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• Human brains ‘divide and conquer'
• Study lays groundwork for norovirus anti-viral treatments
• Weight Loss Drug Helps Curb Cocaine Addictions, Penn Study Finds
• Study Reveals How Smoking Increases Vulnerability to Alcohol Abuse
• Stanford scientists break record for thinnest light-absorber
• Molecular switch controls the destiny of self-eating cells

Human brains ‘divide and conquer' Posted: 18 Jul 2013 06:29 PM PDT A new research by Australain researchers could provide hope for people with spatial memory impairments. Researchers at Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) at University of Queenslandhave found that human brains ‘divide and conquer' when people learn to navigate around new environments.  read more

Study lays groundwork for norovirus anti-viral treatments Posted: 18 Jul 2013 12:04 PM PDT An animal model of the human norovirus created at the University of Michigan Health System lays the groundwork for understanding the biology of the pesky virus and developing antiviral drug treatment. Well-known as the virus that impacts cruise ship vacations, norovirus leads to misery on land too. The virus spreads quickly from person to person in any closed-in space, such as schools, nursing homes, or day-care centers. read more

Weight Loss Drug Helps Curb Cocaine Addictions, Penn Study Finds Posted: 18 Jul 2013 11:51 AM PDT The drug topiramate, typically used to treat epilepsy and more recently weight loss, may also help people addicted to both cocaine and alcohol use less cocaine, particularly heavy users, researchers in the department of Psychiatry at Penn Medicine report in a new study published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.  Results from the double-blind, placebo-controlled trial adds to the growing body of evidence supporting topiramate as a promising medication to treat addiction. read more

Study Reveals How Smoking Increases Vulnerability to Alcohol Abuse Posted: 18 Jul 2013 08:51 AM PDT Smoking is a well-known risk factor for subsequent alcohol abuse, but the mechanisms underlying this link are unknown. Now researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Neuron on July 18 show in a study conducted in rats that even a single exposure to nicotine temporarily changes how the brain's reward system responds to alcohol and increases the reinforcing properties of alcohol via stress hormones. read more

Stanford scientists break record for thinnest light-absorber Posted: 18 Jul 2013 08:47 AM PDT Stanford University scientists have created the thinnest, most efficient absorber of visible light on record. The nanosize structure, thousands of times thinner than an ordinary sheet of paper, could lower the cost and improve the efficiency of solar cells, according to the scientists. Their results are published in the current online edition of the journal Nano Letters. read more

Molecular switch controls the destiny of self-eating cells Posted: 18 Jul 2013 08:19 AM PDT In a new paper published in the journal Nature, researchers present a previously unknown mechanism that controls whether a cell survives autophagy, a process that can be compared to the cell consuming parts of itself. The discovery means that it might now be possible to influence the process, which is involved in a wide variety of diseases. read more

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