The severe and aggressive autoimmune disease known as neuromyelitis optica (NMO) just met a new match.
Without treatment, NMO can lead to serious disability, as rogue antibodies (AQP4-IgG) destroy the astrocyte support cells in the brain and spinal cord.
Therapies do exist to manage the condition, but they’re expensive, not always effective, and come with risks of their own – and relapses are common.
In our current description of Nature, every particle is a wave in a field. The most familiar example of this is light: light is simultaneously a wave in the electromagnetic field and a stream of particles called photons.
In the Higgs boson’s case, the field came first. The Higgs field was proposed in 1964 as a new kind of field that fills the entire Universe and gives mass to all elementary particles. The Higgs boson is a wave in that field. Its discovery confirms the existence of the Higgs field.
1 Center for Cutaneous Biology and Immunology Research, Department of Dermatology, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
2Department of Plastic Surgery, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
3Center for Bioinformatics, Department of Public Health Sciences, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
Traumatic memories of childhood maltreatment typically remain consistent over time, according to a major new study led by King’s College London and published in Nature Mental Health. The paper focuses on traumatic memories of childhood maltreatment, which could include emotional, physical or sexual abuse, or neglect. While memories of childhood maltreatment remain consistent, memories of childhood trauma reported in childhood are significantly less consistent over time than those reported in adulthood.
This research finding suggests there may be a window in childhood when traumatic memories are most open to change, and when therapeutic intervention could have the greatest long-term impact.
The research draws on data from nearly 40,000 people across 49 studies, with an average time between assessments of about two and a half years. It found that, overall, people’s accounts of childhood maltreatment are more consistent over time than is often assumed, refuting a widespread view that memories of abuse and neglect are inherently unreliable. This finding has direct relevance for how courts, social care professionals and clinicians interpret what children and adults tell them about their experiences.
The Neuroscience of Patriotism: From “Them” to “Us”
On the 4th of July, patriotism is often framed as flags, fireworks, and national pride. But neuroscience suggests something deeper: shared national identity can actually reshape how the brain processes other people.
A 2026 fMRI study published in PNAS found that when people were briefly reminded of a shared national identity, their brains began responding more inclusively to faces from ethnic outgroups.
The key region was the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, an area involved in self-referential and social processing. Under ethnic identity cues, this region responded more strongly to ethnic ingroup faces. But under national identity cues, it showed increased engagement toward ethnic outgroup faces too.
In other words, the brain’s sense of “us” is flexible.
The study did not show that ethnic identity disappears. Instead, it suggests that shared identity can partially expand the boundary of belonging while still allowing subgroup identities to remain intact.
That may be one of the healthier forms of patriotism: not “my group above yours,” but “a larger we.”
Artificial brain cells could now be implanted in the brain to repair the damage caused by chronic diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions, thanks to a team of scientists who created bionic neurons that work like the real thing.
A team of scientists at the University of Bath created artificial neurons that could potentially help overcome paralysis, connect minds to machines, and restore failing brain circuits.
The new technology can help patients who have degenerative diseases affecting the brain.
