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Tuesday, August 26, 2014

ScienceDaily: Top Science News

ScienceDaily: Top Science News


Exposure to toxins makes great granddaughters more susceptible to stress

Posted: 25 Aug 2014 03:58 PM PDT

Male and female rats are affected differently by ancestral exposure to a common fungicide, vinclozolin, new research shows. Female rats whose great grandparents were exposed to vinclozolin become much more vulnerable to stress, becoming more anxious and preferring the company of novel females to familiar females.

Two case reports of rare stiff person syndrome

Posted: 25 Aug 2014 03:58 PM PDT

Two female patients achieved clinical remission from the rare, debilitating neurological disease called stiff person syndrome (SPS, which can be marked by a 'tin soldier' gait) after an autologous -- from your own body -- stem cell transplant that eventually allowed them to return to work and regain their previous functioning.

A long childhood feeds the hungry human brain

Posted: 25 Aug 2014 12:25 PM PDT

The long-standing mystery of why human children grow so slowly compared with our closest animal relatives has been addressed by new research. A study has shown that energy funneled to the brain dominates the human body's metabolism early in life and is likely the reason why humans grow at a pace more typical of a reptile than a mammal during childhood.

Taung Child's brain development not human-like? CT scan casts doubt on similarity to that of modern humans

Posted: 25 Aug 2014 12:25 PM PDT

By subjecting the skull of the famous Taung Child to the latest CT scan technology, researchers are now casting doubt on theories that Australopithecus africanus shows the same cranial adaptations found in modern human infants and toddlers.

Zombie ant fungi 'know' brains of their hosts

Posted: 25 Aug 2014 11:21 AM PDT

A parasitic fungus that reproduces by manipulating the behavior of ants emits a cocktail of behavior-controlling chemicals when encountering the brain of its natural target host, but not when infecting other ant species, a new study shows. The findings, which suggest that the fungus "knows" its preferred host, provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, according to researchers.

Natural methane seepage on U.S. Atlantic ocean margin widespread

Posted: 25 Aug 2014 11:14 AM PDT

Natural methane leakage from the seafloor is far more widespread on the U.S. Atlantic margin than previously thought, according to a study by researchers from Mississippi State University, the U.S. Geological Survey, and other institutions.

Learning by watching, toddlers show intuitive understanding of probability

Posted: 25 Aug 2014 09:33 AM PDT

Most people know children learn many skills simply by watching people around them. Without explicit instructions youngsters know to do things like press a button to operate the television and twist a knob to open a door. Now researchers have taken this further, finding that children as young as age 2 intuitively use mathematical concepts such as probability to help make sense of the world around them.

Scientists grow an organ in an animal from cells created in lab

Posted: 25 Aug 2014 07:00 AM PDT

Scientists have grown a fully functional organ from transplanted laboratory-created cells in a living animal for the first time. The researchers have created a thymus -- an organ next to the heart that produces immune cells known as T cells that are vital for guarding against disease.

Changes in eye can predict changes in brain

Posted: 25 Aug 2014 07:00 AM PDT

A loss of cells in the retina is one of the earliest signs of frontotemporal dementia in people with a genetic risk for the disorder -- even before any changes appear in their behavior -- scientists have found. Although it is located in the eye, the retina is made up of neurons with direct connections to the brain. This means that studying the retina is one of the easiest and most accessible ways to examine and track changes in neurons.

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