In normal development, all cells turn off genes they don’t need, often by attaching a chemical methyl group to the DNA, a process called methylation. Historically, scientists believed methyl groups could only stick to a particular DNA ...
Tags: new gene control mechanism, nervous system disorder, health
(Phys.org) —Advances in light-sheet microscopy have led to impressive images and videos of the brain in action. With this technique, a plane of light is scanned through the sample to excite fluorescent calcium sensors which proxy ...
Tags: LFM, Google glass, Misha Ahrens, microscopy
According to a new study by researchers at the University of Montreal, nightmares have greater emotional impact than bad dreams do, and fear is not always a factor. In fact, it is mostly absent in bad dreams and in a third of nightmares. ...
Tags: Nightmare, REM sleep, sleepwalking, emotional impact
IN the UK alone, an estimated 7.8 million people have their lives blighted by chronic pain, and 44 per cent are failing to receive an accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Now, a University of Huddersfield scientist, backed by ...
Tags: Prestigious Clulow Award, University of Huddersfield Scientist
When one encounters a group of fruit flies invading their kitchen, it probably appears as if the whole group is vying for a sweet treat. But a closer look would likely reveal the male flies in the group are putting up more of a fight, ...
A couple of years ago, after reports surfaced about deaths that might be attributable to popular energy drinks, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) demanded that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigate the potentially dangerous ...
Tags: Agriculture, Food, Energy drinks
Schistosoma mansoni and its close relatives are parasitic flatworms that affect millions worldwide and kill an estimated 250,000 people a year. A study published on January 16 in PLOS Pathogens identifies a new part of the molecular pathway ...
Tags: Consumer Electronics, Electronics
Inspired by nature and by the aviation pioneers of the early 20th century, scientists in the United States said Wednesday they had built the world's first jellyfish aircraft. The tiny, ultra-light lab machine, weighing just 2.1 grammes ...
The benefit that premature infants gain from skin-to-skin contact with their mothers is measurable even 10 years after birth, reports a new study in Biological Psychiatry. Physical contact with babies is essential for their physical and ...
Tags: premature infants, skin-to-skin contact, physical contact
Sometimes when I think of the human brain,the theme from"Star Trek"starts playing in my own head.It's the music of great unknowns—and in certain ways the human brain,with more connections between its cells than there are galaxies in ...
Tags: human brain, Brain Research
Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) today announced that methylene chloride has been added to the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Act (TURA) list of higher hazard substances. Methylene chloride, ...
A vaccine normally used to thwart the respiratory illness tuberculosis also might help prevent the development of multiple sclerosis, a disease of the central nervous system, a new study suggests. In people who had a first episode of ...
The European Food Safety Authority says the artificial sweetener aspartame is safe at the levels currently used in food and drinks. Aspartame, sold as NutraSweet and Equal, has been used in soft drinks and other low-calorie or sugar-free ...
Tags: European Food Safety Authority, artificial sweetener aspartame
After completing its “first full risk assessment” of aspartame and associated breakdown products, a European Union food-safety group has concluded that the controversial artificial sweetener is safe for human consumption at ...
Tags: food safety, EFSA, aspartame
Omega-3 fatty acids -- nutrients long thought to be helpful for neurological health -- can cross the usually impenetrable blood-brain barrier and make their way into the brain, a new study suggests. The finding could have implications for ...
Tags: Omega-3 fatty acids, neurological health, cross blood-brain barrier