News & Headlines

University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University research team reports a novel treatment after traumatic brain injury that prevents progression to chronic neurodegeneration.

Fans and families will pack the bleachers in high school stadiums across the country as football season ramps up. But after at least seven deaths tied to the sport in August, including two teenagers who sustained brain injuries on the same day, questions are again being raised about the safety of the game. William Brangham discussed more with Chris Nowinski.

Researchers at Emory’s Brain Health Center say they’ve located the part of the brain damaged by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that regulates and suppresses fear and can get stuck on “high alert” in traumatized people.

The death of two young football players in late August sparked yet another conversation about the safety of youth football. A 13-year-old middle school player died from brain trauma during a practice, but his father, Ryan Craddock, recently spoke out and said this tragedy doesn't mean kids should give up the sport. Instead, the father is urging schools to add head protectors called guardian caps to their football helmets. 

An Alabama community is in mourning following the death of a high school quarterback who suffered a brain injury during the school’s season opener Friday night, according to statements from school officials and the teen’s family. Caden Tellier was taken to a hospital in critical condition after a head injury in John T. Morgan Academy’s game against visiting Southern Academy in Selma, officials said Friday. His death was announced the next day.

A team of neuroscientists, brain specialists and psychiatrists, led by a group at Cambridge University, in the U.K, has found evidence suggesting that minor brain injuries that occur early in life, may have health impacts later on. In their paper published in the journal JAMA Network Open, the group describes how they analyzed and compared MRI scans from hundreds of people participating in the U.K.'s Prevent Dementia study.

Brett Favre on Wednesday announced the release date for Concussed: The American Dream, a movie that documents the tragic story of Super Bowl champion Tyler Sash and his battle with CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). Favre, a three-time National Football League MVP and Hall of Famer, has openly questioned whether or not he has cognitive lapses potentially caused by CTE. He famously played in 321 straight games (by far the NFL record) regardless of whatever injuries he was dealing with – including head injuries.

After a young boy in his district died playing football before fully recovering from a concussion, Mr. Pascrell founded the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force to focus federal attention on the prevention and treatment of head trauma in athletes and military personnel.

Attorneys promised a “state of the art” process to diagnose former players suffering from brain disease. But basic tools still aren’t being used, The Washington Post found, saving the NFL millions.

A new study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) highlights the difficulty of finding a lab test for long Covid – a novel condition that encompasses dozens of symptoms and is currently considered a “diagnosis of exclusion." Long Covid’s most common symptoms include brain fog, fatigue and heart palpitations, which can change over time and be disabling when severe. Approximately one in 20 adults reported persistent symptoms of Covid, as of June 2024.

The Pentagon has issued new guidelines aimed at protecting personnel from shockwaves that can cause brain damage, including running cognitive tests on recruits before they begin their military service.

Defense Department leaders on Friday unveiled a series of new steps designed to protect troops from blast overpressure injuries related to weapons use, including new restrictions on how close trainers can stand during firing range sessions and cognitive assessments for all troops by the end of next year. A blast overpressure injury can occur in several jobs across the military branches when explosions create high pressure that can cause a myriad of injuries to service members.