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Category: neuroscience

The brain’s default mode network splits into ‘sender’ and ‘receiver’ zones, study finds

The default mode network (DMN) is a distributed set of interconnected brain regions that has long been associated with internally oriented cognition, such as remembering the past, thinking about the future, or thinking about oneself. Accumulating evidence also indicates that the DMN is engaged during tasks involving external perceptual input, such as language comprehension and social perception. However, the mechanism by which the same network supports both internally and externally oriented cognition has remained unknown.

Now, a research team led by Zhang Meichao from the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has identified an organizational principle within the DMN that helps explain how the network supports both internal and external cognition.

The study, published in PNAS, reveals that distinct subregions within the DMN act as “senders” and “receivers” of information, enabling flexible shifts between perception and memory-driven thought.

Longitudinal study links associative learning gains to later improvements in fluid intelligence

As children grow, their capacity to memorize associations and their ability to solve novel problems actively reinforce each other. New research suggests that these core cognitive skills develop together in a bidirectional loop during elementary school.

The global burden of childhood and adolescent cancer (age 0–19 years) from 1990 to 2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023

Acute lymphoid leukemia and brain and central nervous system cancers were estimated to be the greatest contributors to new childhood cancer cases in 0–19-year-olds in 2023.

A new comprehensive study published in The Lancet from researchers at IHME and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital — Science and Medicine examined the burden of childhood and adolescent cancer from 1990 to 2023, aiming to inform effective cancer policy planning around the globe.

Read the study.

Childhood cancer was the eighth-leading cause of childhood deaths and the ninth-leading cause of DALYs among all cancers in 2023. Globally, in 2023, there were an estimated 377 000 incident childhood cancer cases, 144 000 deaths, and 11·7 million DALYs due to childhood cancer.

How a key memory center in the brain responds to the unexpected

The hippocampus is a crucial part of the brain that plays a role in memory and learning, especially in remembering directions and locations. New research from the University of Chicago shows how this small, curved structure reorganizes its activity depending on whether a situation matches people’s memories and expectations.

Infant learning forms lasting memory schemas that influence adult behavior

http://spkl.io/6184A2Id8

Neuron.

Bessières, Prikas, et al. report that episodic-like learning in infant mice establishes enduring memory schemas that guide adult behavior. The schema facilitates relearning and the formation of new, congruent memories in adulthood. Infantile schemas undergo hippocampus-dependent systems consolidation. While adult relearning relies on the PFC, the facilitation of new congruent memories requires PFC and top-down PFC-to-hippocampus neural projections.

Could a gut microbe influence muscle strength?

The trillions of microbes living in the human gut are increasingly recognized as important partners in human health. Scientists have linked the gut microbiome to several aspects of health, from metabolism and immunity to mental health.

A recent study suggests that these microbes may also influence an important aspect of fitness—muscle strength.

Muscle strength is a crucial feature of health for many reasons. It supports our joints and keeps our bones healthy, boosts athletic performance and even plays a role in metabolic health.

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