#brain-development

#brain-development

Shakespeare wrote in his play As You Like It that we humans go through seven ages. The first is the "infant mewling and puking"; next "the whining schoolboy"; then "the lover sighing like a furnace", followed by the soldier "full of strange oaths, seeking the bubble reputation"; then "the justice in fair round belly"; the sixth age is "with spectacles on nose"; and finally there's "second childishness".

The human brain has 86 billion neurons connected by roughly 100 trillion synapses, making it one of the most complex objects in the known universe. Each year neuroscientists make fascinating, important and downright strange discoveries about how this resilient structure works, and 2025 didn't disappoint. Here are 10 of the most fascinating brain discoveries of this year for your own brain to noodle on.

The study, based on the brain scans of nearly 4,000 people aged under one to 90, mapped neural connections and how they evolve during our lives. This revealed five broad phases, split up by four pivotal turning points in which brain organisation moves on to a different trajectory, at around the ages of nine, 32, 66 and 83 years. Looking back, many of us feel our lives have been characterised by different phases.

The most prominent AI systems today are Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Perplexity, and Gemini. These systems work through computational models that mimic the human brain's structure, thus termed "neural networks." They consist of interconnected nodes that process and learn from internet data, enabling pattern recognition and decision-making in the field of artificial intelligence called "Machine Learning." LLMs are trained on massive datasets containing billions of words from books, websites, and other text sources.

A high-resolution 'Google Maps' for Roman roads includes nearly 300,000 kilometres of viae Romanae. It brings together fragmented data sets to show the full glory of the network that connected the empire around AD 150, when it was at its biggest. But "although the roads are one of the best-known aspects of Roman history, it's surprising how many details about them we still don't know," says historian Catherine Fletcher.

The problem is not just social media, but rather the quick "hits" of news, entertainment, and other information we experience all day long. These short bites, without context, are diminishing our prefrontal neural networks and affecting our ability to plan, organize, and solve problems. Teens who think they understand an issue because they've seen a 15-second video about it have not only missed the news, but they've missed the opportunity to understand context, evaluate sources, and draw conclusions. And it's damaging their brains along the way.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are RNA molecules that do not encode proteins, which led to their dismissal by many scientists as unimportant as it relates to DNA processes. For years, laboratories lacked the tools to study these molecules, and their roles in cellular processes remained obscure. However, the new study demonstrates that lncRNAs are far from inert, said Jhumku Kohtz, PhD, research professor in the Ken and Ruth Davee Department of Neurology's Divison of Comprehensive Neurology and senior author of the study.

A study conducted on mice has revealed that a high-sucrose diet during the developmental period significantly rewires their brains, affecting cognitive functions later in life.

In our digital world, cursive has fallen by the wayside, but there are many reasons for students to get a basic grasp on cursive writing.