Perception News

October 14, 2026

Top Headlines

AI Can Act Exactly Like a Human, but We Still Don't Think It's Conscious

Oct. 13, 2026 A new study reveals that people draw a surprisingly sharp line between human consciousness and artificial intelligence, even when both behave identically. Researchers found that participants considered even the most responsive AI less conscious than ...

Scientists Uncover a Hidden Map of the Brain with 539 Distinct Regions

Oct. 13, 2026 Scientists have uncovered a hidden layer of organization in the brain by creating the first detailed 3D map of its lipids, the fatty molecules essential for brain structure and communication. By analyzing millions of measurements from mouse brains, ...

After 30 Years, Scientists Finally Have a Drug for a Deadly Brain Disease

Oct. 12, 2026 The FDA has approved the first drug that directly targets Alexander disease, a devastating neurological disorder affecting fewer than one in a million people. Developed through decades of research, Zanvastro showed promising results in clinical ...

Scientists Find Hidden Driver of Aging and a Simple Amino Acid That Fights Memory Loss in Mice

Oct. 12, 2026 Scientists discovered that declining levels of a protein called Menin may help drive aging, and restoring it in older mice reversed several age-related changes in just 30 days. Even more ...

Just 10 Minutes of Daily Exercise Could Unlock Deeper Sleep

Oct. 11, 2026 Getting better sleep might be as simple as moving a little more every day. Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin found that people who exercised more frequently experienced more deep, restorative sleep, which is essential for brain ...

Scientists Created a Tiny Device That Can Control Your Nerves to Treat Chronic Pain

Oct. 10, 2026 Scientists have developed a tiny, injectable device that can control nerve activity without surgery, batteries, or wires, potentially transforming treatment for chronic pain and movement disorders. ...

Scientists Discover 5 Hidden Brain Patterns Behind Depression

Oct. 9, 2026 Depression may not be one biological condition, but several distinct patterns of brain activity hiding under the same diagnosis. Researchers studying 263 people with depression identified five brain profiles, each showing different patterns of ...

This Diet May Slow Brain Aging by 2.5 Years

Oct. 1, 2026 People who followed the MIND diet more closely showed slower brain shrinkage and less grey matter loss over time, with the strongest differences equivalent to about 2.5 years of delayed brain aging. Berries and poultry were linked with healthier ...

Alzheimer’s Risk Gene APOE4 May Have a Reversible Weakness

Oct. 1, 2026 The Alzheimer’s risk gene APOE4 may actively damage brain blood vessels and sabotage the cellular systems that remove harmful proteins. Researchers were able to reverse some of these effects in experiments, revealing promising new targets for ...

Children at Risk for Depression Get “Stuck” on Sad Faces

Sep. 29, 2026 Depression may change which emotional faces children notice most, but the pattern appears to depend on family history. Children at higher familial risk became increasingly focused on sad faces, while lower-risk children with rising symptoms paid ...

Brain Scans Reveal Which Disorders Are Linked to Faster Brain Aging

Sep. 29, 2026 A massive MRI study found that Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, psychiatric disorders, and addiction are associated with distinct patterns of accelerated brain aging. The strongest effects appeared in Alzheimer’s and mild ...

Scientists Just Discovered What Coffee Really Does to Your Gut and Brain

Sep. 28, 2026 A new study suggests coffee may influence mood and brain function by changing the activity of microbes in the gut. Both caffeinated and decaf coffee were linked to lower stress, depression, and impulsivity, while also producing measurable changes in ...

Latest Headlines

updated 2:45am EDT

The Secret to Handling Stress Better May Start at Breakfast

Oct. 13, 2026 Your daily routine could have a bigger impact on your ability to handle stress than you realize. A Binghamton University study of approximately 400 college students found that eating breakfast ...

Vagus Nerve Stimulation Could Help New Skills Stick

Oct. 5, 2026 Stimulating the vagus nerve after practice helped mice develop stronger long-term motor learning, revealing a potentially important window when the brain is still locking in a new skill. The effect ...

Resetting the Body Clock Could Help the Brain Recover After Stroke

Sep. 28, 2026 Strengthening the body’s natural daily rhythms helped mice recover after stroke by improving the brain’s waste-clearing system and reducing lingering inflammation. The approach worked even when ...

Scientists Found a Surprising Driver of Alzheimer’s Outside the Brain

Sep. 27, 2026 Scientists found that immune cells contributing to Alzheimer’s-related brain damage may be activated in lymph nodes outside the brain before traveling into the nervous system. Blocking this pathway ...

Glucosamine, a Popular Joint Supplement, Linked to Faster Alzheimer’s Progression

Sep. 27, 2026 A large health-record analysis found that glucosamine use was associated with a 25% higher likelihood of mild cognitive impairment progressing to ...

REM Sleep Paradox: Dreaming May Drain the Brain’s Energy Even as Fuel Supply Rises

Sep. 26, 2026 Scientists discovered a surprising energy paradox in the brain during REM sleep, the stage most closely associated with dreaming. Blood supply to the ...

When What You See Doesn’t Make Sense, Your Brain Does Something Remarkable

Sep. 24, 2026 The brain may have a built-in way to quickly settle disagreements between regions processing the same scene. Researchers found that matching signals ...

Rare Pregnancy Infections May Triple the Risk of Autism

Sep. 23, 2026 A major Swedish study of 3.7 million people has found that rare TORCH infections passed from a pregnant woman to the fetus are linked to much higher risks of autism and intellectual disability later ...

Brain Scans Reveal a Possible Cause of Long COVID Fatigue and Brain Fog

Sep. 21, 2026 Researchers have found evidence that long COVID may damage dopamine releasing neurons in the brain, potentially explaining persistent fatigue, low motivation, slowed movement, and memory ...

Stem Cells Reverse Stroke Damage and Restore Movement in Mice

Sep. 21, 2026 Stem cell transplants helped regenerate stroke-damaged brain tissue in mice, producing new neurons and restoring lost motor function. The treatment also improved blood vessels, inflammation, and the ...

Stanford Scientists Discover the Human Brain May Actually Be Two Separate Organs

Sep. 21, 2026 Scientists have found that the human brain develops from two distinct cellular systems, suggesting that evolution fused together two ancient nervous systems with very different jobs. The discovery ...

Scientists Reveal the Hidden Instructions That Build the Human Brain

Sep. 4, 2026 UCLA researchers have discovered two powerful influences that help guide how the human brain forms before birth. Radial glia, stem cells responsible for producing much of the cerebral cortex, change ...

Depression May Shut Down the Brain’s Ability to Make New Neurons

Aug. 25, 2026 A major study found that adults with depression show disrupted production of new neurons in the hippocampus, potentially weakening the brain’s ability to separate new experiences from painful ...

Hidden Brain Wiring May Help Keep the Mind Sharp as Gray Matter Shrinks

Sep. 14, 2026 Scientists have discovered that the brain’s short-range wiring may help protect cognition even as gray matter shrinks with age. Healthier connections just beneath the brain’s surface were linked ...

Scientists Discover a Brain “brake” That Can Shut Down Chronic Pain

Aug. 27, 2026 Researchers discovered a brain-based “brake” that can shut down chronic nerve pain in mice by calming an overactive pain circuit. Targeting this system more precisely could one day lead to ...

Scientists Reveal How the Brain Changes Its Connections When Uncertainty Strikes

Aug. 19, 2026 The brain has a remarkably flexible system for handling uncertainty and changing situations. Researchers found that the frontoparietal cortex constantly shifts how it communicates with other brain ...

Quitting Alcohol May Prime the Brain for Relapse

Aug. 22, 2026 Mice that developed compulsive drinking after alcohol abstinence showed more than double the activity in a brain region associated with stress and addiction. Because the signal appeared before they ...

Ozempic Does Something Unexpected to the Brain’s Hunger Neurons

Aug. 20, 2026 Ozempic may work in the brain in almost the opposite way scientists expected, activating hunger-linked neurons that appear essential for sustaining fat loss. The surprising discovery in mice could ...

Immune Cells Flood Into the Aging Brain, Stanford Scientists Discover

Aug. 14, 2026 Scientists have discovered that the aging human brain may be far less isolated from the rest of the body than once believed. Stanford researchers found that large numbers of immune cells from the ...

Your Gut May Help Your Brain Decide What to Remember

July 29, 2026 Signals traveling from the gut to the brain may help turn meals into lasting memories. Rats showed stronger memory activity after consuming nutritious foods, but not after drinking sweet liquids with ...

Scientists Find a New Layer of Alzheimer’s Hidden in the Genome

Sep. 13, 2026 Scientists found that the 3D organization of DNA is disrupted in several types of brain cells affected by Alzheimer’s disease, altering how important genes are switched on and off. The discovery ...

New Injectable Treatment Helps the Brain Rebuild After Stroke

Sep. 3, 2026 Duke researchers developed an injectable scaffold that helped stroke-damaged brains grow new blood vessels, support nerve regrowth, and recover movement in mice. The treatment appears to work partly ...

A Single Dose Reversed Autism-Like Symptoms in Adult Mice Within Hours

July 25, 2026 Even mild inflammation during pregnancy led mouse offspring to develop persistent brain overactivity, sensory sensitivity, repetitive behaviors, and increased seizure risk. Remarkably, one dose of ...

Mysterious Waves Sweeping Across Your Brain May Help Turn Sensory Chaos Into What You See

Aug. 18, 2026 Traveling electrical waves sweeping across the brain may help determine what we notice, predict what comes next, and construct our internal picture of the world. Researchers now argue that these ...

Scientists Discover the Hidden Brain Switch That Assigns Bees Their Jobs

July 22, 2026 Researchers found that specific brain circuits help decide which jobs bees perform as they age. When those circuits were switched off, older worker bees began caring for the queen again instead of ...

Watching Too Much TV in Midlife May Shrink the Brain

July 21, 2026 Watching television very often in midlife may be linked to troubling brain changes decades later. In a study of about 1,700 adults, frequent TV viewers later showed smaller brain regions involved in ...

One Immune Switch May Help Drive Aging Across the Body

Sep. 3, 2026 Aging may be partly fueled by immune cells losing their ability to clear away damaged, inflammation-promoting cells. Blocking a single receptor restored that cleanup process in mice, reducing ...

Alzheimer’s Breakthrough: Scientists Restore Two Hours of Sleep Without Clearing Brain Plaques

July 20, 2026 Researchers have uncovered a surprising culprit behind sleep loss in Alzheimer’s disease: the brain’s own immune cells. In mice with amyloid plaques, overactive microglia triggered inflammation ...

Exercise May Help the Aging Brain “take out the Trash”

Aug. 10, 2026 Regular exercise may help the brain clear away harmful waste that can build up with age. Researchers found that physical activity supports several processes linked to the brain’s glymphatic cleanup ...

Schizophrenia’s Lost Brain Connections Follow a Surprising Pattern

Aug. 20, 2026 Specialized brain scans reveal that schizophrenia is linked to widespread loss of the synapses that connect brain cells, with the left side of the brain hit especially hard. The damage follows a ...