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Headlines 19 Continuing with this issue’s theme of high-tech neurological research, we have delved deep into the journals, exploring breakthroughs made by researchers around the globe. From a new computational model of the human brain that could lead to artificial consciousness, to an implantable device with the potential to provide pain relief, the future is very much here. (Please note the Neurological Foundation doesn’t contribute funding to any of these projects): UK Researchers from the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience, one of 40 international sites involved in a clinical trial, have made an important discovery in patients with a faulty SOD1 gene – responsible for 2%of motor neurone disease (MND) cases. They noticed that the progression of their symptoms slowed down 12 months after taking the drug tofersen. Professor Chris McDermott, co-author of the study, says "This is the first time I have been involved in a clinical trial for people living with MND where I have seen real benefits to participants.” Israel A teamat Tel AvivUniversity has discovered away to kill cancer cells in amousemodel of glioblastoma, a highly lethal type of brain cancer. The researchers achieved the outcome using amethod they developed based on their discovery of two critical mechanisms in the brain that support tumour growth and survival: one protects cancer cells fromthe immune system, while the other supplies the energy required for rapid tumour growth. Thework found that both mechanisms are controlled by brain cells called astrocytes, and in their absence, the tumour cells die, and the animals survive. Japan Multiple systematrophy (MSA) is a neurodegenerative condition characterised by the aggregation of α -synuclein in the brain. Now, researchers fromthe National Institutes for QuantumScience and Technology, in collaborationwith three pharmaceutical companies, have developed a radioligand (a radioactive biochemical substance used for diagnosis and research) that facilitates the imaging of α -synuclein aggregates in patients withMSA. Their findings have the potential to completely change the scenario of diagnosing neurodegenerative conditions.   References neurological.org.nz/aroundtheglobe