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How the brain splits up vision without you even noticing

September 22, 2025
Research Findngs
As an object moves across your field of view, the brain seamlessly hands off visual processing from one hemisphere to the other like cell phone towers or relay racers do, a new MIT study shows.

Study explains how a rare gene variant contributes to Alzheimer’s disease

September 10, 2025
Research Findngs
Lipid metabolism and cell membrane function can be disrupted in the neurons of people who carry rare variants of ABCA7.

Alzheimer’s erodes brain cells’ control of gene expression, undermining function, cognition

September 2, 2025
Research Findngs
Study of 3.5 million cells from more than 100 human brains finds that Alzheimer’s progression—but also resilience to disease—depends on preserving epigenomic stability.

MIT imaging tech promises deepest looks yet into living brain tissue at single-cell resolution

August 7, 2025
Research Findings
By combining several cutting-edge imaging technologies, a new microscope system could enable unprecedentedly deep and precise visualization of metabolic and neuronal activity, potentially even in humans.

Study finds key role for non-neural brain cells in processing vision

July 22, 2025
Research Findings
MIT researchers employed a novel application of tools and analysis to show that astrocytes ensure neural information processing by maintaining ambient levels of the neurotransmitter chemical GABA.

When life supplies motivation to do research, a summer at Picower can provide the experience

July 21, 2025
Picower People
For undergraduates around the country who are interested in studying neuroscience but don't have enough opportunities at their home institutions, Picower Institute labs can provide a way to do cutting edge research and gain exposure to a possible future i

Connect or reject: Extensive rewiring builds binocular vision in the brain

July 1, 2025
Research Findings
A first-of-its-kind study in mice reveals that neurons add and shed synapses at a frenzied pace during development to integrate visual signals from the two eyes.

As textbook’s 5th edition hits shelves, Bear reflects on introducing many 1,000s of students to neuroscience

June 18, 2025
Picower People
With an emphasis on approachability, “Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain” enters its fourth decade as the text of undergraduate neuroscience classes worldwide

Autism advances

June 16, 2025
Research Feature
Rooted in fundamental curiosity about how the brain works, Picower scientists continue to break new ground in understanding autism and devising treatment strategies

Aging Brain Initiative seed grants fund five new projects to address neurodegenerative disease

June 9, 2025
New Research
Campuswide collaboration sparks new research to develop assistive technology, enhance interventions, decipher brain biochemistry, advance big data analysis, and assess the public’s understanding of dementia risk and protective factors.

Different anesthetics, same result: unconsciousness by shifting brainwave phase

May 12, 2025
Research Findings
MIT study finds that an easily measurable brain wave shift may be a universal marker of unconsciousness under anesthesia

The how and why of the brain’s division across hemispheres

May 12, 2025
Research Findings
Why does the brain split visual spatial perception between its hemispheres? A new review examines the advantages and trade-offs, and how the brain ultimately makes vision feel seamless.