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Our miserly "reptilian brain" affects our financial decisions
A mother’s genes influence her child’s aging
Mood is Influenced by Immune Cells Called to the Brain in Response to Stress
Tuberculosis genomes portray secrets of pathogen’s success
Study shows midwife-led care leads to better outcomes
Study suggests iron is at core of Alzheimer's disease
Lab-made complexes are “sun sponges”
Brain circuit can tune anxiety
First scientific method to authenticate world’s costliest coffee

Our miserly "reptilian brain" affects our financial decisions

Posted: 22 Aug 2013 06:23 AM PDT

It is easier to be generous in theory than it is in practice. In a new study published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, researchers show that there is a difference.

A mother’s genes influence her child’s aging

Posted: 22 Aug 2013 06:16 AM PDT

As we grow older, not only the function of organs slows down. Also on a cellular level more and more damages occur. One reason is that DNA errors accumulate which cause defective cells. Now a team of researchers lead by Nils-Göran Larsson at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne has shown that ageing is determined not only by the accumulation of DNA damage that occurs during lifetime but also by damage that we acquire from our mothers.

Mood is Influenced by Immune Cells Called to the Brain in Response to Stress

Posted: 21 Aug 2013 12:40 PM PDT

New research shows that in a dynamic mind-body interaction during the interpretation of prolonged stress, cells from the immune system are recruited to the brain and promote symptoms of anxiety.

The findings, in a mouse model, offer a new explanation of how stress can lead to mood disorders and identify a subset of immune cells, called monocytes, that could be targeted by drugs for treatment of mood disorders.

Tuberculosis genomes portray secrets of pathogen’s success

Posted: 21 Aug 2013 12:33 PM PDT

By any measure, tuberculosis (TB) is a wildly successful pathogen. It infects as many as two billion people in every corner of the world, with a new infection of a human host estimated to occur every second.

Study shows midwife-led care leads to better outcomes

Posted: 21 Aug 2013 10:40 AM PDT

Maternity care that involves a midwife as the main care provider leads to better outcomes for most women, according to a systematic review led by King’s researchers and published in The Cochrane Library.

Researchers found that women who received continued care throughout pregnancy and birth from a small group of midwives were less likely to give birth pre-term and required fewer interventions during labour and birth than when their care was shared between different obstetricians, GPs and midwives.

Study suggests iron is at core of Alzheimer's disease

Posted: 21 Aug 2013 10:09 AM PDT

Alzheimer's disease has proven to be a difficult enemy to defeat. After all, aging is the No. 1 risk factor for the disorder, and there's no stopping that.

Most researchers believe the disease is caused by one of two proteins, one called tau, the other beta-amyloid. As we age, most scientists say, these proteins either disrupt signaling between neurons or simply kill them.

Now, a new UCLA study suggests a third possible cause: iron accumulation.

Lab-made complexes are “sun sponges”

Posted: 21 Aug 2013 09:58 AM PDT

In diagrams it looks like a confection of self-curling ribbon with bits of bling hung off the ribbon here and there. In fact it is a carefully designed ring of proteins with attached pigments that self-assembles into a structure that soaks up sunlight.

Brain circuit can tune anxiety

Posted: 21 Aug 2013 09:44 AM PDT

Anxiety disorders, which include posttraumatic stress disorder, social phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorder, affect 40 million American adults in a given year. Currently available treatments, such as antianxiety drugs, are not always effective and have unwanted side effects.

To develop better treatments, a more specific understanding of the brain circuits that produce anxiety is necessary, says Kay Tye, an assistant professor of brain and cognitive sciences and member of MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory.

First scientific method to authenticate world’s costliest coffee

Posted: 21 Aug 2013 07:44 AM PDT

The world’s most expensive coffee can cost $80 a cup, and scientists now are reporting development of the first way to verify authenticity of this crème de la crème, the beans of which come from the feces of a Southeast Asian animal called a palm civet. Their study appears in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.