Connexin proteins found in white perch fish were used to engineer synthetic electrical synapses, enabling precision circuit editing in mammals.
Category: neuroscience – Page 30
Immunosenescence and Inflammaging as Drivers of Neurodegeneration: Cellular Mechanisms, Neuroimmune Crosstalk, and Therapeutic Implications
Aging is accompanied by profound alterations in immune function, termed immunosenescence, and by a chronic, low-grade inflammatory state known as inflammaging. These processes are increasingly recognized as central drivers of age-related neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Multiple Sclerosis. In the central nervous system, senescent microglia and astrocytes lose their homeostatic and neuroprotective functions, while systemic immune aging and blood–brain barrier dysfunction further amplify neuroinflammation and impair protein aggregate clearance. This sustained pro-inflammatory environment promotes synaptic dysfunction, neuronal loss and cognitive decline.
Fear memories fade faster when brain immune cells engage key neurons, study suggests
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety disorders are often characterized by fearful responses in specific situations that the mind learns to view as threatening. These fearful responses typically emerge following traumatic events or challenging life experiences, which prompt the brain to form unhelpful associations between specific stimuli and distressing events.
The fearful responses associated with PTSD or anxiety disorders can gradually diminish via a process known as fear extinction. This process entails the repeated exposure to a situation or stimulus perceived as threatening, but without any danger arising.
Understanding the neurobiological processes that support fear extinction could be very valuable, as it could help to devise new therapeutic strategies for treating symptoms of PTSD and anxiety disorders. While many past studies explored the role of neurons in fear extinction, fewer investigated the contribution of microglia, immune cells that reside in the brain and spinal cord.
It’s not just deep sleep: Anesthesia drives brain into a strange state doctors are only beginning to map
People often describe anesthesia as something that puts a patient in a “deep sleep.” An anesthesiologist enters the operating room, and part of their mission is to ensure that the patient is completely unaware of what is happening around them until they wake up, often several hours later. Scientists and doctors have long debated what happens to the brain under anesthetic drugs during a surgical procedure.
A new study by Yale School of Medicine’s Departments of Anesthesiology and Neurology published on May 11, 2026, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences uncovers new insights which may change the way we describe being under anesthesia. The study, “Spectral mapping reveals a resemblance of the anesthetic brain state to both sleep and coma,” reveals that being anesthetized may be more than simply being “put to sleep.” It can potentially carry more similarities to being in a coma than we originally thought.
Frank J. Tipler: The Laws of Physics Say The Singularity is Inevitable!
13 years ago, a Tulane physicist told me I didn’t understand the laws of physics.
That’s why, he said, I can’t see why the Singularity is inevitable. Or why it’s perfectly compatible with Christianity.
Fair enough.
Dr. Frank J. Tipler is the cosmologist behind the Omega Point. He is a professor of mathematical physics at Tulane University, and the author of The Anthropic Cosmological Principle, The Physics of Immortality, and The Physics of Christianity.
He didn’t come on Singularity FM to soften his views. He came to defend them.
In one hour we covered:
Regulation of neuronal invasion of small cell lung cancer by STMN2/β-alanine-controlled metabolic reprogramming
Zhou et al. demonstrate that perineural invasion (PNI) is an adverse prognostic factor in small cell lung cancer. They identify a neuron-STMN2-β-alanine axis, where the neural microenvironment upregulates STMN2 in tumor cells, reprogramming β-alanine metabolism to enhance cell migration and drive neural invasion, revealing a potential therapeutic target.
Neurotransmitter-activated GPCR signaling in myelin plasticity
Myelination is increasingly recognized as a dynamic and adaptive process regulated by oligodendrocytes throughout life. Beyond providing electrical insulation, myelin supports axonal metabolism and may serve as an energy reservoir under metabolic stress, highlighting the importance of physiological myelin turnover. Dysregulation of myelin dynamics contributes to a wide spectrum of neurological disorders, including demyelinating, neurodegenerative, and neuropsychiatric diseases. Growing evidence indicates that neurotransmitter signaling through G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) expressed by oligodendrocyte lineage cells regulates myelin formation, remodeling, and repair.
Glymphatic influx is negatively correlated with cerebral blood volume in male mice
Li et al. use multimodal MRI to show that cerebral blood volume is inversely correlated with glymphatic influx across six brain states. Lower CBV is associated with expanded extra-ventricular CSF space, and caffeine produces a similar pattern in awake mice, suggesting CBV as a tonic vascular factor complementing pulsation and vasomotion.