A cartoon shows a head in profile split between a gray region at the front and a green region at the back. In the back is a bell and progressively larger dotted white circles propagate outward from the bell toward the front of the head.
October 7, 2024
The way sensory prediction changes under anesthesia tells us how conscious cognition works
A view of a surgery in progress. Surgeons wearing blue gowns hold a scalpel and scissors just above an opening in the dressing of a patient who is lying on a table. Blurred in the foreground is a tray of other surgical instruments.
September 23, 2024
Research quantifying “nociception” could help improve management of surgical pain
A diagram shows hundreds of dots interconnected by gray lines. Many of the dots show combinations of different colors, denoting which serotonin receptors they express.
September 6, 2024
Better living through brain chemistry
Two panels show the emergence of seizures. Calm, narrow dark blue squiggles representing a tight range of low voltages at various currents explode into vibrant, wide squiggles with warmer colors as current and voltage increases at a broadening range of frequencies.
August 21, 2024
Study assesses seizure risk from stimulating thalamus
Two green-stained cross sections of a mouse brain, one labeled Cuprizone Control and one labeled Cuprizone 40Hz,, are accompanied by insets showing magnifications of parts specific brain regions. The green staining in each inset is greater and brighter in the 40Hz insets vs. the control insets.
August 8, 2024
Study reveals ways in which 40Hz sensory stimulation may preserve brain’s ‘white matter’

‘Spatial Computing’ enables flexible working memory

March 15, 2023
Research Findings
Brain applies rhythms to physical patches of the cortex to selectively control just the right neurons at the right times to do the right things.

Astrocyte cells critical for learning skilled movements

March 10, 2023
Research Findings
When astrocyte function is disrupted, neurons in the brain’s motor cortex struggle to execute and refine motion, a new study in mice shows.

3 questions for Mriganka Sur: The basic research origin of the first approved drug to treat Rett syndrome

March 10, 2023
On March 10 the FDA approved Trofinetide, a drug based on the protein IGF-1, as the first drug available to treat Rett syndrome. The original research showing that IGF-1 could treat Rett syndrome was published by MIT in 2009.

Immune & Inflamed

March 1, 2023
Research Feature
Neuroscientists are finding that immune system activity within the brain and the body has important impacts on mental health and behavior

Picower Fellows discuss the social context of their science

February 14, 2023
Picower People
Young neuroscientists contributed their perspectives as the MIT Museum works to create a potential ‘Center for Neuroscience & Society’

Sparse, small, but diverse neural connections help make perception reliable, efficient

February 2, 2023
Research Findings
First detailed mapping and modeling of thalamus inputs onto visual cortex neurons show brain leverages “wisdom of the crowd” to process sensory information

Researchers map brain cell changes in Alzheimer’s disease

February 2, 2023
Study reveals key cell structures and gene expression changes near amyloid plaques and tau tangles in mouse brain tissue

How Huntington’s disease affects different neurons

January 20, 2023
Research Findings
A new study identifies cells that are the most vulnerable within a brain structure involved in mood and movement

Self-assembling proteins can store cellular “memories”

January 10, 2023
Research Findings
Using these engineered proteins, researchers can record histories that reveal when certain genes are activated or how cells respond to a drug.

New technologies revealing cross-cutting breakdowns in Alzheimer’s disease

January 2, 2023
Research Findings
‘Single-cell profiling’ is helping neuroscientists see how disease affects major brain cell types and identify common, potentially targetable pathways

Holding information in mind may mean storing it among synapses

December 29, 2022
Research Findings
Comparing models of working memory with real-world data, MIT researchers found that information resides not in persistent neural activity, but in the pattern of their connections

Small studies of 40Hz sensory stimulation confirm safety, suggest Alzheimer’s benefits

December 1, 2022
Research Findings
MIT researchers report early stage clinical study results of tests with non-invasive 40Hz light and sound treatment