People often mimic each other's facial expressions or postures without even knowing it, but new research shows that they also mimic the size of each other's pupils, which can lead to increased trust. The findings, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, reveal that participants who mimicked the dilated pupils of a partner were more likely to trust that partner in an investment game, but only when the partner was part of the same ethnic group. "People generally underestimate the importance of pupils, despite the fact ...

Skin cancer is the most common of all cancers, and melanoma, which accounts for 2% of skin cancer cases, is responsible for nearly all skin cancer deaths. Melanoma rates in the US have been rising rapidly over the last 30 years, and although scientists have managed to identify key risk factors, melanoma's modus operandi has eluded the world of medical research. A new Tel Aviv University study published in Molecular Cell sheds light on the precise trigger that causes melanoma cancer cells to transform from non-invasive cells to invasive killer agents, pinpointing the precise ...

Money can be a significant source of conflict in relationships, particularly during stressful times. New research from North Carolina State University details techniques romantic couples can use to address financial uncertainty, highlighting the importance of communication in managing uncertainty and reducing stress. "Regardless of income level, I found that couples are uncertain about money--whether that's how to put food on the table or whether to sell a second home," says Lynsey Romo, an assistant professor of communication at NC State. "During tough financial times, ...

Compact optical transmission possibilities are of great interest in faster and more energy-efficient data exchange between electronic chips. One component serving this application is the Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) which is able to convert electronic signals into optical signals. Scientists of the KIT and the ETH in Zurich developed a plasmonic MZM of only 12.5 micrometers length which converts digital electrical signals into optical signals at a rate of up to 108 gigabit per second, and presented this device in the "Nature Photonics" scientific journal. (DOI 10.1038/nphoton.2015.127). "Optical ...

The first comprehensive study of its kind finds weight cycling, repeated cycles of intentional weight loss followed by regain, was not associated with overall risk of cancer in men or women. The study by American Cancer Society investigators is the largest to date to investigate weight cycling with cancer risk. It appears early online in the American Journal of Epidemiology. The authors of the report found weight cycling was not associated with overall risk of cancer in men or women after adjusting for body mass index and other factors. Weight cycling was also not associated ...

The brain is amazingly complex, with around 86 billion nerve cells. The challenge for researchers to create bench-top brain tissue from which they can learn about how the brain functions, is an extremely difficult one. Researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) have taken a step closer to meeting this challenge, by developing a 3D printed layered structure incorporating neural cells, that mimics the structure of brain tissue. The value of bench-top brain tissue is huge. Pharmaceutical companies spend millions of dollars testing therapeutic ...

Medications commonly used to treat dementia could result in harmful weight loss, according to UC San Francisco researchers, and clinicians need to account for this risk when prescribing these drugs to older adults, they said. Their study appears online and in the August issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. "This is very relevant to patient care because unintentional weight loss in older adults is associated with many adverse outcomes, including increased rates of institutionalization and mortality, a decline in functional status, and poorer quality ...

This news release is available in French. TORONTO/MONTREAL - Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common cause of physical disability in children. It has historically been considered to be caused by factors such as birth asphyxia, stroke and infections in the developing brain of babies. In a new game-changing Canadian study, a research team from The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) has uncovered strong evidence for genetic causes of cerebral palsy that turns experts' understanding ...

Picky eating among children is a common but burdensome problem that can result in poor nutrition for kids, family conflict, and frustrated parents. Although many families see picky eating as a phase, a new study from Duke Medicine finds moderate and severe picky eating often coincides with serious childhood issues such as depression and anxiety that may need intervention. According to the study, published August 3 in the journal Pediatrics, more than 20 percent of children ages 2 to 6 are selective eaters. Of them, nearly 18 percent were classified as moderately picky. ...

PULLMAN, Wash.--Washington State University researchers say environmental factors are having an underappreciated effect on the course of disease and evolution by prompting genetic mutations through epigenetics, a process by which genes are turned on and off independent of an organism's DNA sequence. Their assertion is a dramatic shift in how we might think of disease and evolution's underlying biology and "changes how we think about where things come from," said Michael Skinner, founding director of the Center for Reproductive Biology in WSU's School of Biological Sciences. Skinner ...

Abstinence is the best way to avoid drug addiction. But in many societies, drug use is the norm, not the exception, especially by youth. What keeps the majority of users from becoming addicted? How drugs are taken has something to do with it, according to pharmacology researchers at the University of Montreal. "Why do some drug users become addicts? The amount of drugs they take over time is one factor, but the speed with which the substance enters and exits the brain can be just as important," explained Professor Anne-Noël Samaha, who supervised the study into how ...

Parents who joke and pretend with their children are teaching them important life skills, research by the University of Sheffield has revealed. The study showed that children as young as 16 months old naturally learn the difference between joking and pretending by picking up on their parents' cues. It also showed understanding the difference between the two allows children the opportunity to learn, imagine, bond, and think in abstract ways. Researchers from the University's Department of Psychology carried out two studies; one involved parents being asked to joke ...

Cancer cells in neuroblastoma contain a molecule that breaks down a key energy source for the body's immune cells, leaving them too physically drained to fight the disease, according to new research published in the journal Cancer Research today (Saturday). Cancer Research UK-funded scientists have discovered that the cells in neuroblastoma - a rare type of childhood cancer that affects nerve cells - produce a molecule that breaks down arginine, one of the building blocks of proteins and an essential energy source for immune cells. This molecule - called 'arginase' ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio--After debuting the world's first solar air battery last fall, researchers at The Ohio State University have now reached a new milestone. In the Journal of the American Chemical Society, they report that their patent-pending design--which combines a solar cell and a battery into a single device--now achieves a 20 percent energy savings over traditional lithium-iodine batteries. The 20 percent comes from sunlight, which is captured by a unique solar panel on top of the battery, explained Yiying Wu, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Ohio State. The ...

CLAREMONT, Calif. -- Conventional theories used by economists for the past 150 years to explain how societies buy, sell, and trade goods and services may be able to unlock mysteries about the behavior of microbial life on earth, according to a study by researchers from Claremont Graduate University, Boston University, and Columbia University. The findings, published July 29 in the open access journal PLOS ONE, provide new insight into the behavior of the planet's oldest and tiniest life forms, and also create a new framework for examining larger questions about biological ...

Resettlement projects in the Amazon are driving severe tropical deforestation - according to new research from the University of East Anglia and Câmara dos Deputados (the Brazilian Lower House). Widely hailed as a socially responsible and 'innocuous' strategy of land redistribution, agrarian reform settlements have been created throughout the Brazilian Amazon since the early 1970s at an unprecedented scale. But a study published today in PLOS ONE reveals that these farmer resettlement projects are far from environmentally friendly or socio-economically beneficial. ...

Tempe, Ariz. -- When it comes to vaccinating their babies, bees don't have a choice -- they naturally immunize their offspring against specific diseases found in their environments. And now for the first time, scientists have discovered how they do it. Researchers from Arizona State University, University of Helsinki, University of Jyväskylä and Norwegian University of Life Sciences made the discovery after studying a bee blood protein called vitellogenin. The scientists found that this protein plays a critical, but previously unknown role in providing bee babies ...

Precise targeting biological molecules, such as cancer cells, for treatment is a challenge, due to their sheer size. Now ,Taiwanese scientists have proposed an advanced solution, based on a novel combination of previously used techniques, which can potentially be applied to thermal cancer therapy. Pei-Chang Tsai from the Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, at the Academia Sinica, Taipei, and colleagues just published in EPJ QT an improved sensing technique for nanometre-scale heating and temperature sensing. Using a chemical method to attach gold nanorods to the ...

New research in mice shows that two commonly used gout medications, which target uric acid and adenosine triphosphate, may offer protection from alcohol-induced liver disease and inflammation. These findings suggest that clinical trials in humans with alcoholic liver disease should be considered. The report appears in the August 2015 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology. "This study should ultimately help patients with alcoholic liver disease to prevent and/or treat acute episodes of alcoholic hepatitis, a potentially lethal condition," said Gyongyi Szabo, M.D., ...

New research by scientists at the University of York has given tea and coffee drinkers new information about why their favourite drinks taste as they do. The study led by Dr Seishi Shimizu, of the York Structural Biology Laboratory in the University's Department of Chemistry, shows that sugar has an important effect in reducing the bitterness of tea and coffee, not just by masking it but by influencing the fundamental chemistry. The research published in Food and Function reveals new insights into the way in which caffeine, sugar and water interact at the molecular ...

While all human organs undergo normal, chronological aging, human skin undergoes an additional type of aging because of its direct contact with the environment. The environmental factor that ages human skin more than any other is UV radiation (UVR) from the sun, a process is called photoaging. Unlike chronological aging, which occurs exclusively with the passage of time, photoaging occurs when skin is repeatedly exposed to UV radiation from the sun. Over time, the sun's ultraviolet (UV) light damages the fibers in the skin called elastin. When these fibers break down, ...

A synthetic membrane that self assembles and is easily produced may lead to better gas separation, water purification, drug delivery and DNA recognition, according to an international team of researchers. This biomimetic membrane is composed of lipids -- fat molecules -- and protein-appended molecules that form water channels that transfer water at the rate of natural membranes, and self-assembles into 2-dimensional structures with parallel channels. "Nature does things very efficiently and transport proteins are amazing machines present in biological membranes," said ...

Concerns about perfectionism can sabotage success at work, school or on the playing field, leading to stress, burnout and potential health problems, according to new research published by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. In the first meta-analysis of the relationship between perfectionism and burnout, researchers analyzed the findings from 43 previous studies conducted over the past 20 years. It turns out perfectionism isn't all bad. One aspect of perfectionism called "perfectionistic strivings" involves the setting of high personal standards and ...

(Boston)--A new way to detect - and perhaps treat - one of the deadliest types of breast cancer has been found. Led by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), the study appears online in Breast Cancer Research. Basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) is an aggressive form of breast cancer and is often referred to as "triple negative," which means it is not responsive to the common medical therapeutics. BLBC is more likely to metastasize - or spread to different areas of the body - quicker and earlier, and is associated with a poor prognosis. Women younger ...

Researchers at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA have found that a social skills program for high-functioning young adults with autism spectrum disorder significantly improved the participants' ability to engage with their peers. In the study, the largest randomized controlled trial to show improved social functioning in young adults with autism, the participants' advances continued to be seen 16 weeks after the program's conclusion, and were even augmented by other improvements such as increased empathy and greater responsibility. The ...