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Neocortex (brain)
The neocortex is a part of the brain of mammals. It is the top layer of the cerebral hemispheres, 2-4 mm thick, and made up of six layers, labelled I to VI (with VI being the innermost and I being the outermost). The neocortex is part of the cerebral cortex (along with the archicortex and paleocortex - which are cortical parts of the limbic system). It is involved in higher functions such as sensory perception, generation of motor commands, spatial reasoning, conscious thought, and in humans, language. The neocortex consists of grey matter surrounding the deeper white matter of the cerebrum. While the neocortex is smooth in rats and some other small mammals, it has deep grooves (sulci) and wrinkles (gyri) in primates and several other mammals. These folds serve to increase the area of the neocortex considerably. In humans it accounts for about 76% of the brain's volume.
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Mind & Brain News
August 8, 2026
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Aug. 6, 2026 Beginning around age 50, the brain’s memory center appears to lose many of its longtime immune cells and replace them with more inflammatory ones. This surprising shift may help explain how normal aging sets the stage for Alzheimer’s disease and ...
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Aug. 5, 2026 A prescription form of THC helped many people with PTSD escape recurring trauma-related nightmares, with more than one-third reporting that the nightmares disappeared completely after ten weeks. The ...
Aug. 5, 2026 A simple change in posture may subtly affect how people feel and make decisions. Participants who sat upright reported greater feelings of pride and took more successful risks in a virtual balloon game than those who hunched over. Most did not ...
Aug. 3, 2026 Weight loss is not simply a test of willpower. The human brain evolved to protect body fat during times of scarcity, and it can treat a previously higher weight as the new normal, triggering stronger hunger, cravings, and lower energy use after ...
Aug. 3, 2026 Scientists have identified a molecular switch that may help explain why aging makes the brain more vulnerable to diseases such as ALS and Huntington’s. In worms, the protein EPS8 builds up with age and triggers signaling that encourages toxic ...
Aug. 3, 2026 Vanderbilt researchers created the first selective compound designed to inhibit TAOK-1, a poorly understood protein connected to Alzheimer’s disease. They also discovered a second compound that activates the entire TAOK protein family, offering ...
July 31, 2026 A new report suggests that blood pressure may be controlled more effectively by increasing potassium while also cutting sodium. Potassium-rich foods can help balance sodium’s effects, but most people consume far less potassium than ...
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Aug. 5, 2026 A group of brain cells called orexin neurons appears to help us keep working when reaching a reward becomes increasingly difficult. Blocking their activity weakened motivation in rats, pointing to a ...
July 31, 2026 A gene involved in the brain’s overnight cleaning system may change how strongly poor sleep affects Alzheimer’s-related brain changes. The findings point toward more personalized prevention ...
July 31, 2026 A person’s sleeping brain may reveal warning signs of dementia long before memory problems begin. Researchers used machine learning to analyze EEG recordings from about 7,000 adults and found that ...
July 30, 2026 Researchers have uncovered a possible biological pathway connecting obesity to Alzheimer’s disease. Obesity appears to raise levels of certain fat molecules that can travel to the brain, disrupt ...
July 30, 2026 Keeping a regular daily schedule may help reduce pain and depression, especially among older adults with insomnia. Researchers found that consistent times for waking, eating, socializing, and ...
July 30, 2026 Christof Koch is taking on one of science’s deepest mysteries: how the brain creates conscious experience, or whether it creates it at all. He argues that materialism has yet to solve this “hard ...
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 ...
July 27, 2026 Dreams are not random mental noise. A large study of more than 3,700 dream and waking reports found that what we experience during sleep is shaped by both our personalities and the world around us. ...
July 27, 2026 Eating within a shorter daily window may help protect certain thinking skills as people age. In a small six-month trial, older women who limited eating to about 8 to 9 hours a day performed better on ...
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