Memory News

March 5, 2025

Top Headlines

Microplastics in Ocean Linked to Disabilities for Coastal Residents

Feb. 26, 2025 — Tiny bits of plastic found in the ocean may be tied to a higher risk of disability for people who live in coastal areas with high levels, according to a preliminary study. The study looked at disabilities affecting memory and thinking, mobility and ...

How Humans Learn to Optimize Working Memory

Feb. 24, 2025 — Working memory is what allows humans to juggle different pieces of information in short-term scenarios, like making a mental grocery list and then going shopping or remembering and then dialing a phone number. While scientists agree that the ...

Brain-Wide Activity Change Visualized as Geometric Patterns

Feb. 21, 2025 — Researchers have applied a visualization technique to depict the brain's activity related to visual perception as geometric patterns. They visualized different shapes as the ever-changing neuronal activity in the temporal and frontal lobes of the ...

Meet the Newly Discovered Brain Cell That Allows You to Remember Objects

Feb. 12, 2025 — Researchers have discovered a new type of neuron that plays a fundamental role in recognition memory -- how the brain registers the difference between new and familiar objects and forms long-term memories. The new cell type, called ovoid cells, are ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:31pm EST

How Air Pollution and Wildfire Smoke May Contribute to Memory Loss in Alzheimer's Disease

Feb. 27, 2025 — Air pollution contributes to nearly 7 million premature deaths each year, and its effects go far beyond the lungs. Breathing in wildfire smoke or ...

Largest Study Ever Done on Cannabis and Brain Function Finds Impact on Working Memory

Jan. 28, 2025 — A new study explores the effects of both recent and lifetime cannabis use on brain function during cognitive tasks. The study, the largest of its ...

Mouth Bacteria May Hold Insight Into Your Future Brain Function

Feb. 5, 2025 — A new study has found that certain bacteria were associated with better memory and attention, while others were linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer's ...

Scientists Discover Brain Mechanism That Helps Us Overcome Fear

Feb. 6, 2025 — Researchers have unveiled the precise brain mechanisms that enable animals to overcome instinctive fears. The study in mice could have implications for developing therapeutics for fear-related ...

Air Pollution Clouds the Mind and Makes Everyday Tasks Challenging

Feb. 6, 2025 — People's ability to interpret emotions or focus on performing a task is reduced by short-term exposure to particulate matter (PM) air pollution, potentially making everyday activities, such as the ...

New Drug Shows Promise in Reversing Memory Loss for Early Alzheimer's Patients

Feb. 4, 2025 — A paradigm-shifting study shows an experimental drug, GL-II-73, has the potential to restore memory and cognitive function in a mouse model of ...

Positive Emotions Plus Deep Sleep Equals Longer-Lasting Perceptual Memories

Feb. 3, 2025 — Researchers have uncovered how perceptual memories linked to positive emotions, such as joy or happiness, are strengthened during sleep. The study could help scientists understand the neurological ...

How Does the Hippocampus Coordinate Memory Encoding and Retrieval?

Feb. 3, 2025 — A team of scientists has unveiled how the hippocampus orchestrates multiple memory processes, including encoding new information, forming memories, and retrieving ...

How Group Size Affects Cooperation: Insights from Brain Science

Jan. 29, 2025 — New research challenges conventional wisdom that larger group size reduces cooperation by showing that fluid connections and innate prosocial instincts enable humans to thrive in larger social ...

Delayed REM Sleep Could Be an Early Sign of Alzheimer's

Jan. 27, 2025 — Scientists have recently shown that both the quality and the amount of sleep we get may influence our risk of developing Alzheimer's ...

Researchers Create New Guidelines to Diagnose Common Memory Disorder Frequently Mistaken for Alzheimer's Disease

Jan. 22, 2025 — New guidelines will help doctors identify patients with a common memory-loss syndrome that is often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's disease in older adults. The diagnostic criteria for ...

New Study Uncovers Key Mechanism Behind Learning and Memory

Jan. 21, 2025 — A breakthrough study sheds new light on how brain cells relay critical information from their extremities to their nucleus, leading to the activation of genes essential for learning and ...

Is Eating More Red Meat Bad for Your Brain?

Jan. 15, 2025 — People who eat more red meat, especially processed red meat like bacon, sausage and bologna, are more likely to have a higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia when compared to those who eat ...

Memory Systems in the Brain Drive Food Cravings That Could Influence Body Weight

Jan. 15, 2025 — A research team identified the brain's food-specific memory system and its direct role in overeating and diet-induced obesity. They found a specific population of neurons in the mouse brain that ...

A Molecule Is Shown to Produce Cognitive Improvement in Rodents With Early Alzheimer's Disease

Jan. 15, 2025 — Scientists have come up with a drug that is a potential candidate for tackling memory deficits in the early stages of the disease in rodents. Research shows that the drug activates the cannabinoid ...

How One Brain Circuit Encodes Memories of Both Places and Events

Jan. 15, 2025 — A computational model explains how place cells in the hippocampus can be recruited to form any kind of episodic memory, even when there's no spatial ...

Circulation Problems in the Brain's Seat of Memory Linked to Mild Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults

Jan. 13, 2025 — Mild cognitive impairment is linked to blood vessel dysfunction in the brain's temporal lobes -- the seat of memory -- according to a new study. The findings, seen in people with and without ...

Scientists Design Bioluminescent RNA

Jan. 9, 2025 — RNA is the molecule that reads the genetic information stored in DNA. It's critical for the proper functioning of cells, and in a new study scientists have discovered a way of tagging RNA with a ...

Study Reveals That Sleep Prevents Unwanted Memories from Intruding

Jan. 2, 2025 — The link between poor sleep and mental health problems could be related to deficits in brain regions that keep unwanted thoughts out of ...

CAR-T Cells Hold Memories of Past Encounters

Jan. 2, 2025 — Researchers have discovered that some CAR-T cells engineered to fight cancer and other conditions carry the memory of past encounters with bacteria, viruses and other antigens within them, a finding ...

Pupil Size in Sleep Reveals How Memories Are Sorted, Preserved

Jan. 1, 2025 — Researchers have found the pupil is key to understanding how, and when, the brain forms strong, long-lasting ...

Brain Inflammation Alters Behavior According to Sex, Mouse Study Finds

Dec. 19, 2024 — Inflammation in the hippocampus -- the brain's memory center -- significantly alters motivation and behavior in mice, according to new ...

First Successful Clinical Trial of VU319 Brings Alzheimer's Treatment One Step Closer

Dec. 19, 2024 — Phase I clinical trial of a drug was successfully completed, with promise to treat Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. The compound, named VU319, is the first end-to-end drug ...

Staying Sharp: Study Explores How Brain Changes May Affect Financial Skills

Dec. 16, 2024 — A new article sheds light on how age-related changes may affect the way we handle finances -- and how we can stay sharp as we ...

Breathing Coordinates Brain Rhythms for Memory Consolidation During Sleep

Dec. 16, 2024 — Just as a conductor coordinates different instruments in an orchestra to produce a symphony, breathing coordinates hippocampal brain waves to strengthen memory while we sleep, reports a new study. ...

Can Lab-Grown Neurons Exhibit Plasticity?

Dec. 16, 2024 — This bioengineering breakthrough has found a way to make neurons grown in a dish react just like the real ...

Why Deep Sleep Is Helpful for Memory

Dec. 12, 2024 — It has been known for nearly 20 years that slow, synchronous electrical waves in the brain during deep sleep support the formation of memories. Why that is was previously unknown. Now, a team of ...

The Distinct Nerve Wiring of Human Memory

Dec. 11, 2024 — The black box of the human brain is starting to open. Although animal models are instrumental in shaping our understanding of the mammalian brain, scarce human data is uncovering important ...

Short-Term Cognitive Boost from Exercise May Last for 24 Hours

Dec. 9, 2024 — The short-term boost our brains get after we do exercise persists throughout the following day, suggests a new ...

Why People Remember Certain Things and Not Others

Dec. 6, 2024 — Exactly why do people remember what they remember? A recently published review paper sheds light on this fundamental question and the relationship between factors that influence human ...