Targeting metabolic energy production may lead to new therapies for neurodegenerative diseases

Findings have implications for sleep-related sudden death disorders, and emotional and cognitive health

Results offer insight into the anatomy of cognitive deficits in neurological and psychiatric disorders

In a scientific first, researchers at University of Iowa Health Care recorded responses from single neurons in the human insula—a brain region linked to emotional processing and perception of bodily sensations—while the participants listened passively to simple sounds.

Maddie Mocchi, PhD, was selected as a 2026 Dare to Discover honoree in acknowledgement of her postdoctoral work studying how to better diagnose, track, and treat depression to improve long-term outcomes for those suffering from the disorder.

In a first-of-its-kind finding, researchers at University of Iowa Health Care discovered that specific genetic sequences have an outsized impact on humans’ language abilities and that these sequences evolved before humans and Neanderthals diverged. The study’s senior author Jacob Michaelson, PhD, Roy J. Carver Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience with the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, describes language as a defining trait of Homo sapiens. While other animals communicate in various ways, humans’ propensity for developing and improvising language is unique to earth’s dominant species. The research aims to understand how the development of human language was shaped by genetic regulatory sequences known as Human Ancestor Quickly Evolved Regions (HAQERs).