Neuroscience

Junk food orders up trouble for young brains

That teenager in your kitchen feasting on fast food, candy bars and pop might not be able to help themselves—all the more reason for adults to help them before they cause long-term damage to their developing brains.

Psychology & Psychiatry

Novelty speeds up learning thanks to dopamine activation

Brain scientists led by Sebastian Haesler (NERF, empowered by IMEC, KU Leuven and VIB) have identified a causal mechanism of how novel stimuli promote learning. Novelty directly activates the dopamine system, which is responsible ...

Neuroscience

Study reveals roots of Parkinson's in the brain

Researchers from King's College London have uncovered the earliest signs of Parkinson's disease in the brain, many years before patients show any symptoms. The results, published in The Lancet Neurology, challenge the traditional ...

Immunology

How chronic inflammation may drive down dopamine and motivation

Growing evidence shows that the brain's dopamine system, which drives motivation, is directly affected by chronic, low-grade inflammation. A new paper proposes that this connection between dopamine, effort and the inflammatory ...

Immunology

Targeting the gut-brain connection can impact immunity

There's a reason it's called a gut feeling. The brain and the gut are connected by intricate neural networks that signal hunger and satiety, love and fear, even safety and danger. These networks employ myriad chemical signals ...

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