Fear of math can activate regions of the brain linked with the experience of physical pain and visceral threat detection, according to research published Oct 31 by Ian Lyons and colleagues at the University of Chicago in the open access journal PLOS ONE. The researchers found that in individuals who experience high levels of anxiety when facing math tasks, the anticipation of math increases activity in regions of the brain associated with the physical sensation of pain. The higher an individual's math anxiety, the more such neural activity was increased. According ...

Children as young as five are generous when others are aware of their actions, but antisocial when sharing with a recipient who can't see them, according to research published Oct. 31 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Kristin Lyn Leimgruber and colleagues from Yale University. Adults are more likely to behave in ways that enhance their reputation when they are being watched or their actions are likely to be made public than when they are anonymous, but this study examines the origins of such behavior in young children for the first time. For their study, the researchers ...

When there is little water available for plants to grow, their roots form alliances with soil microbes that can promote plant growth even under water-limiting conditions, according to research published Oct. 31 by Daniele Daffonchio and colleagues from the University of Milan, Italy in the open access journal PLOS ONE. Symbiotic relationships between plants and soil microbial communities are critical to the health of plants. Though the effects of drought on plants are well-known, little is known about how lack of water affects the bacteria around plant roots. In this ...

A large proportion of aspen in the western U.S. sport an extra set of chromosomes in their cells, a phenomenon termed triploidy, according to new research published Oct. 31 in the open access journal PLoS ONE by Karen Mock from Utah State University and colleagues at several other institutions. In some areas of southern Utah and Colorado, over 60% of aspen trees are triploid. Though triploid trees are not uncommon, this genetic anomaly can cause altered physical traits including sterility or reduced fertility. Although a triploid aspen clone may reproduce with root ...

In one of the largest studies of its kind, researchers have identified 71 genetic regions newly associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), increasing the total number discovered to date to 163. This new information reveals that there is a vast amount of genetic overlap between Crohn's disease and Ulcerative colitis (the two most common subtypes of IBD), suggesting that they share common biological pathways. In addition, analyzing these regions reveals that IBD may result from the body's immune response over-reacting, the result of a long-term evolutionary balancing ...

Australia's giant eucalyptus trees are the tallest flowering plants on earth, yet their unique relationship with fire makes them a huge puzzle for ecologists. Now the first global assessment of these giants, published in New Phytologist, seeks to end a century of debate over the species' classification, a debate which may determine their future. Gigantic trees are as rare as they are awe inspiring. Of the 100,000 global tree species only 50, less than 0.005%, reach over 70 meters in height. While many of these giants live in Pacific North America, Borneo and similar habitats, ...

A drug which 'reboots' a person's immune system has been shown to be an effective treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients who have already failed to respond to the first drug with which they were treated (a 'first-line' therapy), as well as affected individuals who were previously untreated. The results of these two phase III clinical trials were published today in the journal The Lancet. The new studies, sponsored by Genzyme (a Sanofi company) and Bayer Schering Pharma, showed that alemtuzumab significantly reduces the number of attacks (or relapses) experienced ...

Halving the amount of nitrogen fertiliser used in certain areas of China would substantially decrease greenhouse gas emissions without affecting crop productivity and the area's natural carbon sink. This is according to a new study, published today, 1 November, in IOP Publishing's Environmental Research Letters, which showed that a 60 per cent reduction in fertiliser use would significantly reduce emissions from areas that are, anyway, "over-fertilised", such as the North China Plain and middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Basin. China is currently tasked ...

A landmark project that has sequenced 1,092 human genomes from individuals around the world will help researchers to interpret the genetic changes in people with disease. The first study to break the '1000 genomes barrier' will enable scientists to begin to examine genetic variations at the scale of the populations of individual countries, as well as guiding them in their search for the rare genetic variations related to many diseases. The vast majority of genetic variation is shared with populations around the world but it is thought that a lot of the contribution ...

When people worry about math, the brain feels the pain Mathematics anxiety can prompt a response in the brain similar to when a person experiences physical pain, according to new research at the University of Chicago. Using brain scans, scholars determined that the brain areas active when highly math-anxious people prepare to do math overlap with the same brain areas that register the threat of bodily harm—and in some cases, physical pain. "For someone who has math anxiety, the anticipation of doing math prompts a similar brain reaction as when they experience pain—say, ...

Patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes feel "left in the dark" and unsure what they can and can't eat whilst sometimes waiting months to receive diabetes education, according to a new study published online today in the journal Primary Health Care Research & Development (1). The research carried out by Dr Michelle McKinley and colleagues at Queen's University Belfast, explored the views of people recently diagnosed with diabetes and discovered that whilst waiting for a referral to a diabetes education programme, they received little or no information about what to ...

Short-term alcohol intake can increase the activity of functional connections across the human brain when it is at rest, according to research published Oct 31 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Panagiotis Bamidis and colleagues from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Previous studies have shown that alcohol intake increases transmission of signals by the neurotransmitter GABA, present in 40% of the connections between nerve cells in the brain. Here, the researchers monitored resting brain activity in healthy social drinkers who had consumed one drink, ...

New Haven, Conn. — A Yale-led scientific team has produced the most comprehensive family tree for birds to date, connecting all living bird species — nearly 10,000 in total — and revealing surprising new details about their evolutionary history and its geographic context. Analysis of the family tree shows when and where birds diversified — and that birds' diversification rate has increased over the last 50 million years, challenging the conventional wisdom of biodiversity experts. "It's the first time that we have — for such a large group of species and with such a ...

The world's first family tree linking all living bids and revealing when and where they evolved and diversified since dinosaurs walked the earth has been created by scientists from the University of Sheffield. Experts used the family tree to map out where the almost 10,000 species of birds live to show where the most diversification has taken place in the world. Researchers, from the University of Sheffield, Yale University, University of Tasmania and Simon Fraser University, say the creation of new species has speeded-up over the last 50 million years. Surprisingly, ...

Uncontrolled high blood pressure damages the brain's structure and function as early as young middle-age, and even the brains of middle-aged people who clinically would not be considered to have hypertension have evidence of silent structural brain damage, a study led by researchers at UC Davis has found. The investigation found accelerated brain aging among hypertensive and prehypertensive individuals in their 40s, including damage to the structural integrity of the brain's white matter and the volume of its gray matter, suggesting that vascular brain injury "develops ...

Like a movie star constantly retouching her makeup, the protoplanet Vesta is continually stirring its outermost layer and presenting a young face. New data from NASA's Dawn mission show that a common form of weathering that affects many airless bodies like Vesta in the inner solar system, including the moon, surprisingly doesn't age the protoplanet's outermost layer. The data also indicate that carbon-rich asteroids have been splattering dark material on Vesta's surface over a long span of the body's history. The findings are described in two papers published ...

Cambridge, Mass. - October 31, 2012 - Scientists have created new kinds of particles, 1/100th the diameter of a human hair, that spontaneously assemble themselves into structures resembling molecules made from atoms. These new particles come together, or "self-assemble," to form structures in patterns that were previously impossible to make and hold promise for manufacturing advanced optical materials and ceramics. The method, described in the latest issue of the journal Nature, was developed by a team of chemists, chemical engineers, and physicists at New York University ...

Using cutting-edge virtual reality technology, researchers have 'beamed' a person into a rat facility allowing the rat and human to interact with each other on the same scale. Published today in PLOS ONE, the research enables the rat to interact with a rat-sized robot controlled by a human participant in a different location. At the same time, the human participant (who is in a virtual environment) interacts with a human-sized avatar that is controlled by the movements of the distant rat. The authors hope the new technology will be used to study animal behaviour in ...

By decoding the genomes of more than 1,000 people whose homelands stretch from Africa and Asia to Europe and the Americas, scientists have compiled the largest and most detailed catalog yet of human genetic variation. The massive resource will help medical researchers find the genetic roots of rare and common diseases in populations worldwide. The 1000 Genomes Project involved some 200 scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and other institutions. Results detailing the DNA variations of individuals from 14 ethnic groups are published Oct. ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Oct. 31, 2012 -- It's no secret that obesity is a major problem in America. More than one-third of adults and one-sixth of children are obese and it is one of the leading causes of preventable death. The costs associated with obesity are estimated at $99 million annually, comparable to the economic toll of cigarette smoking. Despite all this, few U.S. medical schools are providing adequate, effective training on how to address weight issues in obese patients, according to researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. "Medical students are surrounded ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The surface of the giant asteroid Vesta is weathering in a way that appears to be completely different from any other asteroid yet visited, according to new data recorded by NASA's Dawn spacecraft. This new type of space weathering suggests that there's something about Vesta — perhaps its mineral composition or its position in the solar system — that makes its surface environment fundamentally different from other asteroids studied thus far. The new data are presented in a paper published Nov. 1, 2012, in the journal Nature. Space ...

Magnetically speaking, photons are the mavericks of the engineering world. Lacking electrical charge, they are free to run even in the most intense magnetic fields. But all that may soon change. In a paper published in Nature Photonics, an interdisciplinary team from Stanford University reports that it has created a device that tames the flow of photons with synthetic magnetism. The process breaks a key law of physics known as the time-reversal symmetry of light and could yield an entirely new class of devices that use light instead of electricity for applications ranging ...

PORTLAND, Ore. — Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have discovered that blocking a certain enzyme in the brain can help repair the brain damage associated with multiple sclerosis and a range of other neurological disorders. The discovery could have major implications for multiple sclerosis, complications from premature birth and other disorders and diseases caused by demyelination – a process where the insulation-like sheath surrounding nerve cells in the brain becomes damaged or destroyed. Demyelination disrupts the ability of nerve cells to communicate ...

The 1000 Genomes Project today presents a map of normal human genetic variation – everything from tiny changes in the genetic code to major alterations in our chromosomes. In a DNA version of 'spot-the-difference', EMBL scientists and their colleagues studied the genomes of 1092 healthy people from Europe, the Americas and East Asia, systematically tracking what makes us different from each other. Their results, published in Nature, open new approaches for research on the genetic causes of disease. "The 1000 Genomes Project has achieved something truly exceptional in ...

AUSTIN, Texas — Since the age of dinosaurs, most species of day-active mammals have retained the imprint of nocturnal life in their eye structures. Humans and other anthropoid primates, such as monkeys and apes, are the only groups that deviate from this pattern, according to a new study from The University of Texas at Austin and Midwestern University. The findings, published in a forthcoming issue of Proceedings of the Royal Society B, are the first to provide a large-scale body of evidence for the "nocturnal bottleneck theory," which suggests that mammalian sensory ...