Astrocytes are the brain's support cells, and they become "reactive" during inflammation - changing their shape, gene expression, and function. What drives these reactive states? A study in Cell Reports reveals that energy metabolism plays a key role, with the nucleoside inosine serving as a vital...

Cognitive science has a filing problem. We've created neat little categories for mental functions: attention goes in one drawer, short-term memory in another, consciousness in a third. Each has its own journals, conferences, and research traditions. Very tidy.

For a long time, ADHD was filed under "things hyperactive kids have" in the public imagination. Squirmy children who can't sit still, eventually outgrown along with the urge to eat paste and believe in Santa. Turns out that's not how it works. Roughly 2.5% of adults worldwide have ADHD, and up to...

Graph neural networks have a problem, and it's hilariously relatable. They're supposed to analyze complex networks of connected data, but give them too much to think about and everything starts to look the same. It's like that friend who, after three drinks, insists everyone at the party is...

Motor cortex contains many cell types, but which ones actually mediate motor learning? A study in Cell Reports identifies neurons expressing nitric oxide synthase (Nos1) as a specialized population critical for acquiring new motor skills.

When the brain is injured, oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) rush to the scene and transform into myelin-producing cells. A study in Cell Reports reveals an unexpected regulator of this process: corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), better known as the stress hormone trigger.

Not all science news is about breakthroughs. Sometimes the most important findings are the ones that close doors, even doors we really wanted to walk through.

Here's a fun problem in neuroscience: we really want to know what's happening inside developing brains, but we can't exactly ask a newborn to sit still while we take a tiny tissue sample. The ethics committee tends to frown on that sort of thing. So for decades, scientists have been stuck in a...

Mutations in certain X-linked genes cause intellectual disability. A study in eLife reveals how one such gene controls the microscale morphology of oligodendrocytes and their myelination patterns.

Getting gene therapies into the brain is hard. The blood-brain barrier blocks most delivery vehicles. A study in Cell Reports engineers a new viral vector that achieves 100-fold better brain delivery by targeting a specific receptor on blood-brain barrier cells.