Scientists at the University of Cambridge's cognition and brain sciences unit have used images of roughly 3,800 "neurotypical" brains, ranging in age from birth to 90, to pinpoint these turning points where our brains change shape to serve different functions as we grow, age, and eventually decline. Roughly speaking, ages nine, 32, 66, and 83 mark pivotal shifts in how our brains operate. "This study is the first to identify major phases of brain wiring across a human lifespan," Dr. Alexa Mousley, who led the research, said in a release.
One of these researchers is Randal Halfmann at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri. He has been studying immune cells that self-destruct when they come into contact with molecules that present a threat to the body. "They have to somehow recognize that [threat] in this vast array of other complex molecules," he says, "and then within minutes, kill themselves." They do this much the way a soldier might dive on a grenade to save others' lives.
