Nervous System News

January 3, 2026

Top Headlines

Age Does Not Stop Nerve Healing After Spinal Cord Injury

Jan. 3, 2026 As spinal cord injuries increasingly affect older adults, new research reveals a surprising pattern in recovery. The study shows that aging does not appear to slow the healing of nerves themselves, with older patients regaining strength and ...

MIT Scientists Find a Way to Rejuvenate the Immune System as We Age

Dec. 29, 2025 As the immune system weakens with age, scientists have found a way to restore some of its lost strength. By delivering mRNA to the liver, they created a temporary source of immune-boosting signals that normally come from the thymus. Older mice ...

Mini Brains Reveal Clear Brain Signals of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder

Dec. 28, 2025 Tiny lab-grown brains are offering an unprecedented look at how schizophrenia and bipolar disorder disrupt neural activity. Researchers found distinct electrical firing patterns that could identify ...

Stanford Scientists Uncover Why MRNA COVID Vaccines Can Trigger Heart Inflammation

Dec. 27, 2025 Stanford scientists have uncovered how mRNA COVID-19 vaccines can very rarely trigger heart inflammation in young men — and how that risk might be reduced. They found that the vaccines can spark a ...

Scientists Found a New Way to Slow Aging Inside Cells

Dec. 19, 2025 A small tweak to mitochondrial energy production led to big gains in health and longevity. Mice engineered to boost a protein that helps mitochondria work more efficiently lived longer and showed better metabolism, stronger muscles, and healthier ...

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, ...

Simple Light Trick Reveals Hidden Brain Pathways in Microscopic Detail

Dec. 9, 2025 Microscopic fibers secretly shape how every organ in the body works, yet they’ve been notoriously hard to study—until now. A new imaging technique called ComSLI reveals hidden fiber orientations in stunning detail using only a rotating LED light ...

Single Enzyme Mutation Reveals a Hidden Trigger in Dementia

Dec. 9, 2025 Researchers discovered that a tiny structural feature of the enzyme GPX4 helps keep neurons safe. A rare mutation removes this protection, allowing harmful molecules to damage cell membranes and trigger early dementia. Mouse and cell studies showed ...

Natural Hormone Unlocks a Hidden Fat Burning Switch

Dec. 6, 2025 FGF19 triggers the brain to burn more energy and activate fat-burning cells, offering a potential new path for obesity treatments. The hormone enhances thermogenesis and reduces inflammation, but only when the sympathetic nervous system is active. ...

Scientists Find Hidden Layers in Brain’s Memory Center

Dec. 6, 2025 Scientists uncovered a surprising four-layer structure hidden inside the hippocampal CA1 region, one of the brain’s major centers for memory, navigation, and emotion. Using advanced RNA imaging techniques, the team mapped more than 330,000 genetic ...

A Long-overlooked Weak Point in Your DNA Has Just Been Revealed

Dec. 3, 2025 Scientists discovered that the first 100 base pairs of human genes are unusually prone to mutations, especially during the earliest stages of embryonic development. These mosaic mutations often go undetected yet can still be passed on and cause ...

Scientists Discover Hidden Switch That Helps Cancer Cells Survive

Dec. 1, 2025 Researchers have found a small but powerful switch inside breast cancer cells that helps them survive stressful conditions. When this switch flips, the cells activate protective programs that make them tougher and faster-growing. The finding reveals ...

Latest Headlines

updated 5:57am EST

A Hidden Cellular Breakdown May Be Driving Dry Eye Disease

Jan. 2, 2026 Dry eye disease affects millions of people, causing burning, redness, and constant eye fatigue that can worsen over time. Scientists now believe the problem may begin deep inside tear glands, where a ...

This Tiny Peptide Could Help Stop Brain Damage After Injury

Dec. 24, 2025 A four–amino acid peptide called CAQK has shown powerful brain-protective effects in animal models of traumatic brain injury. Delivered through a standard IV, it zeroes in on injured brain tissue, ...

Hidden Mitochondrial DNA Damage May Be a Missing Link in Disease

Nov. 28, 2025 Researchers identified a new, sticky form of mitochondrial DNA damage that builds up at dramatically higher levels than in nuclear DNA. These lesions disrupt energy production and activate ...

Nanoflowers Supercharge Stem Cells to Recharge Aging Cells

Nov. 27, 2025 Texas A&M researchers found a way to make stem cells produce double the normal number of mitochondria using nanoflower particles. These energized stem cells then transfer their surplus “power ...

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 ...

One Protein May Hold the Key to Fixing Leukemia Treatment Failure

Nov. 24, 2025 Scientists have uncovered how leukemia cells manage to escape one of the most commonly used treatments. Over time, these cancer cells subtly change the shape of their mitochondria to avoid dying when ...

A Drug Already in Trials May Stop Chemotherapy Nerve Damage

Nov. 21, 2025 Researchers discovered that chemotherapy can accidentally trigger a stress alarm in immune cells, causing inflammation that damages nerves. Blocking this alarm protected mice from nerve pain and kept ...

Scientists Find Hidden Brain Source That Fuels Dementia

Nov. 6, 2025 Weill Cornell researchers uncovered how free radicals from astrocyte mitochondria can fuel dementia. Using new compounds that target these radicals at their source, they slowed brain inflammation and ...

Scientists Uncover Meditation’s Hidden Side Effects

Nov. 5, 2025 Meditation is widely praised for its mental health benefits, but new research shows that it can also produce unexpected side effects for some people—from anxiety and dissociation to functional ...

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, ...

Scientists Discover the Nutrient That Supercharges Cellular Energy

Nov. 3, 2025 Scientists uncovered how the amino acid leucine enhances mitochondrial efficiency by preserving crucial proteins that drive energy production. By downregulating the protein SEL1L, leucine prevents ...

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 ...

Scientists Discover COVID mRNA Vaccines Boost Cancer Survival

Oct. 28, 2025 Researchers found that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines significantly increased survival in lung and skin cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy. The vaccine appears to prime the immune system in a powerful, ...

Cancer Patients Who Got a COVID Vaccine Lived Much Longer

Oct. 19, 2025 A groundbreaking study reveals that cancer patients who received a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy lived dramatically longer than those who didn’t. Researchers from ...

Scientists Launch $14.2 Million Project to Map the Body’s “hidden Sixth Sense”

Oct. 25, 2025 Inside your body, an intricate communication network constantly monitors breathing, heart rate, digestion, and immune function — a hidden “sixth sense” called interoception. Now, Nobel laureate ...

Breakthrough Compounds May Reverse Nerve Damage Caused by Multiple Sclerosis

Oct. 11, 2025 Researchers have identified two compounds, K102 and K110, that could repair the nerve damage from multiple sclerosis. These drugs help regenerate the protective myelin sheath and balance immune ...

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 ...

Hidden Cellular “power Switch” Could Transform Parkinson’s Treatment

Oct. 4, 2025 Researchers uncovered a key cellular regulator, PP2A-B55alpha, that controls both the cleanup of damaged mitochondria and the creation of new ones. In Parkinson’s disease models, reducing this ...

A Toxic Alzheimer’s Protein Could Be the Key to Fighting Cancer

Oct. 10, 2025 A surprising link between Alzheimer’s and cancer reveals that amyloid beta, a harmful protein in the brain, actually empowers the immune system. It strengthens T-cells’ energy production, helping ...

AI Breakthrough Finds Life-Saving Insights in Everyday Bloodwork

Sep. 23, 2025 AI-powered analysis of routine blood tests can reveal hidden patterns that predict recovery and survival after spinal cord injuries. This breakthrough could make life-saving predictions affordable ...

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 Uncover Exercise’s Secret Hunger-Busting Molecule

Sep. 20, 2025 Scientists have uncovered how exercise suppresses appetite through a surprising molecular pathway. A compound called Lac-Phe, produced during intense workouts, directly quiets hunger neurons in the ...

Supercharged Vitamin K Could Help the Brain Heal Itself

Oct. 14, 2025 Researchers have synthesized enhanced vitamin K analogues that outperform natural vitamin K in promoting neuron growth. The new compounds, which combine vitamin K with retinoic acid, activate the ...

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 ...

First Living Cochlea Outside the Body Shows How Hearing Really Works

Sep. 30, 2025 Scientists have kept a tiny slice of cochlea alive outside the body, directly witnessing how hair cells amplify sound. The finding confirms a universal principle of hearing and could pave the way for ...

Hardly Anyone Uses This Surprisingly Simple Fix for High Blood Pressure

Sep. 20, 2025 Despite strong evidence that salt substitutes can safely lower sodium intake and reduce high blood pressure, very few Americans use them. A new analysis of nearly 20 years of national health data ...

Why Alzheimer’s Attacks the Brain’s Memory Hub First

Sep. 2, 2025 Virginia Tech researchers are investigating how overloaded mitochondria in the brain’s memory circuits may spark early Alzheimer’s damage. Their work focuses on calcium signaling and how it might ...

Overworked Neurons Burn out and Fuel Parkinson’s Disease

Sep. 3, 2025 Overactivation of dopamine neurons may directly drive their death, explaining why movement-controlling brain cells degenerate in Parkinson’s. Mice with chronically stimulated neurons showed the ...

Rats Walk Again After Breakthrough Spinal Cord Repair With 3D Printing

Aug. 26, 2025 University of Minnesota researchers developed a 3D-printed scaffold that directs stem cells to grow into functioning nerve cells, successfully restoring movement in rats with severed spinal cords. ...

Scientists Create Scalable Quantum Node Linking Light and Matter

Aug. 29, 2025 Quantum scientists in Innsbruck have taken a major leap toward building the internet of the future. Using a string of calcium ions and finely tuned lasers, they created quantum nodes capable of ...