Scientists have made new discoveries about how "white matter" found in the brains of schizophrenia sufferers relate to the disease:

[The report] provides evidence that alterations in myelin [the lipid layers that sheath and insulate nerve fibers and are the main constituent of white matter] can cause defects in neurons and the central nervous system in general that are related to neuropsychiatric disease," says the study's senior author Gabriel Corfas, a professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School's Children's Hospital Boston.

The hope is the discovery will point the way toward earlier detection and newer, more effective treatments.