THE LATEST RESEARCH
New findings about the brain, behavior and mental health—with the evidence and limits in view.
TL;DR: In 8 healthy beagles, kratom capsules raised pain thresholds only modestly, and less consistently than the opioid buprenorphine. Kratom caused far less sedation, but the study was small and did not test pain relief in sick animals or people. Key Finding…
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TL;DR: Standing still for 30 seconds on a pressure-sensing mat, eyes closed and arms at the sides, best separated people with spinal cord compression in the neck from people without it. The 15-second version did almost as well. Key Findings 106 people tested:…
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TL;DR: When a computer sorted about 470 people only by their thinking-test and behavior scores, two kinds of frontotemporal dementia stood out clearly. Alzheimer's and two speech-loss types blurred together, which may help explain why these diagnoses take so l…
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TL;DR: A rare kind of sudden vision loss has been linked most consistently to injected semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy), not to every drug in its class, a new review finds. The authors say higher drug levels in the blood may matter, but the evidence is mostly obs…
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TL;DR: Four weeks of being kept awake about 20 hours a day damaged memory and brain-cell connections in middle-aged mice. An experimental compound called D30, given during the sleep loss, partly protected them. Key Findings Three kinds of memory got worse: Rec…
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TL;DR: Many people with Parkinson's still have hours of "off" time each day, when medicine stops working, even on the best regular treatment. Two German neurologists argue that fast-acting "rescue" medicines should be part of everyday care, especially for slow…
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TL;DR: In 32 healthy young adults, fast brain waves recorded during 2.5 minutes of rest were linked to how well people later remembered names paired with faces. More fast activity over the front of the head and less over the back went with better recall. Key F…
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TL;DR: Female rats taken off alprazolam (Xanax) after 8 days of rising doses moved less and avoided the open middle of a test arena, signs of anxiety. Their amygdala, a fear center, showed more excitatory signaling and fewer connection points on nerve cells. K…
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TL;DR: In female mice, both too little and too much estrogen led to depression-like and anxious behavior, and both lowered one estrogen receptor in a mood-related brain area. Boosting that receptor eased the effects of stress. Key Findings U-shaped pattern in…
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TL;DR: In a driving simulator, 30 drivers felt more strained and tired in rain, snow or fog than in clear weather. Each kind of bad weather showed up differently, with drivers slowing down most in fog. Key Findings Workload up in all bad weather: Scores rose 1…
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