When people experience mental illness, they often describe it in abstract terms: a cloud of sadness, a sudden rush of anxiety, or a sense of disconnection from reality. Yet these experiences do not float free of the body. They are grounded in the brain itself. With its folds, ridges, and layers, the brain carries both the machinery of thought and the marks of our genetic inheritance. A new study shows just how deeply the two are connected. The very genes that increase vulnerability to psychiatric disorders also help shape the brain’s physical architecture.

The cortex, the wrinkled outer layer of the brain, is where memory, perception, and higher thought processes occur. Scientists measure it in two ways. Surface area measures how widely the folds of the cortex extend. Thickness refers to the depth of the cortical layers. By combining brain scans from people with large-scale genetic data, researchers discovered that the same genetic variants linked to conditions like

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