Researchers developed a brain-controlled gaming system that learns from the brain’s natural wiring, enabling fast BCI training and potentially transforming medicine, mental health, and human-computer interaction. It may not be long before video game controllers become optional. Researchers at Yale University have developed a new brain-computer interface (BCI) that allows people to play video games [...]

A major study found that common dementia risks may have a much stronger impact on women’s brains than previously recognized. Women may not only experience some dementia risk factors more often than men, but those risk factors may also have a stronger effect on their cognitive health, according to new research from the University of [...]

The aging brain may be far more capable of growth and improvement than scientists once believed. A large three-year study from researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas’ Center for BrainHealth (CBH) is challenging a long-standing assumption about aging. The findings suggest that mental sharpness is not destined to decline over time and that [...]

University of California, Riverside’s Professor Eric Schwitzgebel and University of Lisbon postdoctoral researcher Jeremy Pober argue that consciousness is substrate flexible, meaning it can arise not just in the biological tissue we find on Earth, but potentially in radically different physical materials found elsewhere in the cosmos.

The post Consciousness is Not Exclusive to Earth’s Biology, Philosophers Argue appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

A groundbreaking study from UCLA Health introduces a pioneering approach to understanding anorexia nervosa, a complex psychiatric disorder notorious for its high relapse rates and elevated mortality. Researchers employed an ingestible, vibrating capsule to probe the nuanced ways in which the nervous system of individuals with anorexia nervosa processes bodily sensations originating from the gastrointestinal tract. This innovative technology not only illuminates the enigmatic interplay between gut sensations and brain function but also offers promising predictive capabilities regarding relapse risk, potentially transforming clinical management of the disorder.

Anorexia nervosa is marked by a persistent restriction of energy intake, an intense fear of weight gain, and a distorted body image, resulting in dangerously low body weight. Despite state-of-the-art treatments aimed at restoring healthy body weight, relapse rates remain alarmingly high—up to 50% within a year post-treatment. Suicidal behavior is also a significant concern, often cited as the leading cause of death among afflicted individuals. This desperate clinical landscape underscores the urgent need for objective biomarkers and more profound mechanistic insights to improve therapeutic outcomes.

The inadequacy of current understanding centers around a crucial chasm: while physicians focus on weight normalization, many patients continue to suffer from entrenched symptoms that drive relapse, suggesting that the disorder’s etiology extends beyond mere weight regulation. The nervous system’s interpretation and integration of visceral signals, especially from the gut, could hold the key to these persistent challenges. Yet, before this study, precise tools to quantify and manipulate these signals in vivo remained elusive.

The UCLA research team harnessed a clinical trial design involving an ingestible vibrating capsule capable of delivering controlled, gentle mechanical stimuli to the stomach. This non-invasive method allowed for real-time interrogation of gastrointestinal interoception—the brain’s perception and processing of internal bodily sensations. By remotely activating the capsule, the researchers could produce varying intensities of stomach vibrations, simulating subtle gut sensations that are typically difficult to access or measure reliably.

In the study, 62 female patients who had been hospitalized for anorexia nervosa and whose body weight had been restored to clinical norms, were compared against 57 healthy controls. Participants swallowed the vibrating capsule and were instructed to indicate, via button press, whenever they perceived a vibration. Concurrent physiological monitoring tracked brain activity through neuroimaging techniques, cardiac rhythms, and stomach motility, providing a multidimensional understanding of the gut-brain axis in real time. Self-reported metrics on hunger and bodily awareness further enriched the dataset.

Employing sophisticated computational modeling, the researchers analyzed participants’ ability to detect and interpret the gastric signals. These models were designed to estimate participants’ expectation of gut sensations, their reliance on incoming sensory signals, and their adaptability in updating these expectations when signals fluctuated. This approach transcended simple sensory detection, probing fundamental cognitive processes involved in interoceptive learning and prediction error correction.

The results revealed a striking divergence between anorexia nervosa patients and healthy controls. Those with the disorder exhibited diminished accuracy in sensing subtle stomach vibrations, often unaware that a stimulus was occurring even when the capsule was active. They demonstrated a cognitive bias towards expecting an absence of gut sensations and were significantly slower to revise these expectations in the presence of confirmed visceral signals. This implies an altered central processing mechanism rather than a peripheral sensory deficit, reflecting a disconnection or miscommunication within the gut-brain axis.

Crucially, these interoceptive abnormalities persisted despite the restoration of healthy body weight, challenging the conventional clinical assumption that weight normalization is tantamount to recovery. The findings suggest that long-lasting neurobiological alterations in interoceptive processing may underlie the stubborn persistence of anorexic behaviors and cognitions, thus offering a plausible explanation for the high relapse propensity witnessed in clinical practice.

Linking these mechanistic insights to clinical outcomes, the study reported a robust association between impaired gastric signal detection and relapse risk during a six-month post-discharge follow-up period. Patients whose nervous systems exhibited the greatest bias towards ignoring bodily signals were significantly more likely to experience a relapse. This highlights the potential clinical utility of the vibrating capsule as a predictive tool, enabling healthcare providers to stratify relapse risk and tailor interventions accordingly.

From a translational perspective, the use of this ingestible technology marks a seminal advance in biomarker discovery for anorexia nervosa. It opens new avenues for personalized medicine where objective physiological metrics, rather than solely subjective symptom reports, guide therapeutic decisions. Moreover, it positions gastrointestinal interoception as a critical target for future treatment strategies, including neuromodulation, pharmacotherapy, and cognitive retraining designed to recalibrate gut-brain communication pathways.

Nevertheless, the authors caution that these findings currently pertain to a relatively homogeneous sample, primarily young female patients, and must be validated across larger and more diverse populations to confirm generalizability. Future research should also explore how different treatment modalities influence interoceptive processing and whether modulation of this axis can directly mitigate relapse risks.

In conclusion, this UCLA-led study redefines our understanding of anorexia nervosa by exposing the subtle but profound alterations in gastrointestinal interoception that endure beyond weight restoration and presage relapse. It suggests that true recovery necessitates healing not only the body but the fundamental neural processes that govern the perception and integration of internal bodily states. This insight sets the stage for an era where interoceptive biomarkers and bioelectronic medicine intersect to revolutionize the management of this devastating disorder.

Subject of Research: Gastrointestinal interoception and relapse prediction in anorexia nervosa
Article Title: Altered Gastrointestinal Interoception in Anorexia Nervosa Predicts Relapse
News Publication Date: 17-Jun-2026
Web References: http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2026.1301
References: Published in JAMA Psychiatry, 2026
Keywords: Anorexia nervosa, gastrointestinal interoception, relapse prediction, gut-brain axis, ingestible vibrating capsule, psychiatric biomarkers, neurobiology of eating disorders

A copper-based drug helped the brain flush out Alzheimer’s toxins, cutting plaque buildup and improving memory in a promising new study. Scientists at Monash University have identified a promising new approach to tackling Alzheimer’s disease. In laboratory studies, a copper-delivering drug significantly lowered levels of toxic proteins linked to the disease while also improving long-term [...]

A newly identified sensory pathway links fine hairs to itch sensations, revealing an unexpected biological system that may contribute to chronic itching disorders and provide new targets for treatment. An itch can seem simple, but scientists are finding that the sensation is far more complex than it appears. Researchers at the University of Michigan have [...]

Copper diacetyl bis(4-methyl-3-thiosemicarbazone), or Cu(ATSM), restored a key waste-removal system in the brain, reducing toxic amyloid-beta buildup and improving spatial memory in lab models of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a team of researchers at Monash University.

The post Experimental Copper-Based Drug Clears Alzheimer’s Plaques and Boosts Memory in Mice appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Scientists have created the first complete brain-to-body wiring map of a fruit fly, revealing that complex behavior may arise from distributed neural teamwork rather than a central controller. A large international research team led by labs at Harvard Medical School and Princeton University has reached a major neuroscience milestone: a complete wiring diagram of every [...]

Scientists discovered that the brain begins preparing for social connection before we even make the first move. Why do we decide to approach other people? According to new research, the answer may start unfolding in the brain several seconds before any movement takes place. A team of scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has [...]

Neuroscientists are discovering that spending time with others may be a basic biological necessity, like need for food or water.

A new study suggests that reproducing a crucial sleep-like brain pattern in awake animals may help preserve memory and learning abilities. What if part of the brain could get some of the benefits of sleep without the rest of the brain ever going offline? A new NIH-funded study suggests that may be possible. Researchers found [...]

EEG studies suggest caffeine can reduce deep, restorative sleep even when sleep duration appears normal. Its effects vary by individual, and relying on caffeine for energy may come at the cost of nighttime recovery. Evening coffee has long been debated. Some people can drink it and fall asleep with no trouble, while others struggle to [...]

Scientists have often wondered how the brain can take in new experiences without erasing stored memories. However, a new study in Nature now identifies a circuit-level mechanism that may help answer this question—and it may also offer clues for improving artificial intelligence.

Researchers at NYU Langone Health recorded the activity of hundreds of neurons simultaneously across several brain regions in mice. By tracking how signals move from the hippocampus to the neocortex, where long-term memories are kept, they found that a subset of hippocampal neurons appears to participate in routing information between regions in distinct patterns. These cells participate in both incoming and outgoing signaling, but do so using distinct patterns of activity.

Separate Channels Through the Same Cells

The study focused on a series of interconnected brain regions: CA3, which processes rapidly changing information; CA1, which serves as a central hub; and the retrosplenial cortex, which is important for navigation and spatial memory. About one in four CA1 neurons receives most of the signals from CA3. When these same neurons send signals to the retrosplenial cortex, they fire in a different pattern, creating a separate outgoing channel using the same cells.

Rather than using new neurons, the brain separates these channels by changing how the same neurons fire together. The researchers suggest this arrangement may help reduce interference between new learning and more stable cortical memories.

“Our findings help explain how memory can be both moldable and enduring,” said co-lead author Joaquín Gonzalez, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. “By changing how the same cells fire together instead of turning on new cells, the brain can keep information organized and protect older memories.”

What Happens During Sleep

The CA1 neurons involved in learning during the day also stay active at night. The researchers found that these cells remain busy during sleep events called sharp-wave ripples, which are bursts of activity the hippocampus uses to replay and strengthen memories from the day.

Since overlapping neurons are recruited during both waking activity and sleep replay, the same circuit elements appear to participate in both learning and consolidation. This theoretically allows the brain to use a single system for both learning and storing memories, without the two processes interfering with each other.

“Our study shows how learning and memory consolidation can coexist in the same network,” said co-lead author Mihály Vöröslakos, MD, PhD. “Our discovery was made possible because for the first time, we were able to record hundreds of individual neurons across all the key regions simultaneously in animals that were moving around naturally.”

Implications for Disease and AI

The system identified in this research may help explain how memory disorders begin. In Alzheimer’s disease, for example, the hippocampal circuits examined here are some of the earliest to deteriorate. These networks are essential for sorting and organizing new experiences.

“Our discovery of a ‘memory switchboard’ deep in the hippocampus may provide clues as to how memory circuits fail in Alzheimer’s disease,” said co-senior author Zhe S. Chen, PhD, a professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Artificial intelligence systems have a hard time holding onto what they’ve already learned when faced with new tasks, a problem researchers call catastrophic forgetting. The human brain appears able to update memories without catastrophic forgetting by altering the use of existing neural circuits. By studying how our brains pull this off, scientists hope to design AI that can keep learning new things without forgetting the old.

“By showing how the mammalian brain can safeguard memories during learning, our research may offer a biological blueprint for designing next-generation AI technology that can update itself continuously without overwriting what it has already acquired,” said co-senior author György Buzsáki, MD, PhD, the Biggs Professor of Neuroscience at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

The researchers plan to investigate whether similar switchboard-like channels exist in other memory circuits. The authors caution that their findings in mice under controlled conditions do not yet allow conclusions about the human brain.

Austin Burgess is a writer and researcher with a background in sales, marketing, and data analytics. He holds an MBA, a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, and a data analytics certification. His work focuses on breaking scientific developments, with an emphasis on emerging biology, cognitive neuroscience, and archaeological discoveries.

For five years, an elderly woman with advanced Alzheimer’s disease had spoken mostly in single words, needed help walking, and showed little spontaneous interaction with the people around her. Then, roughly 19 hours after receiving a high dose of psilocybin-containing mushrooms, she emerged from a prolonged, deep sleep-like state and began talking about her life.

The striking episode, described in a new case report published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, does not show that psilocybin reverses Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers are careful to stress that this was a single patient, observed in a real-world private clinical setting without brain imaging, formal sleep monitoring, or standardized cognitive testing.

Still, the study’s authors say the case raises the interesting possibility that in late-stage dementia, some functional abilities may indeed remain dormant rather than be completely lost.

“Advanced Alzheimer’s disease is generally regarded as a stage of irreversible functional decline,” researchers write. “This case documents transient multidomain functional improvement in advanced Alzheimer’s disease following psilocybin administration.”

The case involved a Japanese-American woman in her 80s with a 10-year history of Alzheimer’s disease. The patient was described as being in an advanced stage of dementia, with the previous five years being noted for severe decline.

Her speech had become mostly monosyllabic, and she had chronic urinary incontinence, executive dysfunction, dysphagia, dependent mobility, flat affect, prolonged somnolence, and a severe reduction in spontaneous communication.

Her diagnosis had been made clinically about a decade earlier, based on a steadily progressive neurodegenerative course, memory impairment, language reduction, executive dysfunction, and functional decline.

The intervention was a single oral dose of 5 grams of psilocybin-containing mushrooms from the “Enigma” strain. Researchers note that no established psilocybin dosing framework exists for advanced dementia, and the dose was high by almost any comparison.

Recreational users commonly describe 1 to 3 grams of dried Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms as a typical range, while doses around 3.5 grams or more are generally considered strong. A 5-gram dose is often treated as an especially intense experience. However, direct comparisons are imprecise because psilocybin content can vary widely between mushroom species, strains, batches, and even different parts of the same mushroom.

The study also notes that the dose was “relatively high compared with dosing approaches commonly used in modern clinical trials,” which typically use carefully measured amounts of purified psilocybin rather than whole mushrooms.

One month later, after some improvements persisted, the patient underwent a second supervised session using 3 grams.

The first session produced a dramatic acute response. The patient experienced autonomic activation, profuse sweating, suspected hyperthermia, and what the researchers describe as a prolonged deep sleep-like state. Exact temperature measurements were not available.

The study’s timeline shows that the first 12 hours were dominated by autonomic and sleep-like effects. At about 19 hours, the patient spontaneously awakened and produced roughly four hours of autobiographical speech.

By the first day, she showed increased alertness and recognition of family. By the second day, she was independently walking. By days two and three, she was dressing herself and showing spontaneous initiative. Around the same time, her diapers remained dry, including at night.

The improvement in continence was particularly notable to researchers because urinary control depends on more than a single simple reflex. It requires awareness of bodily signals, executive inhibition, and coordination among brain networks affected by dementia. The report states that the patient remained continent one month after the initial session, which was one reason a second session was performed.

During that second session, the patient reportedly remained more verbally expressive and described positive imagery involving surfing with her son on a peaceful island.

Researchers also observed improved facial expressivity, emotional reciprocity, spontaneous humor, and greater agility while walking. At one point during follow-up, the patient spontaneously said, “It is pleasant to come here.”

The study’s broader importance is in what it may suggest about the brain in advanced neurodegenerative disease. Alzheimer’s is usually understood as a progressive condition in which neurons and networks progressively deteriorate, stripping away memory, communication, mobility, and autonomy. By the advanced stage, treatment is largely supportive, and meaningful functional recovery is generally considered unlikely.

Psilocybin, however, is known to transiently alter large-scale brain dynamics via activation of the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor. Researchers point to prior human neuroimaging studies showing changes in default mode network integrity, network segregation, and functional connectivity after psilocybin administration. They also cited preclinical research suggesting psychedelics may promote structural and functional plasticity, including dendritic growth and synaptic remodeling.

That does not mean psilocybin repaired the patient’s Alzheimer’s disease. Instead, researchers suggest a more measured interpretation. The drug may have temporarily altered brain network activity, allowing remaining functional systems to reintegrate or become accessible again, at least for a limited period.

The report does not claim that plaques, tangles, or neurodegeneration were reversed. It also does not show that other patients would experience similar results. Because this was a single case, there was no control group, no placebo comparison, no formal biomarker confirmation, and no standardized cognitive testing to measure the degree of change.

Researchers acknowledge that mixed or alternative neurodegenerative contributions, including vascular components, cannot be fully excluded. Although they found no evidence of acute delirium, intoxication, or another acute neurological diagnosis during the observation period, the case remains observational. Causality cannot be established, and fluctuations in neurodegenerative disease cannot be completely ruled out.

The safety picture is also incomplete. While no severe persistent adverse effects, prolonged agitation, clinically significant cardiovascular instability, persistent psychotic symptoms, delayed neurological deterioration, or delayed medical complications were observed during follow-up, the acute phase included suspected hyperthermia and profuse sweating. In frail elderly patients, especially those with advanced dementia, such responses could carry serious risks.

For that reason, the findings should not be read as a green light for unsupervised psychedelic use in dementia patients. Psilocybin is still a powerful psychoactive compound, and older adults with complex neurological disease may be especially vulnerable to complications.

Ultimately, the value of the report doesn’t lie in providing a treatment recommendation but in documenting an unusual clinical observation that researchers say warrants controlled investigation.

The case also lands amid a flood of scientific interest in psychedelics as tools for studying brain plasticity, perception, memory, and large-scale network dysfunction.

As The Debrief has previously reported, recent brain-imaging work has found that psilocybin can temporarily dissolve familiar brain-network patterns tied to the sense of self, while other studies suggest psychedelics may redirect visual processing toward memory-related regions. Additional research has analyzed how a single dose of psilocybin may produce lasting brain changes, how the compound can reshape neural pathways associated with depression, and how psychedelic effects may be influenced by factors such as exercise, food restriction, and immune signaling.

However, most clinical work with psilocybin has centered on psychiatric conditions such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, and substance use disorders.

More recently, researchers have begun asking whether similar neuromodulatory effects might have relevance for people with mild cognitive impairment or early Alzheimer’s disease.

Published clinical data involving advanced dementia remain extremely limited, which is why the new report is best understood not as evidence of a treatment, but as a provocative case study that may help guide future controlled research.

This recent case does not prove efficacy, but it questions assumptions about what may remain possible in a brain already deeply affected by Alzheimer’s disease.

If future studies find similar effects under supervised conditions, the implications could be significant, not only for dementia care but also regarding understanding how much latent function can persist beneath the outward appearance of severe decline.

“Residual functional capacity may persist in advanced Alzheimer’s disease and may become transiently accessible following psilocybin induced modulation of large-scale brain networks,” researchers conclude. “Systematic investigation is warranted.”

Tim McMillan is a retired law enforcement executive, investigative reporter and co-founder of The Debrief. His writing typically focuses on defense, national security, the Intelligence Community and topics related to psychology. You can follow Tim on Twitter: @LtTimMcMillan.  Tim can be reached by email: tim@thedebrief.org or through encrypted email: LtTimMcMillan@protonmail.com 

Extended DMT trips could help scientists probe a new theory of reality that puts consciousness first

The post Turning the Psychedelic Experience into a Math Problem appeared first on Nautilus.

This new five-step protocol could make surgery a lot less painful

The post The Healing Power of Dreaming Under Anesthesia appeared first on Nautilus.

Brain scans have uncovered two biologically distinct forms of autism hidden within the spectrum. An international team of researchers has identified at least two biologically distinct forms of autism by examining how different regions of the brain communicate with one another. The findings could help advance more precise and personalized approaches to autism care and [...]

In the literature related to the powerful entheogen dimethyltriptamine (DMT), it is often reported that individuals claim to have had encounters with what they perceived as non-human entities during their DMT experiences. Descriptions related to these powerful visionary experiences range from what some describe as insect-like forms and machine-like intelligences, to what some describe as conscious entities associated with intricate geometries.

For years, many researchers have regarded these reports purely as hallucinations generated by the human brain while under the influence of the psychedelic compound. However, past studies have never directly tested whether these reported entities could represent something other than internally generated hallucinations.

Now, a recent preprint paper outlines a path toward testing this assumption experimentally.

A collaborative team from the Trace Institute and the nonprofit Noonautics has released a preprint titled Traces of the Other –Are DMT Entities Real? DMT Phenomenology in the Framework of Conscious Realism. The study presents a mathematical framework for understanding the human psychedelic experience and outlines experiments designed to test its primary hypothesis.

The research was led by Professor Emeritus Donald Hoffman, founder of the Trace Institute, and Dr. Andrew Gallimore, a neurobiologist and pharmacologist at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology and head of Noonautics. The preprint is currently awaiting peer review.

A Problem With a Default Answer

According to some figures, as many as 45% of the individuals who take a sufficient dose of DMT report experiences involving non-human beings. People describe these entities as intelligent and autonomous, and report similar experiences across different cultures and backgrounds.

Typical hallucinations tend to draw on material from memory, such as familiar faces, animals, or places. By contrast, encounters with other humans appear in less than 5% of DMT encounters.

The authors of the new preprint study argue that these reports are difficult to reconcile with conventional accounts of pure hallucination and that the consistency of reports regardless of culture, location, belief systems, and other factors warrants deeper investigation. 

A Framework Built on Conscious Realism

The project draws on Hoffman’s theory of conscious realism, which proposes that interacting conscious agents fundamentally constitute reality. In this framework, the physical world as humans perceive it functions more like a user interface than a direct view of objective reality. According to this theory, conscious agents of varying levels of complexity may exist beyond what humans normally perceive and go unnoticed in everyday life.

The researchers propose that DMT changes the perceptual interface, allowing consciousness to access regions where normal perceptual constraints are absent. In these regions, it may be possible to detect traces of other conscious agents. Hoffman says the project “will provide a new framework for exploring the effects of psychoactive substances such as DMT on the structure and function of spacetime.”

The Protocol That Makes Testing Possible

Testing these ideas has become possible due to past work involving technical development by Gallimore and researcher Rick Strassman. Typically, a DMT experience lasts only three to five minutes, which is not long enough for structured experiments. The extended-state DMT protocol, called DMTx, uses a controlled intravenous infusion to maintain a stable experience for up to an hour, allowing researchers to adjust the dosage as required.

That controllable window makes experimentation possible. “With a theoretical foundation for the highly unusual state of consciousness induced by DMT, we can test these theories experimentally,” Gallimore says.

Experiments Built to Fail

The proposed experiments are designed so that if the external-agent hypothesis is incorrect, the results will be negative. In one protocol, a computer in a sealed room randomly displays either blue or yellow, and a subject under DMTx attempts to learn the hidden color by interacting with an entity. Another experiment involves two isolated subjects under DMTx who try to transmit a random word to each other through a shared entity, a process that would be difficult to explain solely in terms of internal brain mechanisms.

The researchers acknowledge several limitations. Cooperation from entities cannot be guaranteed, results depend on subjective reports, and expectation bias is difficult to rule out. The preprint continues to treat the hallucination model as the default explanation for these entities. What distinguishes this work is that the hypothesis is now formulated in a way that allows for experimental testing.

“This collaboration is a first step to a mathematics of altered states of consciousness and, ultimately, for engineering our perceptual interface to expand our view of reality,” Gallimore says.

Hoffman and Gallimore will discuss the research publicly on Saturday, June 13, 2026, at the Lighthouse Campus at the historic Venice Beach Post Office in Los Angeles, with video to follow on YouTube.

Austin Burgess is a writer and researcher with a background in sales, marketing, and data analytics. He holds an MBA, a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, and a data analytics certification. His work focuses on breaking scientific developments, with an emphasis on emerging biology, cognitive neuroscience, and archaeological discoveries.