Before their own central clocks develop, the brains of fetal rats detect their mother’s metabolic cycle to help regulate the expression of certain genes.

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

Neurologically important noncoding RNAs come in many shapes and sizes.

Compared with cells taken from non-autistic controls, neural precursors from autistic boys proliferated in atypical ways, a small study finds.

Recent findings buck the traditional idea that embryos are passive agents and instead suggest that by tuning into vibrations, organisms can better prepare to enter the outside world.

By measuring various pollutants in the immediate vicinity of pregnant women and tracking brain development of their children, researchers in Barcelona aim to untangle any influence the former has on the latter.

In mice, epigenetic marks made on histones during infancy influence depression-like behavior during adulthood. A drug that reverses the genomic tags appears to undo the damage.

Overactive immune cells identified in a mouse model and in postmortem human brain tissue may offer a potential therapeutic target for cognitive delays associated with the condition, researchers report.

Scans of eight fossilized adult and infant Australopithecus afarensis skulls reveal a prolonged period of brain growth during development that may have set the stage for extended childhood learning in later hominins.

Without a brain, the frog embryo immune system doesn’t receive the signals it needs to mobilize macrophages and fight infections.

Juvenile birds learn the length of the sounds in a song from a false memory introduced via optogenetics, instead of from real interactions with a tutor bird.

Recent federal announcements serve as reminders that in the US policy continues to outpace science when it comes to cannabis.

The federal government cautions that the drug can affect brain development in both teens and fetuses.

The agency argues that chlorpyrifos is one of few “cost-effective options” for controlling certain farm pests.

Rhesus monkeys engineered to express a human gene reportedly show delayed brain development and better short-term memory. Fellow scientists are raising ethical red flags.