Aging

Recent articles

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
Research image of gene expression in cells in the third ventricle of the hypothalamus of young and aged mice.

Age-related brain changes in mice strike hypothalamus ‘hot spot’

Neuronal and non-neuronal cells throughout the brain also express genes—particularly those related to neuronal structure and immune function—differently in aged mice, according to a new atlas.

By Angie Voyles Askham
8 January 2025 | 6 min listen
Six different neurons.

Early trajectory of Alzheimer’s tracked in single-cell brain atlases

Inflammation in glia and the loss of certain inhibitory cells may kick off a disease cascade decades before diagnosis.

By Angie Voyles Askham
23 October 2024 | 8 min read
Photo of the U.S. Capitol Building.

In updated U.S. autism bill, Congress calls for funding boost, expanded scope

The current Autism CARES Act sunsets in late September.

By Rachel Zamzow
5 September 2024 | 6 min listen

Explore more from The Transmitter

Illustration of the outlines of a baby, a bee and a robot filled in with computer code-like characters.

Babies, bees and bots: On the hunt for markers of consciousness

To truly understand consciousness, we need new methods to measure it and detect it in other intelligent systems.

By Tim Bayne
30 July 2025 | 6 min read

Jennifer Prendki explains why AI needs to emulate life

Prendki describes how her work on large artificial-intelligence models shaped her view that current AI needs inspiration from living organisms.

By Paul Middlebrooks
30 July 2025 | 109 min listen
Research visualization of reverberating activity in a selection of higher-order brain areas.

Eye puffs prompt separable sensory, affective brain responses in mice, people

Post-puff brain state might not be an emotion, some researchers caution, but the protocol provides a cross-species approach to study emotions.

By Calli McMurray
29 July 2025 | 8 min listen