Laura Sanders

1 month ago | sciencenews.org | Laura Sanders

A baby’s early life has a lot of milestones: first giggle, first tooth, first step. A brain scanning study adds to the list: first memory. Infants can form memories, and they use a memory structure in the brain called the hippocampus to do it, researchers report in the March 21 Science. The results shore up the idea that memories can in fact be made during the earliest years of our lives, though what happens to these memories as the days, weeks and years roll by remains mysterious.

1 month ago | sciencenews.org | Laura Sanders

When it comes to speech, parrots have the gift of gab. And the way the brains of small parrots known as budgerigars bestow this gift is remarkably similar to human speech, researchers report March 19 in Nature. So far, budgerigars are the only animals known to have language-producing centers akin to those in humans, says Michael Long, a neuroscientist at New York University Langone Health.

1 month ago | sciencenews.org | Laura Sanders

In the sixth episode of The Deep End, we’ll look to the future for Jon and his family and for DBS research. The research is pushing ahead, with a clinical trial of DBS for treatment-resistant depression that’s just begun. The first volunteer for that study had DBS surgery in early February. You’ll also hear about a before-and-after situation for Jon and Barbara, one that involves the evolving meaning of a beloved song.

1 month ago | sciencenews.org | Meghan Rosen |Laura Sanders

Millions of Americans take antidepressants to help manage everything from depression and anxiety to post-traumatic stress disorder. Now, the Trump administration has announced that these drugs, which have been in use for decades and gone through rigorous testing, will be subject to new scrutiny. Invoking a burden of chronic disease, including in children, the administration has pledged to, in its words, “assess the prevalence of and threat posed by” certain commonly prescribed medications.

1 month ago | sciencenews.org | Laura Sanders

In the fifth episode of The Deep End, Jon Nelson describes depression as a “no-casserole disease,” one that people are often afraid to acknowledge because of the stigma around mental health disorders. This episode lets listeners into the experience of having a disease that’s often misunderstood, and why that can be so harmful for people who struggle with depression. There’s a philosophical angle here, too: Where does a person’s self come from? And how does the brain fit into that answer?