ScienceBlog.com

Researchers found that they could eliminate the rewarding effect of cocaine on mice by genetically manipulating a key target of the drug in the animal’s brain. While the researchers aren’t suggesting that these genetic modifications be made in humans, the work brings to light the key protein that controls cocaine’s effects in the body, which may help scientists develop medications that achieve the same results and therefore help addicts overcome their dependence.

Saturn’s moon Enceladus – an active, icy world with an unusually warm south pole – may have performed an unusual trick for a planetary body. New research shows Enceladus rolled over, literally, explaining why the moon’s hottest spot is at the south pole.

Variations in the strength of the sun have played a major role in glacial fluctuations in the tropical Andes for hundreds of years, and combined with current greenhouse gases generated by humans, paint an alarming picture for tropical glaciers in the near future.

Research involving more than 7,000 older women found that those who drink a moderate amount of alcohol have slightly higher levels of mental function than non-drinkers, particularly in verbal abilities, according to researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues.

Frontline’s “The Age of AIDS” provoked so many emotions, that I felt emotionally drained after watching the program. Incidentally, while watching this wonderful program, another great article in the American Labororatory (May, 2006) jumped out at me…”What Is This Thing Called Me? by Daniel Schneck, a professor at Virginia Tech.

The discovery of eight previously unknown, ancient animal species within “a new and unique underground ecosystem” in Israel was revealed today by Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers.

Memory tests performed with amnesiacs have enabled researchers to refute a long-held belief in an essential difference between long-and short-term memories. In the study, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania determined that the hippocampus — a seahorse shaped structure in the middle of the brain — was just as important for retrieving certain types of short-term memories as it is for long-term memories.

Investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that eating a low-calorie yet nutritionally balanced diet lowers concentrations of a thyroid hormone called triiodothyronine (T3), which controls the body’s energy balance and cellular metabolism.

As an “amateur” ecologist, migratory patterns of salmon has always intrigued me. In the May 2006 issue of American Laboratory, Mark Springer’s interesting review on salmon genotyping caught my eye for several reasons.

Researchers at Harvard University and University College London have developed diagnostic tests for prosopagnosia, a socially disabling inability to recognize or distinguish faces. They’ve already used the new test and a related web site to identify hundreds of “face-blind” individuals, far more than scientists had identified previously.

Non-traumatic amputations – those caused by arterial blockages related to diabetes, smoking, obesity and vascular system complications – are occurring at an alarming rate. Yet physicians may be too quick to amputate as 85 percent of them may be preventable, according to the International Diabetes Foundation.

Human induced climate change, rather than naturally occurring ocean cycles, may be responsible for the recent increases in frequency and strength of North Atlantic hurricanes, according to Penn State and Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers. “Anthropogenic factors are likely responsible for long-term trends in tropical Atlantic warmth and tropical cyclone activity,” the researchers report in an upcoming issue of the American Geophysical Society’s EOS.

An issue requiring constant vigilance is whether today’s vast health claims are mostly on the level or merely half-vast.

Youth with bipolar disorder misread facial expressions as hostile and show heightened neural reactions when they focus on emotional aspects of neutral faces, researchers at the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have discovered. The study provides some of the first clues to the underlying workings of the episodes of mania and depression that disrupt friendships, school, and family life in up to one percent of children.

Caribbean spiny lobsters are able to detect illness in others of their kind, and employ avoidance tactics to keep their population healthy, according to a paper in this week’s issue of the journal Nature. The research results show that the usually social animals avoid contact with other lobsters that carry viruses–even before those lobsters become infectious.

The ease of pronouncing the name of a company and its stock ticker symbol influences how well that stock performs in the days immediately after its initial public offering, two Princeton University psychologists have found. A new study of initial public offerings (IPOs) on two major American stock exchanges shows that people are more likely to purchase newly offered stocks that have easily pronounced names than those that do not, according to Princeton’s Adam Alter and Danny Oppenheimer. The effect extends to the ease with which the stock’s ticker code, generally a few letters long, can be pronounced — indicating that, all else being equal, a stock with the symbol BAL should outperform one with the symbol BDL in the first few days of trading.

Reflooding of Iraq’s destroyed Mesopotamian marshes since 2003 has resulted in a “remarkable rate of reestablishment” of native invertebrates, plants, fish, and birds, according to an article in the June issue of BioScience. Curtis J. Richardson of Duke University and Najah A. Hussain of the University of Basrah, writing about fieldwork conducted over the past two years in four large marshes in southern Iraq, note that water inflow from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers has been greater than expected because of record snowpack melts, which has kept salinity levels low.

Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) who took part in hypnotherapy sessions reported reduced symptoms and improved quality of life, according to research published in the June issue of Journal of Clinical Nursing.

A new study presented today at the 159th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in Toronto, Canada identified five predictors for bipolar disorder risk in patients who have been unsuccessfully treated with antidepressants. Researchers concluded that significant risk factors of bipolar disorder among patients already diagnosed with major depression were anxiety, feelings of people being unfriendly, family history of bipolar disorder, a recent diagnosis of depression, and legal problems.

New evidence that individual differences in human sexual desire can be attributed to genetic variations has been revealed by a research group headed by a professor of psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The findings are believed to have an impact on people’s understanding of their own sexuality as well as to how sexual disorders may come to be treated in the future.