Epilepsy is best known for seizures, but many people with the condition also experience much more frequent and subtler disruptions. These brief bursts of abnormal brain activity, called interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs), can happen thousands of times a day, interfering with attention, memory, language, and sleep.

Scientists at UC San Francisco have discovered that these “brain blips” are not random events, as had been believed. Rather, they unfold in a predictable pattern that can be detected a full second before they occur — raising new possibilities to ward them off altogether.

The researchers used a high-resolution technology recently adapted for humans that can record the activity of individual neurons. They tracked more than 1,000 neurons in four patients undergoing surgery for epilepsy.