Monkeys have the ability to perform mental addition. In fact, monkeys performed about as well as college students given the same test. The findings shed light on the shared evolutionary origins of arithmetic ability in humans and non-human animals.
Two deadly and highly infectious viruses -- both potential bioterror threats -- may have met their match in a new drug. Hendra and Nipah viruses are related, newly recognized zoonotic viruses that can spread from their natural reservoir in fruit bats to larger animals -- including pigs, horses and humans.
Though the odds for infants with heart defects are much better now than they were even 10 years ago, a new study suggests a way to give them a better chance at survival: Get them to hospitals that are the most experienced at handling such cases. It's the first national study of this issue, and lends support to the creation of regional congenital heart centers.
It has no current market, not even a prescription price. Its makers stopped commercial production years ago, because demand was so low. But an antibiotic long abandoned as a weak, low-dose treatment for tuberculosis may have found renewed purpose, this time as a potent, high-dose fighter against the most common and actively contagious form of the lung disease. Rifapentine is already approved for use in humans.
New research has revealed so-called 'Jekyll and Hyde'bacteria, suggesting a novel way to control insect pests without using insecticides. Scientists studied the relationship between plant-dwelling insects and the bacteria that live in them -- and discovered an unexpected interaction.
Employees who have more control over their daily activities and do challenging work they enjoy are likely to be in better health, according to a new study. Although people who work do give up some control over their daily activities, the study found that being employed leads to better health generally, regardless of the amount of creativity required in their work.
Enceladus, the tiny satellite of Saturn, is colder than ice, but data gathered by the Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn and Titan has detected a hot spot that could mean there is life in the old moon after all. The hot spot is causing plumes of ice and vapor to arise above Enceladus, say astronomers. If there is water on Enceladus, could there be life?
In conversation, humans recognize words primarily from the sounds they hear. However, scientists have long known that what humans perceive goes beyond the sounds and even the sights of speech. The brain constructs its own unique interpretation. Scientists have now identified brain areas responsible for this perception. One of these areas, Broca's region, is typically thought of as an area of the brain used for talking rather than listening.
Physicists investigated an unusual arrangement of three magnetic "swirls"- so called magnetic vortices - in a thin magnetic film. Their experiments unraveled the dynamic core movements of these magnetic swirls for the first time.
Researchers have discovered how low-oxygen conditions can worsen chronic kidney disease. The key player is a protein called hypoxia-inducible-factor that, as its name suggests, is active when the kidney does not get enough oxygen, a condition known as hypoxia. This research has implications for new approaches to kidney dialysis.
Integrated circuits are the "brain"in computers, cell phones, and many other electronic devices. Scientists have demonstrated substantial improvements in integrated circuits, also known as silicon chips, achieved not by costly improvements in manufacturing, but by improved computer-aided design software based on better mathematical algorithms.
Provided they stick to the same guidelines about alcohol consumption as younger adults, regular moderate drinking poses no additional risks to the 'over 65s,'and may even bring health benefits, according to two new studies.
Researchers have dated the earliest step in the formation of the solar system -- when microscopic interstellar dust coalesced into mountain-sized chunks of rock -- to 4,568 million years ago, within a range of about 2,080,000 years.
Researchers have discovered an association between genes regulating glucose metabolism and spina bifida. The decade-long study looked at more than 1,500 DNA samples from parents and their children with that birth defect.
