Scientists say they have very strong evidence that the adult human brain is capable of making new neurons, a point of ongoing controversy in neuroscience.

The team suspects that neurogenesis happens in other parts of the adult brain, too. In mice, new neurons are regularly made in the olfactory bulb (a structure that processes smells) as well—but the same hasn’t been shown in humans. Paterlini plans to investigate whether adult neurogenesis might happen there or elsewhere in the brain.

After years of debate, scientists provided new evidence for the lifelong birth of human brain cells, which may inform future therapies for neurological diseases.