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TL;DR: In a small 2026 mouse study, mice got a memory-disrupting drug for 7 days, some along with a steroid that raises blood sugar. Mice also given kola nut extract, from a West African seed that contains caffeine, did better on maze memory tests and had heal…
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TL;DR: In a 2026 study, mice breathed a common surgical anesthetic gas for a few hours over several days. Afterward, molecules that turn genes up or down in the hippocampus, the brain’s memory center, had clearly shifted compared with mice that breathed none:…
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TL;DR: A 2026 analysis of 1,058 people with amyloid, the protein that builds up early in Alzheimer’s, combined their brain scans and spinal fluid tests into 4 disease scores. Those scores did a good job predicting who would move to a more advanced stage of mem…
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