With the help of directed evolution, scientists inch closer to developing viral vectors that can cross the human blood-brain barrier to deliver gene therapy.

If we ask the right questions, modern tools could help researchers solve mysteries such as why many people believe in a God that both provides unconditional love and levies eternal damnation.

Genes activated in new environments include those used during development.

Animals with human cells could provide donor organs or help us understand neuropsychiatric disorders.

Fear binds us to our human and nonhuman ancestors. Understanding the emotion can help us grapple with challenges we face today.

Noncoding RNAs are proving to be critical players in the evolution of brain anatomy and cognitive complexity.

Psychedelics are evolutionarily ancient compounds produced by fungi, plants, and microbes. Humans also synthesize psychedelics. Researchers want to know how and why.

The animals kill off around one-quarter of the neurons in their somatosensory cortex, perhaps to save energy, and the cells appear to return the following summer.

A single amino acid substitution in a protein causes increased neuron production in the frontal lobes of humans compared to Neanderthals—a tiny difference that could have given our species a cognitive edge, researchers say.

Ferreting out the biological function of dreaming is a frontier in neuroscience.