Multiscale brain development across the human lifespan

Deciphering how the human brain matures and reorganizes across the lifespan remains a central challenge in developmental neuroscience. Understanding the complex developmental processes is essential for elucidating the biological bases of cognition and behavior, as well as the mechanisms underlying aging and neurodegenerative diseases. Neuroimaging has enabled the mapping of nonlinear, age-related changes in brain morphology, microstructure, and connectivity from gestation to senescence. However, we lack a unified understanding of interplay across multimodal neuroimaging measures, structure-function coupling, and the cellular and molecular drivers of network reorganization. In this review, we synthesize current evidence to provide a multiscale MRI-derived account of structural and functional brain development across the human lifespan, highlight key conceptual and methodological gaps, and outline priorities for future research.