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The study might also help us to identify the prodigy gene, should it exist.

Neuroscience

Psilocybin — the hallucinogenic ingredient in mushrooms — may help in depression, a study suggests.

Drugs can cause permanent harm to the brain. We’re only beginning to find ways to heal the hurt.

Scientists from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies are homing in on exactly how two new experimental Alzheimer’s drugs could be generating the anti-aging effects seen in early animal studies. The discovery of a unique metabolic pathway, associated with both general aging and the onset of dementia, offers researchers novel directions for future anti-aging studies.

Salk researchers have been developing two experimental drugs for several years with a view on improving cognition and slowing the neurodegenerative decline associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Called CMS121 and J147, the drugs were effective in slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s in initial animal tests. However, the compounds also seemed to demonstrate signs of slowing down general markers of brain aging.

As the two drugs move toward human trials, the researchers have been working to uncover exactly what molecular mechanisms are at play to explain how they work. One potential mechanism was uncovered in early 2018 but that was only part of the story. Now, the Salk team has uncovered an exciting new molecular pathway, influenced by the two drugs, that could explain how the compounds slow down brain aging.

Summary: White blood cells in the brain are regulated by the CD33 protein. CD33 decreases the likelihood that a person will develop Alzheimer’s disease. Source: University of AlbertaResearch sh.

Scientists at the Universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh have discovered the functions of the area of the brain in which Alzheimer’s begins, offering hope for the development of future treatments.

Alzheimer’s disease is the commonest form of dementia with more than 520,000 people in the UK suffering from the disorder.

The first symptoms of this progressive disorder (which results from degeneration of memory networks in the brain) are problems remembering the things that have happened to us. This type of memory is called episodic memory.

The brain organoids, about the size of a pea, can be used to better understand neurological diseases.

Researchers develop bionic body parts that work like the brain to sense texture, temperature, firmness, location of objects.