For the first time, scientists at King's College London have identified a gene linking the thickness of the grey matter in the brain to intelligence. The study is published today in Molecular Psychiatry and may help scientists understand biological mechanisms behind some forms of intellectual impairment. The researchers looked at the cerebral cortex, the outermost layer of the human brain. It is known as 'grey matter' and plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language and consciousness. Previous studies have shown that the thickness of ...

New research has revealed a previously unknown mechanism in the body which regulates a hormone that is crucial for motivation, stress responses and control of blood pressure, pain and appetite. The breakthrough could be used to design drugs to help fight health problems connected with these functions in the future. Researchers at the University of Bristol and University College London found that lactate – essentially lactic acid – causes cells in the brain to release more noradrenaline (norepinephrine in US English), a hormone and neurotransmitter which is fundamental ...

February 11, 2014 Kootenay National Park, British Columbia -- Yoho National Park's 505-million-year-old Burgess Shale – home to some of the planet's earliest animals, including a very primitive human relative – is one of the world's most important fossil sites. Now, more than a century after its discovery, a compelling sequel has been unearthed: 42 kilometres away in Kootenay National Park, a new Burgess Shale fossil site has been located that appears to equal the importance of the original discovery, and may one day even surpass it. The find was made in the summer of ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. — It's not necessarily voters who should be blamed for the lack of minorities in state legislatures, but instead the two major political parties for not recruiting enough candidates, indicates new research by a Michigan State University scholar. Eric Gonzalez Juenke analyzed nearly 10,000 statehouse elections in 2000 and 2010 and found Latino candidates were on the ballot just 5 percent of the time. But when Latinos did run for office, they won just as often as their white counterparts – even in districts where most voters were white. Juenke's other ...

Forest management is based on recommendations that are supposed to maximize economic revenues. However, in 40% of cases a better economic result would be achieved by neglecting some of the recommendations. This would also greatly benefit biodiversity. These results were obtained by a research group lead by Professor Mikko Mönkkönen at the University Jyväskylä. The group studied a production forest landscape encompassing 68 square kilometers of land and more than 30,000 forest stands in Central Finland. The research project aimed at revealing the potential of a forest ...

Even a moderate weight reduction can prevent the progression of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), and even cure it, according to a 4-year Finish follow-up study published recently in Sleep Medicine. The study focused on the effects of weight loss on OSA and demonstrated, for the first time, that a sustained weight loss of just 5% was enough to prevent the disease from worsening and even cure it in a long-term follow-up. Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) has become a major burden for our health care systems over the last years. Although it is one of the most increasingly prevalent ...

Fashion magazines come pre-loaded with scratch-and-sniff panels for perfume and aftershave, but what about advertisements for foods like chocolate chip cookies and fresh-baked bread? According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, when food advertisements combine a photo of food with an "imagined odor," consumers both salivate more for the item and then consume it in larger quantities. "We wondered whether both real and imagined food smells would enhance consumer desire for that product. Does the concept of smelling food make people salivate more and increase ...

Complex heritable traits are not only determined by changes in the DNA sequence. Scientists from the University of Groningen Bioinformatics Centre, together with their French colleagues, have shown that epigenetic marks can affect traits such as flowering time and architecture in plants. Furthermore, these marks are passed on for many generations in a stable manner. Their results were published in Science Express on Thursday, 6 February 2014. It seems that a revision of Genetics textbooks is now in order. We've all been taught that DNA is the physical foundation of heredity. ...

This news release is available in German. Whenever a new material is discovered, scientists are eager to find out whether or not it can be superconducting. This applies particularly to the wonder material graphene. Now, an international team around researchers at the University of Vienna unveiled the superconducting pairing mechanism in Calcium doped graphene using the ARPES method. Their results are published in the reputed journal Nature Communications. Superconducting materials exhibit an invaluable feature when cooled below a critical temperature – they allow ...

Low pH in tumours counteracts the desired effect of the drug chloroquine, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. The results, which are published in the journal Autophagy, might explain possible lack of efficacy of chloroquine in clinical studies. Chloroquine, a widely used antimalaria drug, is currently under investigation in clinical trials on cancer patients. It is the ability of chloroquine to inhibit autophagy in tumour cells that has piqued researchers' interest. Autophagy is a homeostatic process by which cells eat parts of themselves, ...

Recent decades may have been the wettest in 3,500 years in North East Tibet – according to climate researchers at the University of East Anglia (UK) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Lanzhou, China). Researchers looked at 3,500-year-long tree ring records from North East Tibet to estimate annual precipitation. They found that recent decades have likely been the wettest on record in this semi-arid region. The precipitation records have been reconstructed using sub-fossil, archaeological and living juniper tree samples from the north-eastern Tibetan Plateau. They reveal ...

When natural disaster strikes, calls for help are broadcast on television and across the Internet. Despite being exposed to the needs of widespread relief organizations, only a small percentage of us actually follow through by making a financial contribution. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, the more connected we feel with the people needing our help, the more likely we are to donate. "Our thought is that people who act more independently might not necessarily be more benevolent than people who are more connected to others within their own ...

Physicists at the University of Basel have observed a spontaneous magnetic order of electron and nuclear spins in a quantum wire at temperatures of 0.1 kelvin. In the past, this was possible only at much lower temperatures, typically in the microkelvin range. The coupling of nuclei and electrons creates a new state of matter whereby a nuclear spin order arises at a much higher temperature. The results are consistent with a theoretical model developed in Basel a few years ago, as reported by the researchers in the scientific journal Physical Review Letters. The researchers, ...

From wearing a suit to a wedding to donning a tie for a job interview, American society has established unspoken rules for dress codes and proper etiquette. But there's always that one guy who wears the bright socks or the obnoxious bow tie. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, this type of behavior has the potential to increase a person's perceived success. "We proposed that, under certain conditions, nonconforming behaviors can be more beneficial to someone than simply trying to fit in. In other words, when it looks deliberate, a person can ...

Make the honor roll, go for the promotion, or try the tastiest entrée on the menu. In almost every facet of our culture, we are told to "go for the gold." So, why settle for "good enough" when "something better" is within reach? According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, constantly striving for the best may be magnifying negative feelings like regret and dissatisfaction in other parts of our daily lives. "We found that individuals who have a 'must have the best' mindset experience more regret and are less satisfied with the products they purchase or ...

New Rochelle, NY, February 11, 2013—When the time comes for postmenopausal women to discontinue hormone therapy (HT), little is known about the best way to do so with minimal symptoms. A new study that explores optimal approaches to manage symptoms such as trouble sleeping, mood swings, and depression on discontinuation of HT is published in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Women's Health website at http://www.liebertpub.com/jwh. Many women will try and fail ...

Reviewing over 20 years of neuroscience research into sex differences in brain structure, a Cambridge University team has conducted the first meta-analysis of the evidence, published this week in the prestigious journal Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. The team, led by doctoral candidate Amber Ruigrok and Professors John Suckling and Simon Baron-Cohen in the Department of Psychiatry, performed a quantitative review of the brain imaging literature testing overall sex differences in total and regional brain volumes. They searched all articles published between ...

As human beings, we expend a great deal of time, money, and energy in the pursuit of happiness. From exotic travel to simply spending time with our grandchildren, the things that make us happy change as we age. A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research explores the role of age on the happiness we receive from both the ordinary and the extraordinary experiences in our lives. "We examine how age—and the perceived amount of time left in life—impacts the happiness people enjoy from both extraordinary and ordinary life experiences," write authors Amit Bhattacharjee ...

A University of York scientist's experience in seeing his partner in hospital recovering from a double lung transplant prompted him to design and synthesise new chemical agents that could revolutionise post-operative patient care. Professor Dave Smith, of the University's Department of Chemistry, led an international team which developed the agents that bind and potentially remove the anti-coagulant heparin. Professor Smith says: 'I was sitting at my husband Sam's bedside while he recovered from a double lung transplant when the idea first came to me. I spent a long ...

Within three years of being released from jail, two out of every three inmates in the US wind up behind bars again — a problem that contributes to the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. New research suggests that the degree to which inmates' express guilt or shame may provide an indicator of how likely they are to re-offend. The findings show that inmates who feel guilt about specific behaviors are more likely to stay out of jail later on, whereas those that are inclined to feel shame about the self might not. This research is published in Psychological ...

From keeping up a daily exercise routine to eating healthy foods and avoiding impulse purchases, self-control is hard work. Ironically, when it comes to making decisions about our bodies, a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research finds we make better health care decisions when we're feeling tired and run down. "We proposed that people are more motivated to engage in healthful behavior when they are depleted and perceive their safety to be at stake," write authors Monika Lisjak (Erasmus University) and Angela Y. Lee (Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University). ...

New research looking at the biological process involved in breast cancer development has strengthened the argument for a potential link between alcohol consumption and the disease. Scientists from The University of Manchester – part of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre – and the University of Salford looked at a particular enzyme, a biological molecule that accelerates chemical reactions - known as CYP2E1. Their findings offer a possible target to improve outcomes for patients in the later stages of the disease. Dr Costas Demonacos, based at The University's ...

Reality television has turned the spotlight on to people with excessive behaviors like hoarding and stockpiling. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, controlling the chaotic environment may be one of the biggest factors in helping people stop. "We propose that people in a disorganized environment experience a threat to their sense of personal control—and being surrounded by chaos ultimately impairs their ability to perform other tasks requiring 'brain' power," write authors Boyoun (Grace) Chae (University of British Columbia) and Rui (Juliet) ...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2014—To improve their chances of success, in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics need to assess the viability of the sperm they use. Now doctors may soon have a new technique to help them sort the good sperm cells from the less viable ones: a tracking system, developed by a team of researchers from four European institutions, that takes 3-D movies of living sperm. In addition to showing the sperm's movement and behavior in real time, the novel method simultaneously provides detailed 3-D imaging of the sperm's form and structure to detect potential infertility-causing ...

After decades of fretting about population explosion, scientists are pointing to a long-term hidden global menace. The household. More specifically, the household explosion. In this week's Early Online edition of Population and Environment, Jianguo "Jack" Liu, director of the Michigan State University Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, and former students Mason Bradbury and Nils Peterson present the first long-term historical look at global shifts in how people live. One large household sheltering many people is giving way across the world to households ...