Rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep is a fascinating period when most of our dreams are made. Now, in a study of mice, a team of Japanese and U.S. researchers show that it may also be a time when the brain actively forgets.
Press Releases
![Depiction of mouse brain neuron activity during rapid eye movement sleep.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_100px_h/public/migrate-images/final_image_kildfuff_sleep_and_forgetting_release.jpg?itok=SFIaVpRx)
![Cartoon of annexin A11 guiding hitchhiking through a neuron](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_100px_h/public/migrate-images/image_ward_annexin_hitchhiking_media_advisory.jpg?itok=lhpefA2x)
Affecting at least 14,000 Americans, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a paralyzing and highly fatal neurodegenerative disorder for which there are no effective treatments. Scientists peered inside neurons and watched the workings of annexin A11, a gene linked to a rare form of ALS.
![Picture of petri dish used for lab research](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_100px_h/public/migrate-images/image_span_release.jpg?itok=2Hxf3Eph)
Recently the National Institutes of Health called on researchers to make the standards and practices for conducting early stage, or preclinical, medical research on animals more like those used for clinical trials.
![Example of brain scan used in study of blood pressure on brain health.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_100px_h/public/migrate-images/image_final_sprint_mind_mri_release.jpg?itok=EQbt4RpK)
In a nationwide study, researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the brains of hundreds of participants in the National Institutes of Health’s Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT) and found that intensively controlling a person’s blood pressure was more effective at slowing the accumulation of white matter lesions than standard treatment of high blood pressure.
![Example brain scan used in NIH study of multiple sclerosis.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_100px_h/public/migrate-images/final_image_ms_smoldering_lesion_release.png?itok=ks4lZZS-)
NIH study provides hope for diagnosing and testing effectiveness of new treatments for more disabling forms of multiple sclerosis
Aided by a high-powered brain scanner and a 3D printer, NIH researchers peered inside the brains of hundreds of multiple sclerosis patients and found that dark rimmed spots representing ongoing, “smoldering” inflammation, called chronic active lesions, may be a hallmark of more aggressive and disabling forms of the disease.
![Group of doctors talking](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_100px_h/public/migrate-images/dreamstime_72541473_lr_1.jpg?itok=UQReIqWc)
Hyperglycemia, or high levels of glucose, is common in patients with acute ischemic stroke and is associated with worse outcomes compared to normal blood sugar levels.
![Doctor speaking with female patient](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_100px_h/public/migrate-images/dreamstime_47560125_lr.jpg?itok=lrJAdBBP)
Pelvic pain associated with endometriosis often becomes chronic and can persist (or recur) following surgical and hormonal interventions.
![Human brain showing hearing centers](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_100px_h/public/migrate-images/brain_pitch_brain_waves_v2.png?itok=37L7Z4kp)
In the eternal search for understanding what makes us human, scientists found that our brains are more sensitive to pitch, the harmonic sounds we hear when listening to music, than our evolutionary relative the macaque monkey.
![Photograph of ambulance](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_100px_h/public/migrate-images/ambulance_stock_0.jpg?itok=3tex0NIN)
A large study of more than 21,000 people finds that training emergency medical services (EMS) agencies to implement prehospital guidelines for traumatic brain injury (TBI) may help improve survival in patients with severe head trauma.
![waveforms comparing spoken sentence to synthesized speech](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_100px_h/public/migrate-images/speechsynthesis.jpg?itok=enMksS7o)
Scientists used brain signals recorded from epilepsy patients to program a computer to mimic natural speech—an advancement that could one day have a profound effect on the ability of certain patients to communicate.