ScienceDaily: Top News

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• Researchers identify brain network with mapping technique
• New trigger for ovulation could make IVF safer
• Antipsychotic drugs linked to slight decrease in brain volume
• Highly charged ions: Multiply-ionized atoms for clocks, qubits, and constants
• Future electronics may depend on lasers, not quartz
• Clearing the way for extremely efficient solar cells: First ab initio method for characterizing hot carriers
• Hundreds of videos used to reconstruct 3-D motion without markers

Researchers identify brain network with mapping technique Posted: 18 Jul 2014 06:50 PM PDT A new image-based strategy has been used to identify and measure placebo effects in randomized clinical trials for brain disorders. The researchers used a network mapping technique to identify specific brain circuits underlying the response to sham surgery in Parkinson's disease patients.

New trigger for ovulation could make IVF safer Posted: 18 Jul 2014 06:49 PM PDT A new and potentially safer method to stimulate ovulation in women undergoing IVF treatment has been developed by researchers. Twelve babies have been born after their mothers were given an injection of the natural hormone kisspeptin to make their eggs mature. Doctors normally administer another hormone, hCG, for this purpose, but in some women, there is a risk that this can overstimulate the ovaries, with potentially life-threatening consequences.

Antipsychotic drugs linked to slight decrease in brain volume Posted: 18 Jul 2014 02:20 PM PDT A new study has confirmed a link between antipsychotic medication and a slight, but measureable, decrease in brain volume in patients with schizophrenia. For the first time, researchers have been able to examine whether this decrease is harmful for patients' cognitive function and symptoms, and noted that over a nine year follow-up, this decrease did not appear to have any effect.

Highly charged ions: Multiply-ionized atoms for clocks, qubits, and constants Posted: 18 Jul 2014 10:15 AM PDT Why can't neodymium be more like tin? Well it can, if you ionize it enough. Why strip atoms of a dozen or more electrons? To make them more amenable for use in atomic clocks and quantum computers.

Future electronics may depend on lasers, not quartz Posted: 17 Jul 2014 03:05 PM PDT Nearly all electronics require devices called oscillators that create precise frequencies -- frequencies used to keep time in wristwatches or to transmit reliable signals to radios. For nearly a century, these oscillators have relied upon quartz crystals to provide a frequency reference, much like a tuning fork is used as a reference to tune a piano. A new approach could ultimately replace the quartz crystal frequency reference -- technology in use since the 1920s.

Clearing the way for extremely efficient solar cells: First ab initio method for characterizing hot carriers Posted: 17 Jul 2014 11:20 AM PDT Researchers have developed the first ab initio method for characterizing the properties of 'hot carriers' in semiconductors. This should help clear a major road block to the development of new, more efficient solar cells.

Hundreds of videos used to reconstruct 3-D motion without markers Posted: 17 Jul 2014 09:49 AM PDT Researchers have developed techniques for combining the views of 480 video cameras mounted in a two-story geodesic dome to perform large-scale 3D motion reconstruction, including volleyball games, the swirl of air currents and even a cascade of confetti.

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