Injecting specialized radioactive tracer dyes into your bloodstream allows advanced positron emission tomography scanners to capture vivid neon images of activated microglia…

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For decades, debilitating conditions like chronic fatigue and treatment-resistant depression were brushed off by lazy doctors as entirely psychological, but advanced PET scans politely disagree.

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For decades, debilitating conditions like chronic fatigue and treatment-resistant depression were brushed off by lazy doctors as entirely psychological, but advanced PET scans politely disagree. By utilizing chemical tracers that specifically bind to TSPO proteins emitted by angry immune cells in the brain, neuroscientists can literally photograph neuroinflammation. Seeing a patient's brain light up like a fiery Christmas tree provides irrefutable, visual proof that their cognitive struggles are rooted in severe biological chaos.

Topics in this factneuroinflammationneuroscienceimaging

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Injecting specialized radioactive tracer dyes into your bloodstream allows advanced positron emission tomography scanners to capture vivid neon images of activated microglia…

A closer look

A bigger world.One discoveryat a time.

Keep exploring

Why does completing a truly grueling workout make you feel invincible and slightly euphoric an hour later?

Runner's high is not just a psychological illusion, but rather it is actually caused by the release of endocannabinoids, which are biochemical compounds naturally produced by the…

Burnout can physically change doctors' brains

Pregnant women experience a literal reduction in their brain volume, specifically in areas governing social cognition, which is nature’s horrifying way of hardwiring them to care exclusively about their newborn.

Drinking alcohol does not actually kill brain cells, but instead damages the dendrites, which are the branching ends of neurons that transmit messages to one another.

The doctor who mapped the brain with awake patients

A bigger world.
One discovery
at a time.