May 17, 2012--------News Archive

Multiple Channels Help Brain Avoid Traffic Jams
Brain networks may avoid traffic jams at their busiest intersections by communicating on different frequencies

Positive Feedback in the Developing Brain
As neurons in sensory areas of the brain fire in response to sights, smells, and sounds, synapses begin to form, laying the neuronal groundwork for activity later in life

Measuring Synapse Between Neurons, Muscle Cells
In an effort to identify underlying causes of neurologic disorders impairing motor functions, a system has been developed to measure communication between motor neurons and muscle cells

May 16, 2012--------News Archive

Losing Weight Is Hard, Keeping It Off Harder
Obesity is implicated in almost all of our health problems, from cancer to heart disease to diabetes to arthritis to cognition. And, once you've become obese, if you succeed at losing weight, you'll find that your body has a metabolic drive to regain those pounds

Sugar Makes You Stupid
Study shows high-fructose diet sabotages learning, memory

New Importance of Human Breast Milk
A new study shows that human milk oligosaccharides, or HMO, produce short-chain fatty acids that feed a beneficial microbial population in the infant gut. Not only that, the bacterial composition adjusts as the baby grows older and its needs change

May 15, 2012--------News Archive

Same DNA Replication Protein Active in Mitosis, Cancer
The foundation of biological inheritance is the replication of DNA simultaneously copied at hundreds of thousands of different sites across our genome. Bad copying could be cells with missing or extra gene material, a hallmark of most birth defects and cancers

Discovery Of Mutation Causing Rare Syndrome
Scientists have identified the genetic cause of a birth defect known as Hamamy syndrome, lending new insights into common ailments such as heart disease, osteoporosis, blood disorders and possibly sterility

How To Trap MicroRNA
Researchers develop a method called miR-TRAP, which allows scientists to "freeze" miRNAs with ultra violet (UV) light giving them more time to understand the roles microRNAs play in human development and disease

May 14, 2012--------News Archive

Neurotransmitters Also Lead to Forgetting
Despite the fact that forgetting is normal, exactly how we forget—the molecular, cellular, and brain circuit mechanisms underlying the process—is poorly understood

Stem Cell Differentiation Requires DNA Compaction
New research findings show that embryonic stem cells unable to fully compact the DNA inside them cannot differentiate into specific cell types that give rise to the various types of tissues and structures in the body

Insect Glands Help Illuminate Human Fertilization
Secretions from glands in the reproductive tract of fruit flys help sperm survive and guide the sperm on the trip to fertilize an egg, and may provide potential clues to similar human reproductive glands