Interesting, although I doubt the solution is as simple as the one implied Yale reported that: Networks of neurons in the prefrontal cortex generate persistent firing to keep information “in mind” even in the absence of cues from the environment. This process is called “working memory,” which allows us to recall information, such as where [...]
Categories: Medicine,Psychology
Tagged: Amy F. T. Arnsten, Bill Hathaway, Daeyeol Lee, elderly, electrical, executive function, firing, guanfacine, James A. Mazer, Lu E. Jin, Mark Laubach, middle aged, Min Wang, Nao J. Gamo, Neuronal basis of age-related working memory decline, prefrontal cortex, short-term, working memory, Xiao-Jing Wang, Yale Researchers Show How Memory Is Lost — and Found, Yang Yang
- Published:
- 29 July 2011 – 08:50
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
For those of us accustomed to the effects of violence, this may not be surprising The University of Toronto reported that: Children in a school that uses corporal punishment performed significantly worse in tasks involving “executive functioning” — psychological processes such as planning, abstract thinking, and delaying gratification — than those in a school relying [...]
Categories: Education,Psychology,Public Health,Science
Tagged: beating, corporal punishment, Effects of a Punitive Environment on Children's Executive Functioning, Joyann Callender, Kang Lee, Spare the rod and develop the child, Stephanie M. Carlson, Victoria Talwar
- Published:
- 27 July 2011 – 18:32
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
This may be a potentially useful neuro-behavioral finding Gene Block (University of California – Los Angeles) spoke to reporter Stuart Wolpert about the research he and Christopher Colwell have done: “It is very clear that animals’ circadian systems begin to deteriorate as they age, and humans have enormous problems with the quality of their sleep [...]
Categories: Medicine,Psychology,Science
Tagged: aging, Christopher Colwell, circadian, Gene Block, Journal of Neuroscience, sleep-wake, Stuart Wolpert, Study shows new evidence of age-related decline in the brain's master circadian clock, suprachiasmic nucleus, UCLA
- Published:
- 26 July 2011 – 12:31
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
Diameter estimated to be 13 to 34 kilometers (8 to 21 miles) The moon (temporarily called “P4”) was first noticed on 28 June 2011. The sighting was confirmed with observations made on 3 and 18 July. P4’s orbital cycle is about 31 days. NASA posted a photograph of Pluto with its four moons here. The [...]
Categories: Science
Tagged: Hubble mirror, Karen Randall, NASA's Hubble Discovers Another Moon Around Pluto, New Horizons, Ray Villard, SETI, space shuttle
- Published:
- 25 July 2011 – 12:03
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
It doesn’t take much anthropomorphic empathy to size this sad situation up National Geographic reported that Polar Bears International tracked one of its 68 radio-collared female bears on a 687 kilometer (427 mile) 9-day swim, apparently necessitated by melting sea ice. She lost her cub and 22 percent of her body weight in the process. [...]
Categories: Climate change,Environment
Tagged: Anne Casselman, anthropomorphic, climate warming, consciousness, cub, Darwinian, empathy, Longest Polar Bear Swim Recorded—426 Miles Straight, National Geographic News, weight loss, wholeness
- Published:
- 20 July 2011 – 17:05
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
Not so good news for people in weather-vulnerable areas The University of Oxford’s Press Office wrote that: Reporting in the journal Paleoceanography, the team of geochemists and climate modellers use[d] the Pliocene as a past analogue and predictor of the workings of Earth’s future climate. The Pliocene (which lasted from 5 to 3 million years [...]
Categories: Climate,Climate change
Tagged: A. M. Haywood, Ancient El Niño clue to future floods, floods, M. Hermoso, N. Scroxton, Pacific Ocean, Paleoceanography, Persistent El Niño–Southern Oscillation variation during the Pliocene Epoch, R. E. M. Rickaby, S. G. Bonham, S. H. F. Lawrence, turbulence, University of Leeds, University of Oxford, variability
- Published:
- 19 July 2011 – 06:38
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
This should produce some exciting experiments Florida State reported that: In addition to being 43 percent more powerful than the previous world best, the new magnet also has 1,500 times as much space at its center, allowing room for more flexible, varied experiments. All of the magnet’s forces are focused on the center of the [...]
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: electromagnetism, Florida State, Jack Toth, Lab’s newest magnet sets a world record with unmatched power, magnetism, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, National Science Foundation, NSF, tesla, world record magnet
- Published:
- 15 July 2011 – 12:22
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
British Antarctic Survey finds volcanoes near the South Sandwich Islands Little kid science excitement is still possible: Scientists from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have discovered previously unknown volcanoes in the ocean waters around the remote South Sandwich Islands. Using ship-borne sea-floor mapping technology during research cruises onboard the RRS James Clark Ross, the scientists found [...]
Categories: Environment,Science
Tagged: Athena Dinar, British Antarctic Survey, Linda Capper, National Geographic, South Sandwich Islands, Underwater Antarctic volcanoes discovered in the Southern Ocean.
- Published:
- 11 July 2011 – 17:26
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
If this works long-term, it’s quite a milestone Stockholm’s Karolinska University Hospital reported that: For the first time in history, a patient has been given a new trachea made from a synthetic scaffold seeded with his own stem cells. The patient, a 36-year old man, is well on the way to full recovery and will [...]
Categories: Medicine,Science
Tagged: Alexander Seifalian, bioreactor, cancer, First Successful Transplantation of a Synthetic Tissue Engineered Windpipe, Harvard Bioscience, Karolinska University Hospital, Landspitali University Hospital (Iceland), Professor Paolo Macchiarini, Professor Tomas Gudbjartsson, radiation, trachea, tumor, University College London
- Published:
- 9 July 2011 – 17:02
- Author:
- By BrainiYak
Of little interest to most people, but an appreciated tidbit for those interested in the mechanics of genetic change Elizabeth Pennisi wrote: By using fluorescing tags that home in on specific pieces of DNA, [Keith] Durkin and his colleagues showed that a copy of a piece of chromosome 6 had at some point jumped to [...]
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: cell, change, chromosome 29, chromosome 6, circularize, DNA Circles Cause Cow Coat Changes, Elizabeth Pennisi, genetics, replication
- Published:
- 1 July 2011 – 19:03
- Author:
- By BrainiYak