Locating Consciousness - Acetaminophen & Autism - Mapping Tool - Animal Personalities

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Jan 17, 2026, 7:08:49 AMJan 17

https://nautil.us/the-search-for-where-consciousness-lives-in-the-brain-1261596/

The Search for Where Consciousness Lives in the Brain

By Kristen French

In 1998, neuroscientist Christof Koch bet philosopher David Chalmers that within 25 years, scientists would discover the neural correlates of consciousness. He was certain that we were on the cusp of solving the so-called hard problem: how the physical flesh of the brain gives way to the everyday streams of feelings, sensations, and thoughts that make up our waking experience.
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That bet didn’t go well for Koch: A couple of years ago, he paid up, delivering a case of fine wine to his opponent on a conference stage in New York City.

But many scientists still believe that the scientific keys to the kingdom of consciousness are within reach. Lately, some are focusing their attention on a new technology called transcranial focused ultrasound, in which acoustic waves are transmitted through the skull deep into the interior tissues. These waves can be used to stimulate specific target areas as small as a few millimeters in size and to monitor the changes that result.

Now, two researchers from MIT have mapped out specific ways to use the technology to chip away at the hard problem. Because transcranial focused ultrasound offers a powerful and noninvasive way to alter brain activity, it will allow scientists to track cause-and-effect for the first time, they argue. In a new paper, published in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, they plot out a series of experiments that will aim to answer how consciousness arises in the brain—and where.

“Transcranial focused ultrasound will let you stimulate different parts of the brain in healthy subjects, in ways you just couldn’t before,” Daniel Freeman, an MIT researcher and co-author of the paper, explained in a statement. “This is a tool that’s not just useful for medicine or even basic science, but could also help address the hard problem of consciousness. It can probe where in the brain are the neural circuits that generate a sense of pain, a sense of vision, or even something as complex as human thought.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/health/tylenol-autism-acetaminophen-study.html

No Link Between Acetaminophen in Pregnancy and Autism, a New Study Finds

By Azeen Ghorayshi

A scientific review of 43 studies on acetaminophen use during pregnancy concluded that there was no evidence that the painkiller increased the risk of autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders.

“We found no clinically important increase in the risk of autism, A.D.H.D. or intellectual disability,” Dr. Asma Khalil, a professor of obstetrics and maternal fetal medicine at St. George’s Hospital, University of London, and the lead author of the report, said at a news briefing. The study was published on Friday in the British medical journal The Lancet.

Acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, remains “the first-line treatment that we would recommend if the pregnant women have pain or fever in pregnancy,” Dr. Khalil said.

Studies that have examined a possible link between acetaminophen in pregnancy and a risk of neurodevelopmental disorders have produced conflicting data, with some finding no connection and others finding small increases in risk.

The new review comes after President Trump told pregnant women during a news conference in September to “tough it out” and “fight like hell” not to take Tylenol, because he said the painkiller could cause autism in children. The message was delivered as part of a broader campaign by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to try to identify the causes behind rising autism rates among children in the United States, zeroing in on the unproven risks of acetaminophen and long-discredited theories that vaccines cause autism.

Medical groups worldwide, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, quickly disputed the president’s statements. They argued that doctors already advised their pregnant patients to use acetaminophen judiciously, and cautioned that untreated fevers during pregnancy could cause health problems for the mother and the baby

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https://www.thetransmitter.org/brain-imaging/methodological-flaw-may-upend-network-mapping-tool/

Methodological flaw may upend network mapping tool

By Angie Voyles Askham

More than 200 published studies and at least seven ongoing clinical trials rely on potentially faulty brain network maps, according to a study published today in Nature Neuroscience.

The findings cast doubt on a widely used method to generate brain network maps, says František Váša, senior lecturer in machine learning and computational neuroscience at King’s College London, who was not involved in the new study and has not used the approach in his own work. “I think it’s worth revisiting some of the literature critically,” he says. And for those who use the method or plan to, “proceed with caution,” he adds.

The creators of the method, called lesion network mapping (LNM), say that the issues raised by the new study are not insurmountable. The study’s “results are often striking and tell an important cautionary point—that lesion network mapping can be prone to false-positive findings or nonspecific findings, and study designs need to be constructed carefully in a way that can account for this,” wrote LNM co-developer Aaron Boes, professor of pediatrics at the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine, in an email to The Transmitter.

Boes and his colleagues developed LNM in 2015 to identify the pattern of brain activity disrupted in a given neurological condition, whether obsessive-compulsive disorder, Parkinson’s disease or psychopathy. It spawned a new way to put functional MRI to practical use, offering a clear brain network to target for treatment, says Martijn van den Heuvel, professor of computational neuroimaging and brain systems at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and an investigator on the new study.

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https://www.sciencenews.org/article/animals-personalities-saving-species

Animal personalities can play a big role in saving species

By Darren Incorvaia

Much like his ninja namesake, Naruto the white-lipped peccary was a bit of a loner.

Named after the titular character from a popular manga and anime, Naruto was the youngest male and one of the least social in his group of 17 peccaries, all of whom were born and raised in captivity at the Laboratory of Applied Ethology at the State University of Santa Cruz in Ilhéus, Brazil.

Destined for reintroduction into Brazil’s Estação Veracel Private Natural Heritage Reserve and the Pau-Brasil Ecological Station, the peccaries were each given a personality test of sorts by lab researchers. The piglike mammals were video recorded as they went about their daily lives, resulting in 17 hours’ worth of behavioral data. Their aggressive actions, friendly touches and moments of exploration were tallied so that the peccaries could be ranked in traits such as boldness and sociability.

The goal was to determine whether an individual peccary’s behavioral traits influenced its survival when released into the wild. White-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari) are listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN. In Brazil, the size of the species’ historical range had plunged by 60 percent by 2020, and past efforts to reintroduce them had met limited success.

Around the globe, scientists are increasingly recognizing how a reintroduced animal’s personality can impact how both individuals and groups fare in the wild. Such work is part of a growing trend to infuse the study of personality, and how it affects behavior, into conservation. When working with wild animals and tight budgets, personality tests may not always be possible. But understanding animal personality could help conservationists choose which individuals stand the best chance of surviving — helping to restore populations threatened with extinction.

https://www.npr.org/2026/01/15/nx-s1-5611117/beat-anxiety-insomnia-get-back-to-sleep

4 ways to beat the anxiety of insomnia — and get back to sleep

Andee Tagle

He couldn't stop fixating on it. "I started getting into the frame of mind most people get sucked into. I worried, 'What's going on? Is there something wrong with me?'" he says.

That fear of not being able to sleep is a phenomenon called "sleep anxiety," says Orma, who went on to become a specialist in insomnia treatment. Left untreated, that anxiety can prevent people from actually falling asleep.

"The more you focus on it, the less chance you'll sleep, which then makes you more anxious. That's the cycle that spins," he says.

One of the most powerful ways to overcome sleep anxiety is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). It's well studied, doesn't rely on sleep drugs and has been shown to be effective for clinical insomnia. Orma used this treatment to heal his sleep, and it's now the main focus of his therapy practice.

Typically, a CBT-I program lasts about six to eight weeks, and each week, you and a provider work on a strategy to reset sleep behaviors and restructure your thinking around rest.

But you don't have to be in an official program to benefit from CBT-I. Whether you're dealing with some sleep stress or just the occasional off-night, these CBT-I practices can help.
Wake up at the same time every day

Having a consistent wake-up time helps your body know when it's time to get sleepy, says Aric Prather, a sleep scientist and the author of The Sleep Prescription: 7 Days to Unlocking Your Best Rest. The sleepy cues are managed by your circadian rhythm, or your body's internal clock. A set wake-up time keeps your internal clock ticking on time.