Scientists Just Found That Brain Cells Routinely Shatter Their Own DNA While Building the Brain — And Repair It Within 24 Hours

A study published June 21, 2026, in the journal Nature has revealed something that scientists did not expect to find in a healthy developing brain: neurons routinely break their own DNA — suffering the most severe type of genetic damage a cell can undergo — as a normal, necessary consequence of the physical journey they must complete to form the brain's neural circuits.

The research was led by Professor Mineko Kengaku and colleagues at Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (WPI-iCeMS), in collaboration with researchers at the University of Tokyo, the University of Osaka, the National University of Singapore, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science. ScienceDaily reported the findings on June 21, 2026, describing the study as one of the most consequential revelations in developmental neuroscience in years.