Brain Continuously Remodels Itself Throughout Life

In a paper published in the October 27 issue of the top scientific journal Nature, researchers present findings which support the idea that the human brain continues to remodel itself throughout life, in predictable patterns that could theoretically be steered in one direction or another.

The two research papers that presented the findings reveal that the same genes tend to get used in the same way inside the human brain regardless of age. Naturally, differences do exist, but they are much too slim to affect the end result.

“The complexity is mind-numbing. It puts the brain in rarefied air,” says Nathan Kline Institute and New York University Langone Medical Center neuroscientis Stephen Ginsberg, who was not a part of the work.

In the future, these discoveries could be applied to people suffering from disorders such as autism and schizophrenia, helping to improve their quality of life, Science News reports.