ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• Brain structure, function predict future memory performance in children, adolescents
• Brain regions thought to be uniquely human share many similarities with monkeys
• Paleolithic humans from the north of Spain moved to dwellings with better logistics
• H.M.'s brain yields new evidence: 3-D model of famous amnesiac's brain helps illuminate human memory
• Computing with silicon neurons: Scientists use artificial nerve cells to classify different types of data
• Living cold-water coral reef discovered off Greenland
• Active supermassive black holes revealed in merging galaxies
• Converting adult human cells to hair follicle-generating stem cells
• DDT pesticide exposure linked to Alzheimer's disease, study shows

Brain structure, function predict future memory performance in children, adolescents Posted: 28 Jan 2014 03:47 PM PST Assessing structural and functional changes in the brain may predict future memory performance in healthy children and adolescents, according to a new study. The findings shed new light on cognitive development and suggest MRI and other tools may one day help identify children at risk for developmental challenges earlier than current testing methods allow.

Brain regions thought to be uniquely human share many similarities with monkeys Posted: 28 Jan 2014 09:46 AM PST New research suggests a surprising degree of similarity in the organization of regions of the brain that control language and complex thought processes in humans and monkeys. The study also revealed some key differences. The findings may provide valuable insights into the evolutionary processes that established our ties to other primates but also made us distinctly human.

Paleolithic humans from the north of Spain moved to dwellings with better logistics Posted: 28 Jan 2014 09:46 AM PST Scientists have traced the steps of the human beings that inhabited the region during the Paleolithic era. Through computer programs for geographical analysis, it is known that these nomads gradually abandoned high-altitude rocky shelters and caves to live on flatter plains. To see or to be seen? This is the question that humans inhabiting the Cantabrian coast during the Paleolithic era had to ask themselves.

H.M.'s brain yields new evidence: 3-D model of famous amnesiac's brain helps illuminate human memory Posted: 28 Jan 2014 08:32 AM PST During his lifetime, Henry G. Molaison (H.M.) was the best known and possibly the most studied patient of modern neuroscience. Now, thanks to the postmortem study of his brain, based on histological sectioning and digital three-dimensional construction, scientists around the globe will finally have insight into the neurological basis of the case that defined modern studies of human memory.

Computing with silicon neurons: Scientists use artificial nerve cells to classify different types of data Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:45 AM PST Scientists in Germany are using artificial nerve cells to classify different types of data. These silicon 'neurons' could recognize handwritten numbers, or distinguish plant species based on their flowers.

Living cold-water coral reef discovered off Greenland Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:43 AM PST By sheer coincidence, Canadian researchers have discovered a reef of living cold-water corals in southern Greenland. The first-ever Greenlandic reef is located in southwest Greenland and was formed by cold-water corals with hard limestone skeletons. There are several species of coral in Greenland, but this is the first time that an actual reef has been found.

Active supermassive black holes revealed in merging galaxies Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:43 AM PST Astronomers have conducted infrared observations of luminous, gas-rich, merging galaxies to study active, mass-accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs). They found that at least one SMBH almost always becomes active and luminous by accreting a large amount of material.

Converting adult human cells to hair follicle-generating stem cells Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:41 AM PST Researchers have come up with a method to convert adult cells into epithelial stem cells, the first time anyone has achieved this in either humans or mice. The epithelial stem cells, when implanted into immunocompromised mice, regenerated the different cell types of human skin and hair follicles, and even produced structurally recognizable hair shaft, raising the possibility that they may eventually enable hair regeneration in people.

DDT pesticide exposure linked to Alzheimer's disease, study shows Posted: 27 Jan 2014 01:44 PM PST Scientists have known for more than 40 years that the synthetic pesticide DDT is harmful to bird habitats and a threat to the environment. Now researchers say exposure to DDT -- banned in the United States since 1972 but still used as a pesticide in other countries -- may also increase the risk and severity of Alzheimer's disease in some people, particularly those over the age of 60.

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