Is there an objective biological basis for the experience of beauty in art? Or is aesthetic experience entirely subjective? New research uses fMRI scans to study the neural activity in subjects with no knowledge of art criticism, who were shown images of Classical and Renaissance sculptures.
Neuroscientists have found that a naturally occurring chemical in the brain can enhance visual processing and suggest that this chemical may represent part of the biological basis of visual attention.
Researchers have discovered that bortezomib, a promising cancer drug, is able to strike a blow against melanoma tumor cells by revving up the action of a cancer-promoting gene. The results suggest a novel treatment strategy: push cancer cells into overdrive, so that they self-destruct. The laboratory-based findings may lead to ways to give bortezomib with reduced side effects.
Researchers have identified a master regulatory molecule that is responsible for triggering the remodeling of neuronal connections that is critical for learning. Malfunctioning of the connection-remodeling machinery that they identified may also play a role in mental retardation, schizophrenia, and drug addiction. Thus, said the researchers, knowledge of the machinery could lead to insights into those disorders.
Kyoto was a valiant first attempt to tackle global carbon emissions, and support for the Kyoto Protocol is still needed in the international community, but it will not be enough to make a breakthrough with climate change.
Phantom limb pain occurs in at least 90% of limb amputees. In a new study, one group of amputees viewed a reflective image of themselves in a mirror (mirror group); a second group viewed a covered mirror; and a third group was trained in mental visualization. The study results showed that everyone in the mirror group reported less phantom pain, while over two-thirds reported worsening pain in the mental visualization group.
Carnivorous plants supplement the meager diet available from the nutrient-poor soils in which they grow by trapping and digesting insects and other small arthropods. Pitcher plants of the genus Nepenthes were thought to capture their prey with a simple passive trap but now researchers show that they employ slimy secretions to doom their victims.
Researchers have taken a small but significant step, in mouse studies, toward the goal of transplanting adult stem cells to create a new immune system for people with autoimmune or genetic blood diseases.
Human embryos that get too much or too little retinoic acid, a derivative of Vitamin A, can develop into babies with birth defects. New research shows for the first time how embryonic cells may regulate levels of retinoic acid, giving scientists insight into how it acts as a signal between cells to control development of the brain, limbs and many other tissues in embryos.
Vitamin E supplements can significantly reduce the risk of heart attacks and related deaths for diabetics who carry a particular version of a gene. The finding is a new answer to an old question: can antioxidant vitamins such as vitamin E help prevent heart disease? Previously, cardiologists routinely prescribed vitamin E for their patients, but the practice has dwindled as several major studies in the past decade showed no heart-protective effects and potential harm from vitamin E mega-doses. However scientists now suspected that there might be one group of patients who could benefit from vitamin E: diabetic individuals with a particular variant of the haptoglobin gene.
For more than a decade geoscientists have detected what amount to ultra-slow-motion earthquakes under Western Washington and British Columbia on a regular basis, about every 14 months. Such episodic tremor-and-slip events typically last two to three weeks and can release as much energy as a large earthquake, though they are not felt and cause no damage.Researchers find evidence that slow-slip events, essentially ultra-slow-motion earthquakes, are affected by the rise and fall of ocean tides.
Researchers have added a new piece to the puzzle of how the brain selectively amplifies those distinctions that matter most from the continuous cascade of sights, sounds, and other sensory input. Whether recognizing a glowering face among smiling ones or the unmistakable sound of a spouse calling one's name, such "categorical perception"is central to sensory function.
The first genome sequence of an extensively drug-resistant strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis linked to more than 50 deaths in a recent TB outbreak in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa has been decoded. Initial comparisons of the genome sequences reveal that drug-resistant and drug-sensitive microbes differ at only a few dozen locations along the 4-million-letter DNA code.
Two international clinical trials show unprecedented survival for patients with myeloma, a cancer the blood-making cells of bone marrow. Findings show that with the oral drug lenalidomide, in combination with dexamethasone, patients significantly improved by all measures where previous treatments had failed -- including a median survival of nearly three years -- the longest median survival known for this difficult to treat patient group.
