The Adult Brain Does Grow New Neurons After All, Study Says

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

The Adult Brain Does Grow New Neurons After All, Study Says

Posted by msmash on Monday March 25, 2019 @07:29AM from the closer-look dept.

A new study points toward lifelong neuron formation in the human brain's hippocampus, with implications for memory and disease. From a report: For decades, scientists have debated whether the birth of new neurons -- called neurogenesis -- was possible in an area of the brain that is responsible for learning, memory and mood regulation. A growing body of research suggested they could, but then a Nature paper last year raised doubts. Now, a new study published today in another of the Nature family of journals -- Nature Medicine -- tips the balance back toward "yes." In light of the new study, "I would say that there is an overwhelming case for the neurogenesis throughout life in humans," Jonas Frisen, a professor at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, said in an e-mail. Frisen, who was not involved in the new research, wrote a News and Views about the study in the current issue of Nature Medicine.

63 comments

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

I was always suspicious of this by SuperKendall · 2019-03-25 07:32 · Score: 4, Insightful

We all know people who are life-long learners, who have changed what they do successfully mid-life and go on to great success.
How could any of that really be possible if it was not possible to essentially re-wire your brain?
What I do think it true is that if you don't keep a focus on learning, on creating new connections, that like the rest of your body the brain can start to become rigid and inflexible and maybe truly loses the ability to create new neurons. But it's not true for everyone and just like even modest exercise helps the body, a modest amount of learning can keep the brain pliable.

--
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
1. Re:I was always suspicious of this by Aighearach · 2019-03-25 07:41 · Score: 1
  
  What I do think it true is that if you don't keep a focus on learning, on creating new connections, that like the rest of your body the brain can start to become rigid and inflexible and maybe truly loses the ability to create new neurons.
  That's like claiming that if your muscles atrophy, maybe they won't grow back.
  If you don't spend time learning things, continually, you just turn into an idiot. You don't get any excuse, like your brain can't learn anymore; being that sort of idiot remains a continual choice.
  If the brain is no longer "pliable" in that way, it merely means the subject is literally brain-dead and it is time for their family to make some hard decisions.
2. Re:I was always suspicious of this by Locke2005 · 2019-03-25 07:46 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  No, Trump was SMART: he picked better parents than you did!
  
  --
  I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
3. Re:I was always suspicious of this by SirAstral · 2019-03-25 07:49 · Score: 1
  
  "How could any of that really be possible if it was not possible to essentially re-wire your brain?"
  Well, this is NEW neurons, not remapping per se...
  But yea, you are mostly on target here with your post. The ability for neurons to grow and remap are a key components to our intelligence as well, one of the major hurdles for any real Artificial Intelligence and why I ignore AI alarmists, including Hawking until we develop the tech where physical processors can remap themselves. Software just is not enough to replace that incredibly important function.
  Besides, how often does Science get it wrong? The science is almost never settled... but at least we learn more along the way.
4. Re: I was always suspicious of this by Seewhatidonehere · 2019-03-25 07:52 · Score: 0
  
  All you need to do is learn new things, anything, and this will happen. Needless to say that the larger part of society has stopped creating new brain cells or neurons or connections well before they reach 25..
5. Re:I was always suspicious of this by Krishnoid · 2019-03-25 07:56 · Score: 2
  
  Pliable, not so much -- the problem with growing new neurons at that age is that they're kind of stringy, so the thinking you get out of them is old and crotchety and has kind of a gamey feel to it.
6. Re:I was always suspicious of this by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 08:00 · Score: 0
  
  Software just is not enough to replace that incredibly important function.
  Don't say this with certainty. We don't know if this is true of not. Hardware makes tasks more efficient, but growing new hardware is often not needed when referring to new tasks. i.e. hardware is needed for faster tasks, but software is plentiful for new tasks. I am an AI alarmist myself, but am not worried. I, for one, embrace our new AI overlords.
7. Re:I was always suspicious of this by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 08:13 · Score: 0
  
  In your effort to be a smartass you forgot to consider the possibility of rearranging existing ones, pooper candle.
8. Re:I was always suspicious of this by Darinbob · 2019-03-25 08:31 · Score: 1
  
  Rewiring doesn't necessarily require new neurons.
9. Re:I was always suspicious of this by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 08:54 · Score: 0
  
  mmm. Gamey. That's why zombies like old dudes so much!
10. Re:I was always suspicious of this by SirAstral · 2019-03-25 09:04 · Score: 1
  
  Until I see new information that indicates otherwise I have a high degree of certainty that Software is not enough. We may not be able to point to a hard drive in our own brains, but there does seem to be some kind of an OS at work here with a storage medium and computational structure we are only just beginning to understand.
  The primary reason that remapping by hardware is required is so that the software can process more efficiently. If software has to overcome the limitations of the hardware then we begin to introduce major lags in processing. Each section of the brain has RISC like processing dedicated to certain skills, sensory, knowledge, understanding, and logic. But also shows CISC like adaptability as we also have evidence of an area of the brain remapping to perform other tasks not originally processed there. This does not even account for the limitations that Binary places on our mechanical computing capacities. Our neurons communicate in more that just binary, in fact we are not even entirely sure how many "bits" our neurons do communicate in.
11. Re:I was always suspicious of this by SirAstral · 2019-03-25 09:07 · Score: 1
  
  more like because old folks run slower, from a zombies perspective... its fast food!
12. Re: I was always suspicious of this by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 10:13 · Score: 0
  
  Citation for all this?
13. Re:I was always suspicious of this by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 10:25 · Score: 0
  
  I'm interested in the GND - the Gross National Debt, which is up to 27 TRILLION DOLLARS! Pretty sure that, whoever is in power, DNC or GOP, this will incite Reverse-RobinHood policies.
  As for why Trump won, it was the Mercers. Robert, Diana Dean and daughter Rebekah are the awesome-scary powers behind his victory almost from the start. They brought in Cambridge Analytica, Breitbart with Steve Bannon and the alt-right, and the truly indomitable Kellyanne Conway.
  Hillary won her primary because power brokers like Debbie Wasserman Schultz stopped Bernie Sanders from winning. The Dems were so broke they made a deal with the Clinton campaign to deride and marginalize Sanders in exchange for effective fundraising. It ain't all about the Benjamins though...
  Underlying it all is Thomas Frank's observation that the Democrats abandoned working class issues in favor of the professional class awhile back. What gets the votes is now is traditional conservative populism. With or without Trump, Trumpism is here to stay.
14. Re:I was always suspicious of this by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 10:28 · Score: 0
  
  Your political tangent aside, "Most of success is situational and not meritorious." is how I'd phrase what studies have begun to quantify in elevator-friendly charts.
15. Re:I was always suspicious of this by WindBourne · 2019-03-25 11:29 · Score: 0
  
  Trumpism is nothing more than reaganonics. HORRIBLE economics. Spending is fine as long as the taxes equal it. Cutting taxes is fine as well, as long as spending is cut. We simply can not afford to keep going into debt.
  
  Hickenlooper would push a balanced budget, but I wish that he and others, in particular bloomberg, would consider starting a new 3rd party of social moderates/liberals, but strong fiscal conservatives. IOW, what Kennedy, IKE, etc were.
  
  As to Dems, namely hillary, supposedly backing professional class, they really did not. The fact that hillary told a business group that she was going to jump H1B from 50K to 500K shows what a damn idiot she was. I am not a dem (or a fan esp of Sanderss), but what ppl like Schultz did was just as criminal as the GOP. Sad.
  
  --
  I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
16. Re:I was always suspicious of this by xluap · 2019-03-25 11:42 · Score: 1
  
  ...............
  Each section of the brain has RISC like processing dedicated to certain skills, sensory, knowledge, understanding, and logic. But also shows CISC like adaptability as we also have evidence of an area of the brain remapping to perform other tasks not originally processed there. ...................
  The brain must be some sort of FPGA
17. Re:I was always suspicious of this by Hognoxious · 2019-03-25 15:00 · Score: 0
  
  Equal and opposite idiots get mod points.
  What are the odds of that?
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
18. Re:I was always suspicious of this by alex67500 · 2019-03-25 23:25 · Score: 1
  
  Actually Neurogeneis would equate to AI being able to spawn new CPUs... Not impossible, but you'd have to wire your AI to the CPU plant. Or something.
19. Re:I was always suspicious of this by Hognoxious · 2019-03-27 04:45 · Score: 1
  
  You're saying he won due to the general craptitude of the Dems and their campaign. Those are factors not under his control and events he didn't cause.
  How is that *not* luck?
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Alright then by krray · 2019-03-25 07:32 · Score: 0

Alright then ... smoke 'em if you got 'em.
1. Re:Alright then by fluffernutter · 2019-03-25 07:37 · Score: 0
  
  Bastard! Beat me to those exact words.
  
  --
  Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
oh good. by WindBourne · 2019-03-25 07:38 · Score: 1

I can go back to Drinking and Playing Hockey.

--
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Is the growth rate fast enough? by DickBreath · 2019-03-25 08:05 · Score: 1

Do adults grow new neurons as fast as they destroy them?

Does the global cumulative intelligence always remain a constant?

--

I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
1. Re:Is the growth rate fast enough? by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 08:14 · Score: 0
  
  Do adults grow new neurons as fast as they destroy them?
  No, that's Deadpool. It's a major reason for why he's so crazy, his brain is constantly being rebuilt and rewired.
2. Re:Is the growth rate fast enough? by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 08:54 · Score: 0
  
  No, faster.
  Every single bit of progress ever made was made by the intelligence of an adult. Exceptions are lies.
Re:Gretha Thunberg get cancer and die by DickBreath · 2019-03-25 08:06 · Score: 0

What if it doesn't kill her but just makes her smell stronger?

--

I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
Everything in your hands. by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 08:08 · Score: 0

Brain is like a muscle, if you train it, it thinks well, if you keep it lazy it capable only to put food into mouth.
Really? by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 08:18 · Score: 0

You ever been to Walmart at 8pm on a Saturday evening?!
1. Re:Really? by PPH · 2019-03-25 09:12 · Score: 1
  
  Where neurons go to die.
  
  --
  Have gnu, will travel.
For my entire geezerly life... by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 08:31 · Score: 1

it has been "settled science" that the adult human brain grows no new neurons.
Now we are told that this is wrong?
Is coffee good or bad for me this week?
Is chocolate going to extend my life this year even though last year it was going to make me senile?
It was also settled science that ulcers came from stress and coffee.... until it was discovered they were caused by a particular bacteria.
The appendix was an unneccessary and non-functional "vestigial organ", a leftover of evolution.... until it was discovered to be a safe place the body preserves and stores useful bacteria to re-populate the digestive tract when needed.
ah, but it's settled science that we must stop using petroleum and transfer much of the wealth of first world countries to unproductive disfunctional third world countries within the next 12 years, or the world will end.
1. Re: For my entire geezerly life... by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 10:16 · Score: 0
  
  I'm not sure what your point is. We keep learning new things. It doesn't matter if one person or many says something is 'settled'. There's nothing to prevent new information coming to light. Accept it.
2. Re:For my entire geezerly life... by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 12:08 · Score: 0
  
  You're not going by science, you're going by pop-science. In this case it's a blurb referencing another blurb that's almost certainly written by someone who doesn't even understand the subject. Start getting your scientific information from actual journals instead of slashdot or newspapers and you won't be confused.
  Sources like slashdot, reddit or whatever are great as general news aggregators. And they tend to at least be competent with tech news. But you can't use anything but primary sources with science or medicine and expect to be up to date.
Booze booze booze booze booze! by Dirk+Becher · 2019-03-25 08:36 · Score: 0

MOOOOORE
BOOOOOZE!
Not my boss by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 09:34 · Score: 0

Clearly my boss wasn't part of the study
Re: Gretha Thunberg get cancer and die by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 10:33 · Score: 0

Then we nuke from orbit.
Neuron regrowth by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 11:40 · Score: 0

This does not apply to Repugnicans.
Maybe why Gabapentin affected my memory by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 11:57 · Score: 0

Because studies showed that Gabapentin stopped all new neuron creation. When I took it, I didn't realize this and it was scary what happened to my memory even when I felt great otherwise. I immediately stopped taking it when I stopped being able to recognize myself and my wife in pictures - I told my wife that I had found a weird picture of our doubles (!). After stopping, my pain came back but my memory returned to normal
And lying by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 17:05 · Score: 0

And falsely accuse others of lying.
actually by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 18:26 · Score: 0

I *do* love and go by actual science --- that's my point.
Real science only ever provides us with a constantly updated approximation of reality which bends and twists with every new discovery. There is no such thing as "settled science" and even the stuff that we are so sure of that we print it into hard-bound paper textbooks and indoctrinate a generation of students with can suddenly be found to be wrong. It's a really bad idea to latch onto all the "Popular Science" style headlines about amazing new stuff, assuming that a bold new headline on an article aimed at the generic public is TRUTH. It's also a really bad idea to wrap your arms around any claim that any particular bit of science is "settled".
And I didn't get a "D" in my college science classes, like science guru Al Gore, nor do I wear a lab coat on TV while propagandizing children and calling myself "The Science Guy" while actually being a former engineer turned stand-up comic. I like and defend solid objective science far more than that sort of quack.
1. Re:actually by phantomfive · 2019-03-26 06:15 · Score: 1
  
  There's been strong evidence since at least ~2001 that neurons can be grown in adult humans. If you felt it was settled science, you haven't been paying attention.
  
  --
  "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Why the false accusations and lies WindBourne? by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 23:15 · Score: 0

Why didn't you answer for your lies and false accusations?
Why always accuse others of lying and then run away when the evidence shows you are in fact the liar WindBourne?
Not much honour in you.
WindBourne, why lie and falsely accuse others? by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 23:21 · Score: 0

Why didn't you answer for your lies and false accusations?
Why always accuse others of lying and then run away when the evidence shows you are in fact the liar WindBourne?
Not much honour in you.
Only one luckier than Trump is You by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-25 23:48 · Score: 0

How else but luck would explain how your constant lying remained hidden for so long?
WindBourne is as clueless as ever by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-26 04:51 · Score: 0

Nearly 45% didn't vote for Trump moron.
Only about 30% or so of eligible voters did.
What number have you pulled out your ass this time as the approval rating? Was it less than that?
Approval ratings include people who didn't vote if you are so dense you need it spelled out for you.
Caffeinated Bacon(Crimson Tsunami) by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-26 04:56 · Score: 0

Hey, if he/she drinks enough and kills most of his/her brain cells, he/she will be as stupid and immoral as you.
Wanker, go suck Xi's knob.
1. Re: Caffeinated Bacon(Crimson Tsunami) by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-26 15:07 · Score: 0
  
  So you excuse all his lies and false accusations on drinking?
  That's the best you can do?
  WindBourne really needs to get better lackeys.
CaffeinatedBacon is lying like always by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-26 05:05 · Score: 0

Only a lying wanker like you would go to eligible voters and not just to those that voted. Fact is, that he got 46.1% of the popular vote which is close enough to 45%.

Go back to your bog.
We all know who the liar is... by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-26 18:15 · Score: 0

Yet more false accusations from one of WindBourne's lackeys.
It's funny when WindBourne is so clueless he doesn't even understand he is comparing 2 completely different things (voters and the general population). Then comes to an illogical conclusion.
But when it's already spelled out, and you still don't understand...that's just sad...
WindBourne really needs to get some better lackeys.
Unless it really is your job here to make him look smart in comparison, by looking even stupider than him?
Anyway lets check WindBoune's quote

Nearly, 45% of the population checked off Trump, yet, right after the election, his popularity was already lower than what he won with. IOW, a number of ppl that voted for him, really did not like him.
Only 45% of voters picked Trump, but only 56% of eligible voters bothered to vote. So only about 26% or so of the people approved of him enough to vote for him . (So his number is wrong)
Trump's lowest ever approval rating was 35%
So no,in fact WindBournes entire premise is incorrect. In fact many more people approved of him than voted for him.
Educating WindBourne's lackeys, one at a time...