Research · Neuroscience · Safety
Follow developments in nootropics and brain research with their sources and limitations. We explain what a new finding says, and what it cannot establish.
128 published articles
neuroscience
A three-participant study used one cortical implant to decode attempted speech and gestures, showing a proof of concept for more natural communication through a brain-computer interface.
neuroscience
Calcium imaging in mice found that fear learning made threatening and neutral context representations more similar in ventral CA1, where threat-related activity returned rapidly during retrieval.
Research
A systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis assessed observational studies of dietary choline and cognitive outcomes. The evidence concerns associations in existing studies, not whether choline supplements prevent decline.
neuroscience
Longitudinal imaging found that trace fear conditioning reorganized dendritic inhibitory synapses but stabilized those at the axon initial segment of hippocampal pyramidal neurons.
Research
Among 233 adults aged 55 and older, higher wearable-measured sleep efficiency was associated with better executive function, while sleep duration and self-rated quality showed no significant link to cognitive domains.
Research
A cross-sectional study of 230 college students linked food insecurity and stress with differences on attention, decision-making and memory-matching tasks. These associations cannot establish that food access caused the scores.
Research
An activation-likelihood meta-analysis of 11 fMRI studies found partly different activation changes after exercise interventions and in long-term exercisers. The small evidence base makes the maps exploratory.
Research
A 12-trial review found pooled cognitive signals in older adults with impairment alongside higher total cholesterol and LDL-C.
Research
A small cross-sectional study associated gut-microbe patterns with symptoms and MRI measures in post-COVID condition. It does not show that the microbiome caused brain changes or symptoms.
Research
A single-center pilot compared nerve stimulation with skin stimulation in 19 people with prolonged disorders of consciousness; the authors call for external validation of the EEG-based measure.
Research
A longitudinal analysis of 4,090 English adults linked chronic loneliness with poorer physical and mental health. Ending isolation was associated with better cognition, but observational data cannot establish cause and effect.
Research
In 3,119 older adults followed for a median 13.7 years, pathology and a derived cognitive-resilience measure independently tracked dementia risk; the observational analysis does not show causation.