Culture
DURHAM, N.C. -- A typical child plays many roles, such as friend, neighbor, son or daughter. Simply reminding children of that fact can lead to better problem-solving and more flexible thinking, finds new research from Duke University.
"This is some of the first research on reminding kids about their multi-faceted selves," said lead author Sarah Gaither, an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke.
"Such reminders boost their problem-solving skills and how flexibly they see their social worlds - all from a simple mindset switch."
Carolyn "Lindy" McBride is studying a question that haunts every summer gathering: How and why are mosquitoes attracted to humans?
Few animals specialize as thoroughly as the mosquitoes that carry diseases like Zika, malaria and dengue fever.
When governments and institutions deploy epidemic forecast models when facing an outbreak, they sometimes fail to factor in human behavior and over-allocate precious resources as a result. Thanks to new research authored by a Texas A&M University engineering professor, that may no longer be the case.
Most people know that regular exercise is good for your health. New research shows it may make you smarter, too.
Neuroscientists at OHSU in Portland, Oregon, working with mice, have discovered that a short burst of exercise directly boosts the function of a gene that increases connections between neurons in the hippocampus, the region of the brain associated with learning and memory.
The research is published online in the journal eLife.
Scientists working on unravelling the mysteries of star cluster formation have found an innovative way of sharing their work with the general public. Taking inspiration from a 19th century magic trick, researchers from the University of Leeds have developed 3D holograms that allow people to watch massive stars forming before their eyes.
Dr Anne Buckner will be demonstrating the holograms at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting in Lancaster on 1- 4 July 2019.
'Back to school asthma'--a seasonal peak in cases associated with the start of the school year in September--is linked to a tripling in the rate of family doctor (GP) appointments across England, reveals research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.
The phenomenon seems to particularly affect the under 5s and boys, national monitoring data show.
UK politicians (MPs) at Westminster are more likely to have mental health issues than either the general public or other people in comparable professions/managerial posts, suggest the responses to a survey of parliamentarians, published in the online journal BMJ Open.
What's more, awareness of confidential parliamentary support services or how to access them is low, as is a willingness to open up about their mental health to either appointed party officials (Whips) or fellow MPs, the responses indicate.
A consensus is building that air pollution can cause neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, but how fine, sooty particles cause problems in the brain is still an unanswered question. Now a team of Penn State researchers, using mice, have found a possible way, but more research is still needed.
The researchers looked at how cerebrospinal fluid, the liquid that flows around the brain and spinal cord, flows out through the nose, and what happens when the flow of fluid is stopped.
City College of New York-led researchers have published a breakthrough in understanding previously unknown inner workings related to the lateralization of speech processing in the brain. Their study, headed by biologist Hysell V. Oviedo of CCNY's Division of Science and published in the journal "Nature Communications," could shine a light on miswiring of brain circuits in neurodevelopmental communication disorders.
People with both physical illnesses and mental disorders visit the emergency department more frequently than people with multiple physical illnesses or mental illness alone, according to a study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
Main Findings:
Partnerships between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local police departments designed to enforce immigration laws reduced the number of Hispanic students in U.S. public schools in adopting counties by 10 percent after two years.
Partnerships enacted during 2000 to 2011 displaced about 320,000 Hispanic students, with the impact concentrated among elementary school students, most of whom were likely born in the United States.
Over one billion people, including 880 million children, are infected with intestinal nematode worms, such as roundworms, hookworms and tapeworms, according to the World Health Organization. The infections are especially common in the developing world due to a lack of clean water and sanitation. If left untreated, they can leave a lasting mark on health and can also be lethal.
Baking a cake from scratch is a task deemed difficult for many. Constructing an artificial cell-like system from scratch, well that's another story.
"Synthesizing cells from scratch is of fundamental importance to understand what life is," said Prof. Yohei Yokobayashi, leader of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) Nucleic Acid Chemistry and Engineering Unit.
River dikes are small dams made of earth that are used to hold in the water of the course of a river, without affecting the course too much. However, when the water exceeds a certain level due to flooding, the dike breaks, causing disasters that can be devastating for human life or cause huge financial losses.
Matter surrounds us day and night in all its forms - trees, houses, furniture, and even the air we breathe. But, according to physicists, the visible matter familiar to us may only account for approximately 20 percent of all material in the universe. According to the current theory, as much as 80 percent may be dark matter. This claim is based on several observations, one of which is that stars and galaxies rotate much faster than they would if there were only 'normal' matter present in the universe.
Dark matter could be made of axions