On a sunny and warmish late-November day, my husband and I were meeting some close relatives to deposit our brother-in-law's ashes in a columbarium beside the remains of his late wife, my husband's only sibling. She had died during the pandemic, and her husband had subsequently moved away, but none of us were going to let the grim reaper separate a couple who had been conjoined by a lifetime of shared experiences.
When Lorraine Kelly Donnelly felt a cramp in her left hand at the start of 2025, she didn't think anything of it. But when a week later the pain was still there, she made an appointment to see her GP.
If we told them to look at the face, they could usually manage it. But they were mostly looking at the hands. The Prakash children eventually learn to look at faces when spoken to - usually a few months after their surgeries. Their experiences reveal that seeing doesn't come naturally the moment a person is cured of blindness. Newly-sighted people must learn to see.
Do you blame others for the choices you are making? Have you blamed others for the previous choices you have made? To shed more light on these questions, you might also ask yourself: "What am I responsible for, and what power do I have?" From there, you might agree with this self-reflective response: "I am responsible for, and I've got the power over what I think, do, say, learn, and choose" (Purje, 2014).
Artificial intelligence (AI) machine learning is making a difference in assistive technology to help restore movement for the paralyzed. A new study in the American Institute of Physics journal APL Bioengineering shows how AI has the potential to restore lower-limb functions in those with severe spinal cord injuries (SCIs) by identifying patterns in brain signals captured noninvasively via electroencephalography (EEG).
Untracked powder and perfect corduroy. These are the things that skiers and riders live for. But finding either at the big-name resorts in the Lake Tahoe area can be almost impossible. That's why Tahoe locals have gravitated to Diamond Peak Ski Resort when they're looking to get away from the crowds and find a bit of space. Diamond Peak offers 1,840 vertical feet of steep north-facing groomers, hidden powder stashes, and incredible views of Lake Tahoe from the slopes.
They are known, as it were, from the neck up. The cellular memory of facts and experiences, however, connects mind and body: My body recalls that showing my true feelings in childhood led to a put-down. A slammed door meant that Dad was home and drunk. The specific fact/event may be forgotten, but the bodily reaction remains: Any slamming noise may induce terror.
He would say 'yes, heading a football all those years probably hasn't helped'. I remember coming home from school and Dad would be in bed. Or having a lie down. He would say he's been having headaches. I remember thinking 'why are you having headaches?'
That frailty was due to a combination of vascular dementia and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), coroner Jon Heath said. The coroner gave a narrative conclusion on Monday, finding that McQueen died from pneumonia as a consequence of mixed vascular dementia and CTE. He said: It is likely that repetitive head impacts sustained by heading the ball while playing football contributed to the CTE.
Betley and his colleagues were curious about what happens in the brain as people get stronger through exercise. They decided to focus on the ventromedial hypothalamus, a brain region that regulates appetite and blood sugar. The team then zeroed in on a group of neurons in that region that produce a protein called steroidogenic factor 1 (SF1), which is known to play a part in regulating metabolism. A previous study found that the deletion of the gene that codes for SF1 impairs endurance in mice.
It might come as a surprise to learn that the brain responds to training in much the same way as our muscles, even though most of us never think about it that way. Clear thinking, focus, creativity, and good judgment are built through challenge, when the brain is asked to stretch beyond routine rather than run on autopilot. That slight mental discomfort is often the sign that the brain is actually being trained, a lot like that good workout burn in your muscles.
Most people will forget a name, misplace their phone, or lose track of a conversation at some point. Usually, those moments pass without much thought. But for many adults, especially as they age, small lapses can trigger a much deeper fear: Is this the beginning of cognitive decline? As a neurologist, I hear this concern often. And as a researcher, I have learned something important: Worry about cognition and cognitive disease are not the same thing.
When a person suffers a stroke, physicians must restore blood flow to the brain as quickly as possible to save their life. But, ironically, that life-saving rush of blood can also trigger a second wave of damage - killing brain cells, fueling inflammation and increasing the odds of long-term disability. Now, in a study published in the journal Neurotherapeutics, Northwestern University scientists have developed an injectable regenerative nanomaterial that helps protect the brain during this vulnerable window.
Has this happened to you? You run into someone, and they ask about something that you shared with them that was painful. They start talking about it, and there you go, hurting again? You weren't thinking about it, and the next thing you know, it hurts like it just happened. There are occasions - holidays and family gatherings - where the effects of a past painful experience will reemerge and trigger emotional pain all over again.
A recent study published in Biological Psychiatry identified a distinct subtype of psychiatric illness marked by brain inflammation, one that cuts across traditional diagnoses and may explain why standard treatments fail for some people (Tang et al., 2025).This new brain imaging study offers an interesting clue. It turns out that across different psychiatric disorders, some people show clear signs of brain inflammation, visible on scans and confirmed through immune system tests.
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