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Compelling Evidence That Brain Parts Evolve Independently
How attention helps you remember: New study finds long-overlooked cells help the brain respond to visual stimuli
Hydrogen beam injector guides plasma physics research
The language of stem cells, decoded
Big Quake was Part Crustal Plate Breakup
Study Reveals Young Women with the BRCA Mutation Feel Different and Misunderstood
Disparity in Breast Cancer Between Black and White Women Can Be Eliminated by Regular Mammography Screening
By improving pain treatment, therapy in dogs, research offers medical insight for humans
Targeted health support needed for those with lower IQs
Signature of long-sought particle that could revolutionize quantum computing seen
Researchers Develop New Technique for IDing Proteins Secreted By Cells

Compelling Evidence That Brain Parts Evolve Independently

Posted: 26 Sep 2012 12:07 PM PDT

An Evolutionary Biologist at The University of Manchester, working with scientists in the United States, has found compelling evidence that parts of the brain can evolve independently from each other. It’s hoped the findings will significantly advance our understanding of the brain.

The unique 15 year study with researchers at the University of Tennessee and Harvard Medical School also identified several genetic loci that control the size of different brain parts.

How attention helps you remember: New study finds long-overlooked cells help the brain respond to visual stimuli

Posted: 26 Sep 2012 11:46 AM PDT

A new study from MIT neuroscientists sheds light on a neural circuit that makes us likelier to remember what we’re seeing when our brains are in a more attentive state.

The team of neuroscientists found that this circuit depends on a type of brain cell long thought to play a supporting role, at most, in neural processing. When the brain is attentive, those cells, called astrocytes, relay messages alerting neurons of the visual cortex that they should respond strongly to whatever visual information they are receiving.

Hydrogen beam injector guides plasma physics research

Posted: 26 Sep 2012 11:41 AM PDT

The Madison Symmetric Torus, a leading piece of equipment in plasma physics research for more than 20 years, recently gained a new capability with the installation of a neutral beam injector.

The addition allows University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers to delve further into the basic properties of plasmas - hot gases of charged particles - which are important in astrophysics research as well as numerous more down-to-Earth applications such as microchip fabrication, plasma TVs and other displays, and development of fusion technology.

The language of stem cells, decoded

Posted: 26 Sep 2012 11:34 AM PDT

Stem cells are biological building blocks, the starting point of human life. But without proper direction, they're not very useful when it comes to treating disease.

"If we just take stem cells and inject them into you, they will simply become a cancerous tumor," says Randy Ashton, a University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant professor of biomedical engineering.

Big Quake was Part Crustal Plate Breakup

Posted: 26 Sep 2012 11:11 AM PDT

Seismologists have known for years that the Indo-Australian plate of Earth’s crust is slowly breaking apart, but they saw it in action last April when at least four faults broke in a magnitude-8.7 earthquake that may be the largest of its type ever recorded.

The great Indian Ocean quake of April 11, 2012 previously was reported as 8.6 magnitude, and the new estimate means the quake was 40 percent larger than had been believed, scientists from the University of Utah and University of California, Santa Cruz, report in the Sept. 27 issue of the journal Nature.

Study Reveals Young Women with the BRCA Mutation Feel Different and Misunderstood

Posted: 26 Sep 2012 11:02 AM PDT

A study authored by Rebekah Hamilton, RN, PhD, associate dean of the Rush University College of Nursing, found that young women with a BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutation felt different and misunderstood.

Disparity in Breast Cancer Between Black and White Women Can Be Eliminated by Regular Mammography Screening

Posted: 26 Sep 2012 10:59 AM PDT

Regular mammography screening can help narrow the breast cancer gap between black and white women, according to a retrospective study published in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment in August.

Earlier studies have shown that black women in Chicago are more than twice as likely to die of breast cancer compared to white women. Black women with breast cancer reach the disease’s late stages more often than white women, and their tumors are more likely to be larger and more biologically aggressive.

By improving pain treatment, therapy in dogs, research offers medical insight for humans

Posted: 26 Sep 2012 10:56 AM PDT

A Kansas State University professor's research improving post-surgery pain treatment and osteoarthritis therapy in dogs may help develop better ways to treat humans for various medical conditions.

From the use of hot and cold packs to new forms of narcotics, James Roush, professor of clinical sciences, is studying ways to lessen pain after surgery and improve care for small animals, particularly dogs. He is working with the clinical patients who come to the College of Veterinary Medicine's Veterinary Health Center.

Targeted health support needed for those with lower IQs

Posted: 26 Sep 2012 09:08 AM PDT

Targeted health support is necessary for people with lower IQs according to new research which shows that they are unhappier and more likely to have poorer health than people with higher IQs.

The study, published in the journal Psychological Medicine, is the first to demonstrate the role of socio-economic and clinical factors, providing new insight into the relationship between IQ and happiness.

Signature of long-sought particle that could revolutionize quantum computing seen

Posted: 26 Sep 2012 08:34 AM PDT

A Purdue University physicist has observed evidence of long-sought Majorana fermions, special particles that could unleash the potential of fault-tolerant quantum computing.

Leonid Rokhinson, an associate professor of physics, led a team that is the first to successfully demonstrate the fractional a.c. Josephson effect, which is a signature of the particles.

Researchers Develop New Technique for IDing Proteins Secreted By Cells

Posted: 26 Sep 2012 08:26 AM PDT

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new technique to identify the proteins secreted by a cell. The new approach should help researchers collect precise data on cell biology, which is critical in fields ranging from zoology to cancer research.

The work is important because cells communicate by secreting proteins. Some of the proteins act on the cell itself, telling it to grow or multiply, for example. But the proteins can also interact with other cells, influencing them to perform any biological function.