Millions of people worldwide are periodically or chronically affected by gut-related conditions, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and gastroenteritis. Uncovering the physiological and biological processes that contribute to gut health could thus be highly valuable, as it might help devise more effective interventions to prevent and treat these ailments.

Anyone who has had a bad night knows that they can feel "foggy" the next day. This fogginess may extend to our memory: remembering where we went, who we met or what happened during the encounter. Neuroscientist Robbert Havekes from the University of Groningen studies memory loss due to sleep deprivation. In a study published in the journal Science Advances on June 10, Havekes and lab member and first author Adithya Sarma show that sleep deprivation makes mice forget social encounters. However, they found that the social memories are not gone; the mice just can't seem to recall them.

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have completed a massive genetic study that identifies key biological drivers of cocaine addiction, uncovering a potential new target for treatment that resides in the liver rather than the brain. The study, published in Nature Communications, used a genetically diverse group of nearly 900 rats to map the genetic markers associated with compulsive drug use.

Teenage risk-taking, such as experimentation with alcohol, cannabis, nicotine and other substances, may reflect a compensatory response to lower baseline dopamine, the brain chemical for reward activity, a new University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study published in Nature Communications suggests.

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have identified distinctive patterns in how the brain transitions between activity states in people with depression, providing new insight into why depressive symptoms can feel persistent and difficult to overcome.