A brain chemical recently found to boost trust appears to work by reducing activity and weakening connections in fear-processing circuitry, a brain imaging study has discovered. Scans of the hormone oxytocin’s effect on human brain function reveal that it quells the brain’s fear hub, the amygdala, and its brainstem relay stations in response to fearful stimuli.
A psychologist at Washington University in St. Louis is conducting research that shows two adult siblings may have radically different views on what their parents would want. In fact, he says that a random stranger might have the same chance at guessing parental wishes as some children would.
Some urban performing monkeys in Indonesia are carrying several retroviruses that are capable of infecting people, according to a new study led by University of Washington researchers. The results indicate that contact with performing monkeys, which is common in many Asian countries, could represent a little-known path for viruses to jump the species barrier from monkeys to humans and eventually cause human disease. Performing monkeys are animals that are trained to produce tricks in public.
A modified version of a popular low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet is nearly as effective at controlling seizures as the highly restrictive ketogenic diet, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center researchers report. “Our findings suggest relatively good efficacy compared to the ketogenic diet,” said Eric Kossoff, M.D., a pediatric neurologist at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. “With 20 patients, our study wasn’t large enough to say patients and physicians should replace the proven, but highly restricted ketogenic diet, but the results are encouraging and intriguing.”
Dispelling years of anecdotes in travelogues, the popular press, and scholarly works, biologists from the University of Bristol argue that it is nearly impossible for elephants to become intoxicated from eating the fruit of the marula tree. “Elephants display many behavioral characteristics viewed as positive traits in humans, often causing us to identify with them in anthropomorphic ways,” write Steve Morris, David Humphreys, and Dan Reynolds in a forthcoming paper in Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. “The tipsy pachyderm [is] a view bolstered perhaps by a mutual desire for the fruits of the marula tree.”
A pilot study for Australia’s first clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of traditional Chinese exercises in preventing the growing problem of diabetes has produced startling results. The team from The University of Queensland found that by performing the Chinese exercises Qigong and Tai Chi, participants significantly improved several indicators of metabolic syndrome including HbA1c, blood pressure, bodyweight and waist circumference.
NASA researchers, using data from the agency’s AURA satellite, determined the seasonal ozone hole that developed over Antarctica this year is smaller than in previous years. NASA’s 2005 assessment of the size and thickness of the ozone layer was the first based on observations from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on the agency’s Aura spacecraft. Aura was launched in 2004.
Using tiny semiconductor crystals, biological probes and a laser, Johns Hopkins University engineers have developed a new method of finding specific sequences of DNA by making them light up beneath a microscope. The researchers, who say the technique will have important uses in medical research, demonstrated its potential in their lab by detecting a sample of DNA containing a mutation linked to ovarian cancer.
Jets of fine, icy particles streaming from Saturn’s moon Enceladus were captured in recent images from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The images provide unambiguous visual evidence that the moon is geologically active. “For planetary explorers like us, there is little that can compare to the sighting of activity on another solar system body,” said Dr. Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. “This has been a heart-stopper, and surely one of our most thrilling results.”
Researchers have completed the most meticulous survey ever made of the San Andreas Fault, and they’ve found detailed features that nobody could have seen before. Michael Bevis, Ohio Eminent Scholar in geodynamics and professor of civil and environmental engineering and geodetic science at Ohio State University, unveiled the first images from the ambitious new survey Wednesday at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.
NASA’s durable twin Mars rovers have successfully explored the surface of the mysterious red planet for a full Martian year (687 Earth days). Opportunity starts its second Martian year Dec. 11; Spirit started its new year three weeks ago. The rovers’ original mission was scheduled for only three months. “The rovers went through all of the Martian seasons and are back to late summer,” said Dr. John Callas of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. He is deputy rover project manager. “We’re preparing for the challenge of surviving another Martian winter.”
Ohio State University scientists have used minute fluctuations in gravity to produce the best map yet of ocean tides that flow beneath two large Antarctic ice shelves. They did it using the twin satellites of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center.
Soccer-ball-shaped “buckyballs” are the most famous players on the nanoscale field, presenting tantalizing prospects of revolutionizing medicine and the computer industry. Since their discovery in 1985, engineers and scientists have been exploring the properties of these molecules for a wide range of applications and innovations. But could these microscopic spheres represent a potential environmental hazard?