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Published18 Jun 2026 Author Emma Yasinski Source Knowable Magazine “Relapse is a part of recovery”: That’s a common refrain among professionals who treat substance use disorders. Many people who have completed treatment programs return to substance use and reenter treatment multiple times, after days, weeks or even years of sobriety.

Published28 Apr 2026 Author Kevin Mitchell Source BrainFacts/SfN Genetics, not modern life, best explains autism’s origins, writes Kevin Mitchell. iStock.com/DrAfter123 The question of what causes autism has grown in urgency in recent years, as rates of diagnoses have increased, in the United States and some European countries, in particular. This has led some people — like U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F.

Published17 Dec 2025 Author Bella Isaacs-Thomas Source BrainFacts/SfN A person uses a brain computer interface to operate a robotic arm. Electric stimulation in his brain allows him to feel sensations from the robot‘s hand as if they were coming from his own. UPMC and Pitt Health Sciences Amputations or brain and spinal cord injuries limit how people can engage with the world around them.

When you drink tea, coffee, or other caffeinated beverages, two chemicals — the caffeine in those drinks, and the adenosine produced by your body — enter into a tense competition in your brain. Adenosine makes you feel tired, while caffeine makes you feel alert and energetic. As you drink, the caffeine enters your brain and blocks adenosine from doing its job, which is why you feel less sleepy.

In this puppet short, Chef Marinara is distressed to find that her breakfast just doesn't taste right. Although there’s nothing wrong with her tongue’s ability to detect flavors, her flavor perception is temporarily off. That’s because people perceive flavor by combining information on the taste buds on our tongues with molecules reaching the olfactory cells in our nasal cavities.

Published9 Oct 2025 Author Bella Isaacs-Thomas Source BrainFacts/SfN University College London Huntington’s is a rare, fatal neurodegenerative disease driven by deteriorating neurons in the brain. Although patients can seek interventions to manage their symptoms, there are no approved treatments to slow or stop them, and most people die within one to three decades after signs of the disease begin.

Whether you’re envisioning shapes in the clouds or picturing a drawing in your mind, we’re all capable of being imaginative. But where does this mental visualization come together in the brain? Storyboard and animation produced by Midnight Snacks for BrainFacts. Scripting by Cyrenna Cooper. Editorial Production by Cyrenna Cooper and Tristan Rivera. Scientific Review by Anna Abraham.

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Published1 Oct 2025 Authors Ben Rein, Maria Tavares Source BrainFacts/SfN iStock.com/DrAfter123 Empathy is ancient. For millennia, it has helped us understand what others feel by simply observing them. We are wired to detect signs of emotion from one another, and to take on similar emotions in response. We tear up when a loved one cries, smile when a friend laughs, and frown when a teammate hangs their head. This is empathy.

Published1 Oct 2025 Author Manuela Callari Source BrainFacts/SfN ©truecreatives via Canva.com Your immune system is your body’s built-in first responder, and inflammation is a sign it’s doing its job to fight infections and repair injuries. If you’ve ever noticed the warm, red skin around a healing cut, or felt the throb of a sprained ankle, you’ve seen inflammation in action. But the healing fire isn’t always beneficial. Inflammation should wind down after it’s done doing damage control.