Dysfunctional mitochondria may be a cause of Parkinson's, according to a growing body of research in rodents.

This 2022 academic presentation from Stanford University's Dr. Gregory Enns offers a detailed overview about mitochondrial therapy approaches. Enns, a pediatric geneticist, explains how well-functioning mitochondria support the human body.

Roughly 1,000 to 4,000 kids are born with these conditions each year in the US though many of the diseases are fatal. Mitochondrial disorders often affect the organs that require the most energy, including the heart, brain, and muscles.

Gene editing via CRISPR could theoretically fix many issues in biology, but editing the mitochondrial genome has remained challenging. In recent years, there has been some progress reaching these cellular powerhouses.

Mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, typically takes the shape of a circle and contains genes that code for proteins essential to the production of energy-containing molecules called ATP. When mitochondria fuse, the mixing of healthy and damaged mtDNA helps alleviate the effects of mutations that may have occurred during mitochondrial division or environmental interactions.

Certain gut microbes in mice trigger dopamine release and drive motivation to exercise more. Scientists are investigating whether humans carry similar microbial patterns that influence our natural inclination towards movement, exploring how unseen microbial ecosystems may shape mammalian fitness behavior and reinforce innate reward pathways.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects the nerve cells (neurons) controlling muscle movement. As the motor neurons degenerate, they stop sending signals to the muscles, causing progressive muscle weakness and, eventually, death. This three-minute animation focuses on the mechanisms within the motor neurons that cause them to degenerate. By understanding these mechanisms, researchers hope to one day find a cure for ALS.

The exact causes of Alzheimer's—and how to treat it—continue to be the subject of intense research. Two leading factors are amyloid beta plaques and tau protein tangles, which effectively pile up in the brain and interfere with neurons and cause cell death, which manifests as memory loss and other symptoms.

An agency committee assessed if this approach could have undesirable ripple effects across multiple generations and whether a clinical trial involving this approach would be appropriate. As of 2026, the US has continued to prohibit this procedure though it is legal in other settings including the UK and Australia.

Neuroscientist Kelly Lambert and her colleagues taught rats to drive in a mini car. She writes her findings from this unconventional experiment, sharing that positive and fun experiences can sculpt the brain just as powerfully as stressful ones. Click to learn more about how the apparent joy of these rodents seemed to enhance their neuroplasticity.

Up to 80% of schizophrenia patients may have auditory hallucinations. Recent research concluded that this symptom may be from misfired motor signals that feed into each other, essentially failing to suppress certain sensory neural activities and that resulting overexcitment fuels hallucinations. The finding suggests that, one day, magnetic pulses might be used to stimulate specific nerves to better regulate the errant signals and reduce or stop hallucinations.

Yet both associations are not yet considered firm enough to definitively be causative. Schizophrenia is a multi-causal syndrome and a mixture of factors, including genetics, are widely believed to be behind its development.

Women who are carriers of mitochondrial diseases that wish to have children without those conditions cannot be biological parents without three-parent IVF. The alternatives are to adopt or have a child via egg donation.

Recent DNA sequencing and molecular biology studies suggest that similarities in genes, neural circuitry and patterns of disease warrant further exploration to potentially better understand both conditions and how to treat them.

It remains contentious if something inherent about the disease or antipsychotics' side effects (weight gain) are mostly to blame. Some newly diagnosed schizophrenia patients already have insulin resistance, raising questions about if patients' brains are getting enough energy from glucose, and if dietary changes—like a high-fat, low-carbohydrate, moderate-protein diet—may help alleviate symptoms.

A study identified that massaging mice and monkeys' faces and necks enhanced the flow of cerebrospinal fluid. Because CSF has been shown to flush out proteins linked to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, the research hints at non-invasive treatments to reduce the severity of these diseases.

There is now ample evidence to back the centuries-old hypothesis that exercise is critical to human health. This review article explores the latest discoveries in exercise science, including how exercise is intrinsic to maintaining our organ systems throughout life.

The process scoops out about 99% of the mother's mitochondrial DNA—replacing it with that of a donor woman—but because that roughly 1% is still in the system there is still a small chance of disease for the resulting child or future generations.

Brain organoid research is enabling researchers to study distinct electrical firing patterns associated with schizophrenia. These "mini-brains" that are constructed in the lab from patients' cells could lead to better diagnosis approaches and drug development.

Though people die from many causes, this video makes the case that a lack of adenosine triphosphate production in the body is what kills almost all of us. Without ATP, physiological processes grind to a halt, and organs stop functioning.

Princeton University scientists published research in 2025 analyzing how mice learn to associate certain foods or flavors with feeling ill—even when there’s a time gap between eating something and feeling sick. The work, performed with grape Kool-Aid and injections of a substance that made mice sick, traced the literal “gut reaction” of how gut distress signals are linked to neural replays of what the mouse ate.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is currently incurable and can cause one's death within months of symptoms appearing. It involves misfolded proteins that, for some reason yet unknown to science, aren't cleared by the brain as typical and instead trigger similar proteins to misfold. These malformed major prion proteins—prion being a portmanteau of protein and infection—clump inside nerve cells, blocking signals crucial to processes ranging from speaking to organ function.

Although Alzheimer's disease is sometimes thought of synonymously with dementia, there are multiple types of dementia, which manifest in memory loss and other symptoms that make it challenging to perform daily tasks. These types include Lewy Body dementia, vascular dementia, and frontotemporal dementia. Parkinson's disease is not a form of dementia, but this movement disorder can sometimes develop into issues with memory and a formal diagnosis of dementia.

Aging affects the brain perhaps more than any other organ in the body. Throughout life, the brain experiences radical shifts in the number of neurons, synaptic connections between neurons, and hormone levels that regulate our mood and processing.

In the lab, mice dosed with probiotics prior to inducing exertional heatstroke, had better cognitive outcomes. This evidence underscores the links between the gut microbiome and the brain, at least in rodents.

As research continues, it's clear that disease and genetics go hand in hand. Here's a selection of 50 National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) articles providing basic information on genetic, orphan, and rare diseases caused by mutations in DNA sequences, whether inherited from parents or brought about by outside factors.

This primer video dives into the science of mitochondrial disease risks, how this controversial mitochondrial replacement technique can work, and why proponents say this reproductive advance—already legalized in the UK and Australia—is needed in the United States.

New research suggests an imbalance of gut microorganisms may influence the likelihood of addiction and addictive behaviors by increasing the severity of withdrawal symptoms, triggering brain inflammation in regions of impulse control, and more.

Neurons transmit signals between one another at sites called synapses. Repeated interactions at these sites improve the efficiency of signal transmissions, making memories involving sensory data associated with those neurons easier to recall. Biochemical factors impacting these synaptic interactions affect memory quality.

Researchers are working to unravel how circadian rhythms of parasites and their hosts affect one another. They’re investigating how to potentially target and disrupt those clocks for disease treatments.

PTLDS, which refers to lingering symptoms of Lyme after antibiotic treatment, is an area of active research. Rodent research published in 2025 suggests that these ongoing symptoms may potentially be due to the body's inflammatory response to lingering cellular components from the bacteria that cause Lyme, Borrelia burgdorferi. In rodents, components of the bacteria's cellular wall may remain in the liver after the bacteria were eliminated with antibiotics.

Scientists have successfully implanted false memories in mice after studying how the editing process works in the brain. Beyond potentially deleting memories in those with PTSD, upcoming research may allow clinicians to forecast the onset of neurodegenerative diseases.

Despite more than 100,000 people with Alzheimer's dying each year, the specific cause of death is not the disease itself. Often, secondary diseases arise from complications with the disease, including pneumonia, severe falls, malnutrition, or infection. Read more about the range of complications caused by Alzheimer's here.