Psychiatric disorders

Recent articles

Illustration of a brain surrounded by a stylized silhouette of a human head with psychedelic colors and textures.

Why we need basic science to better understand the neurobiology of psychedelics

Despite the many psychedelics clinical trials underway, there is still much we don’t know about how these drugs work. Preclinical studies represent our best viable avenue to answer these lingering questions.

By Devin Effinger, Melissa Herman
1 October 2025 | 7 min listen

Chris Rozell explains how brain stimulation and AI are helping to treat mental disorders

Rozell and his colleagues, using deep brain stimulation and explainable artificial intelligence, have developed tools to help people with treatment-resistant depression.

By Paul Middlebrooks
13 August 2025 | 1 min read

Nicole Rust on her new book, ‘Elusive Cures’

Rust discusses how understanding the brain as a complex dynamical system will help us accelerate treatments for brain disorders.

By Paul Middlebrooks
18 June 2025 | 93 min listen
Abstract illustration of a human brain.

‘Elusive Cures: Why Neuroscience Hasn’t Solved Brain Disorders—and How We Can Change That,’ an excerpt

In her new book, published today, neuroscientist Nicole Rust takes us on her personal quest to spell out the brain research community’s “Grand Plan.”

By Nicole Rust
10 June 2025 | 9 min read
Photograph of the BRIDGE team and students visiting a laboratory.

Sharing Africa’s brain data: Q&A with Amadi Ihunwo

These data are “virtually mandatory” to advance neuroscience, says Ihunwo, a co-investigator of the Brain Research International Data Governance & Exchange (BRIDGE) initiative, which seeks to develop a global framework for sharing, using and protecting neuroscience data.

By Lauren Schenkman
20 May 2025 | 6 min read

The brain’s quiet conductor: How hidden cells fine-tune arousal

New research published today suggests that the pericoeruleus acts as a kind of micromanager of arousal, selectively inhibiting different subgroups of locus coeruleus neurons depending on the behavioral context.

By Mac Shine
7 May 2025 | 59 min watch
Tiger in a brain scanner.

Lions and tigers and bears: Long-lived zoo animals offer a promising venue to study mental health and neurodegenerative disorders

These animals’ lifestyles often mirror those of people, making them a more relevant milieu than lab mice for determining how environmental factors influence mental health and cognitive decline. Studying them could improve animal welfare in the process.

By Christine J. Charvet
17 March 2025 | 5 min read
Illustration of two silhouettes overlaid by opaque square panels.

Why hasn’t genetics taught us more about schizophrenia?

Large-scale genomics studies have failed to identify specific pathways that go awry in schizophrenia. Alternative approaches focusing on cellular, molecular and systems-level changes may be needed.

By Joshua R. Sanes
18 February 2025 | 8 min read
Illustration of a body, brain visible through a transparent head, looking at orange circles over its hands.

Rethinking mental health: The body’s impact on the brain

Mounting evidence illustrates how peripheral molecules can influence brain function, offering new therapeutic targets.

By Georgia E. Hodes
11 February 2025 | 6 min read
Illustration of a sparkly brain.

What, if anything, makes mood fundamentally different from memory?

To better understand mood disorders—and to develop more effective treatments—should we target the brain, the mind, the environment or all three?

By Nicole Rust
8 April 2024 | 8 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Research image of axons forming a path into brain metastases of small-cell lung cancer, integrating tumors into the brain.

Neurons fuel lung tumors that have spread to brain

Functional synapses between brain cells and cancer cells are key to the metastatic growth, according to new findings from two independent teams.

By Sarah DeWeerdt
6 October 2025 | 7 min listen
Composite of Autism Data Science Initiative researcher headshots.

Meet the Autism Data Science Initiative grantees

The awarded projects plan to study gene-and-environment interactions in people, stem cells and organoids, as well as predictors of positive life outcomes in autistic youth and adults.

By Calli McMurray
3 October 2025 | 2 min read
Stack of papers.

Exclusive: The 23 studies the FDA based its expanded leucovorin label on

The studies include 46 people, mostly toddlers, who have cerebral folate deficiency due to variants in a folate transporter.

By Claudia López Lloreda
2 October 2025 | 6 min read

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