Knight Initiative News

As the population ages, a surge in patients with dementia will place an inordinate burden on working women, risking “hard-fought gains for equality in the workplace,” according to Stanford researchers.

Stanford investigators fused two stem-cell-derived neural spheroids, each containing a different type of human neuron, then watched as one set of neurons migrated and hooked up with the other set.

The seeds of autism, schizophrenia and other neurodevelopmental disorders are planted during the formation of the brain’s complex circuitry, which largely occurs during the second half of pregnancy. That’s not the kind of thing scientists can zoom in on.

Human umbilical cord blood can rejuvenate learning and memory in older mice, according to a study led by Stanford neuroscientists Tony Wyss-Coray, PhD, and Joe Castellano, PhD.

Umbilical cord blood from human newborns, and in particular a single protein contained in it, boosted old mice’s brain function and cognitive performance, new research from Stanford shows.

There isn’t a good mathematical model for the brain’s navigation system.

Neuroscientists’ discovery of grid cells, popularly known as the brain’s GPS, was hailed as a major discovery. But new Stanford research suggest the system is more complicated than anyone had guessed.

A study published in Science today describes how researchers led by Stanford molecular biologist Mark Krasnow, MD, PhD, identified a handful of nerve cells in the brain stem that connect breathing to states of mind.

Stanford scientists have identified a small group of neurons that communicates goings-on in the brain’s respiratory control center to the structure responsible for generating arousal throughout the brain.

Researchers long believed that the cerebellum did little more than process our senses and control our muscles. New techniques to study the most densely packed neurons in our brains reveal that it may do much more.

Conventional computer chips aren’t up to the challenges posed by next-generation autonomous drones and medical implants. Now, Kwabena Boahen has laid out a way forward, using ideas built in to our brains.

Stanford scientists found that teaching ordinary people a technique used by “memory athletes” not only boosted their recall ability but also induced lasting changes in the organization of their brains.

The American Health Care Act, the House Republican’s Affordable Care Act replacement plan released Monday, would worsen the opioid epidemic, Keith Humphreys, PhD, a Stanford professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and colleagues say.

Memory athletes — individuals with the remarkable ability to, say, memorize the order of entire decks of cards in mere seconds — invariably have a trick up their sleeve.

A group of researchers at Stanford developed an experimental brain-controlled prosthesis that allows people with paralysis to type on a keyboard just by thinking about moving their hands.

Impulsive behavior in teens can go hand in hand with drug use, but the link is weak and doesn’t necessarily predict future behavior. A Stanford psychologist and colleagues think they can do better, using images of the brain.

Millions of people are living with paralysis in the United States alone. Sometimes their paralysis comes gradually, as occurs in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called Lou Gehrig’s disease. Sometimes it arrives suddenly, as it did for Dennis Degray.

In a Stanford-led research report, three participants with movement impairment controlled an onscreen cursor simply by imagining their own hand movements.

A new organic artificial synapse made by Stanford researchers could support computers that better recreate the way the human brain processes information. It could also lead to improvements in brain-machine technologies.

Enkephalins are peptides that are produced in response to certain stimuli — such as stress, fear or pain — that also have potent painkilling properties.