Psychology Research News

December 29, 2025

Top Headlines

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 ...

A Surprising Brain Cleanup Reduced Epileptic Seizures and Restored Memory

Dec. 25, 2025 A new study suggests temporal lobe epilepsy may be linked to early aging of certain brain cells. When researchers removed these aging cells in mice, seizures dropped, memory improved, and some animals avoided epilepsy altogether. The treatment used ...

Scientists Found a Way to Restore Brain Blood Flow in Dementia

Dec. 25, 2025 A new study suggests that dementia may be driven in part by faulty blood flow in the brain. Researchers found that losing a key lipid causes blood vessels to become overactive, disrupting circulation and starving brain tissue. When the missing ...

Scientists Reverse Alzheimer’s in Mice and Restore Memory

Dec. 24, 2025 Alzheimer’s has long been considered irreversible, but new research challenges that assumption. Scientists discovered that severe drops in the brain’s energy supply help drive the disease—and restoring that balance can reverse damage, even in ...

A New Drug Could Stop Alzheimer’s Before Memory Loss Begins

Dec. 22, 2025 New research suggests Alzheimer’s may start far earlier than previously thought, driven by a hidden toxic protein in the brain. Scientists found that an experimental drug, NU-9, blocks this early damage in mice and reduces inflammation linked to ...

Deaths of Despair Were Rising Long Before Opioids

Dec. 20, 2025 Long before opioids flooded communities, something else was quietly changing—and it may have helped set the stage for today’s crisis. A new study finds that as church attendance dropped among middle-aged, less educated white Americans, deaths ...

Helping Others for a Few Hours a Week May Slow Brain Aging

Dec. 19, 2025 Spending a few hours a week helping others may slow the aging of the brain. Researchers found that both formal volunteering and informal acts, like helping neighbors or relatives, were linked to noticeably slower cognitive decline over time. The ...

Neurons Aren’t Supposed to Regrow but These Ones Brought Back Vision

Dec. 19, 2025 After injury, the visual system can recover by growing new neural connections rather than replacing lost cells. Researchers found that surviving eye cells formed extra branches that restored communication with the brain. These new pathways worked ...

Anxiety and Insomnia Linked to Sharp Drops in Key Immune Cells

Dec. 15, 2025 Natural killer cells act as the immune system’s rapid-response team, but the stress of anxiety and insomnia may be quietly thinning their ranks. A study of young women in Saudi Arabia found that both conditions were linked to significantly fewer ...

The Brain Switch That Could Rewrite How We Treat Mental Illness

Dec. 13, 2025 Scientists exploring how the brain responds to stress discovered molecular changes that can influence behavior long after an experience ends. They also identified natural resilience systems that help protect certain individuals from harm. These ...

Kids’ Anxiety and Depression Dropped Fast After COVID School Reopenings

Dec. 13, 2025 Researchers discovered that children who went back to school during COVID experienced far fewer mental health diagnoses than those who stayed remote. Anxiety, depression, and ADHD all declined as in-person learning resumed. Healthcare spending tied ...

Latest Headlines

updated 1:15am EST

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, ...

These Nanoparticles Kill Cancer Cells While Sparing Healthy Ones

Dec. 24, 2025 Researchers have created tiny metal-based particles that push cancer cells over the edge while leaving healthy cells mostly unharmed. The particles work by increasing internal stress in cancer cells ...

These Simple Habits Could Make Your Brain 8 Years Younger, Study Finds

Dec. 15, 2025 New research shows that your brain’s “true age” can shift dramatically depending on how you live, with optimism, restorative sleep, stress management, and strong social support acting like ...

Indoor Tanning Triples Melanoma Risk and Seeds Broad DNA Mutations

Dec. 15, 2025 Researchers discovered that tanning beds cause widespread, mutation-laden DNA damage across almost all skin, explaining the sharply increased melanoma risk. Single-cell genomic analysis revealed ...

AI Finds a Hidden Stress Signal Inside Routine CT Scans

Dec. 14, 2025 Researchers used a deep learning AI model to uncover the first imaging-based biomarker of chronic stress by measuring adrenal gland volume on routine CT scans. This new metric, the Adrenal Volume ...

Stressed Rats Keep Returning to Cannabis and Scientists Know Why

Dec. 11, 2025 Rats with naturally high stress levels were far more likely to self-administer cannabis when given access. Behavioral testing showed that baseline stress hormones were the strongest predictor of ...

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 ...

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 ...

Her Food Cravings Vanished on Mounjaro Then Roared Back

Dec. 8, 2025 Deep-brain recordings showed that Mounjaro and Zepbound briefly shut down the craving circuits linked to food noise in a patient with severe obesity. Her obsessive thoughts about food disappeared as ...

Humans Are Built for Nature Not Modern Life

Dec. 8, 2025 Human biology evolved for a world of movement, nature, and short bursts of stress—not the constant pressure of modern life. Industrial environments overstimulate our stress systems and erode both ...

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 ...

Fast Depression Relief? Nitrous Oxide Shows Remarkable Potential

Dec. 2, 2025 Nitrous oxide may offer quick, short-term relief for people with major depression, especially those who haven’t responded to standard medications. The meta-analysis found rapid improvements after a ...

A Common Nutrient Deficiency May Be Silently Harming Young Brains

Nov. 27, 2025 Scientists studying young adults with obesity discovered early indicators of brain stress that resemble patterns seen in cognitive impairment. The group showed higher inflammation, signs of liver ...

Scientists Discover Hidden Wolf DNA in Most Dogs

Nov. 29, 2025 Researchers studying thousands of canine genomes discovered that wolf DNA is still present in most dog breeds. This ancient genetic influence shows up in traits like body size, behavior, and ...

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 ...

Scientists Reveal a Hidden Alarm System Inside Your Cells

Nov. 25, 2025 Ribosomes don’t just make proteins—they can sense when something’s wrong. When they collide, they send out stress signals that activate a molecule called ZAK. Researchers uncovered how ZAK ...

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 Grow a Tiny Human “blood Factory” That Actually Works

Nov. 20, 2025 Researchers have recreated a miniature human bone marrow system that mirrors the real structure found inside our bones. The model includes the full mix of cells and signals needed for blood ...

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 ...

Chronic Pain May Dramatically Raise Your Blood Pressure

Nov. 17, 2025 Chronic pain might quietly push people toward developing high blood pressure—and the more widespread the pain, the greater the danger. A massive analysis of over 200,000 adults uncovered strong ...

Your Anxiety May Be Controlled by Hidden Immune Cells in the Brain

Nov. 13, 2025 Researchers have uncovered surprising evidence that anxiety may be controlled not by neurons but by two dueling groups of immune cells inside the brain. These microglia act like biological ...

Scientists Find Hidden Brain Nutrient Drop That May Fuel Anxiety

Dec. 4, 2025 Researchers found that people with anxiety disorders consistently show lower choline levels in key brain regions that regulate thinking and emotions. This biochemical difference may help explain why ...

Think Melatonin Is Safe? New Research Reveals a Hidden Heart Risk

Nov. 4, 2025 Long-term melatonin use for sleep problems may come with unexpected heart dangers. Researchers found that chronic users were almost twice as likely to die and 3.5 times more likely to be hospitalized ...

Your Bedroom Glow Might Be Quietly Damaging Your Heart

Nov. 3, 2025 Boston researchers linked nighttime light exposure to greater stress-related brain activity and inflamed arteries, signaling a higher risk of heart disease. The study suggests that artificial light ...

Common Antidepressant Found to Work in Just Two Weeks

Nov. 8, 2025 Sertraline (Zoloft) may relieve emotional symptoms of depression and anxiety within two weeks, while physical side effects stabilize later. The research highlights how antidepressants can act on ...

Scientists Just Found a Hidden Genetic Flaw That Slowly Steals Strength

Nov. 6, 2025 A newly identified disorder, MINA syndrome, results from a mutation in the NAMPT protein that deprives motor neurons of energy, leading to severe movement problems. The discovery not only deepens ...

Scientists May Have Found How to Reverse Memory Loss in Aging Brains

Nov. 5, 2025 Virginia Tech researchers have shown that memory loss in aging may be reversible. Using CRISPR tools, they corrected molecular disruptions in the hippocampus and amygdala, restoring memory in older ...

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 ...

Smoking Cannabis With Tobacco May Disrupt the Brain’s “bliss Molecule”

Nov. 15, 2025 Scientists found that people who use both cannabis and tobacco show a distinct brain pattern tied to mood and stress regulation. Their scans revealed higher levels of an enzyme that reduces a natural ...

Running Fixes What Junk Food Breaks in the Brain

Oct. 21, 2025 New research reveals that exercise counteracts the mood-damaging effects of a Western-style diet through specific gut and hormonal mechanisms. Running restored metabolites tied to mental well-being ...