Brain

Getting some sleep in between study sessions may make it easier to recall what you studied and relearn what you've forgotten, even 6 months later, according to new findings from Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

SEATTLE -- Youth cyberbullying is dramatically more likely to occur between current or former friends and dating partners than between students who were never friends or in a romantic relationship, suggests a new study that will be presented at the 111th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA).

SEATTLE -- While studying the rapid growth of the therapeutic boarding school industry, Jessica A. Pfaffendorf observed that troubled young men in at least one program most often displayed a type of "hybrid masculinity."

This observation -- young men incorporating more feminine behaviors in their social interactions while at boarding school -- presented a notable incongruence.

By figuring out how to preserve specimens in the remote locations in which they are found - locations almost completely opposite those of a controlled laboratory or 21st century urban area - researchers from The University of Texas at El Paso have given science one more way to study a wide range of creatures, particularly those threatened by global climate change.

Cold Spring Harbor, NY - Neuroscientists today publish in Neuron details of a revolutionary new way of mapping the brain at the resolution of individual neurons, which they have successfully demonstrated in the mouse brain.

BETHESDA, MD--There are as many motives as there are undergraduates taking introductory science courses, but if you look closely at groups of freshmen science students such as those from underrepresented minority (URM) backgrounds, you can see striking motivational differences across and within these groups. That's a major finding in a new survey of 249 freshmen by psychology researchers in California.

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Going with the flow might appear easier than sticking up for yourself when confronted with unanimous disagreement.

But a new study from the University at Buffalo that assessed bodily responses suggests that standing up for your beliefs, expressing your opinions and demonstrating your core values can be a positive psychological experience.

There can be a clear divergence between what people do and say and how they feel, according to Mark Seery, an associate professor in UB's Department of Psychology.

A fundamental question in neuroscience is how neuronal networks and circuits give rise to brain function, as disruptions in these connections can lead to mental illness and brain disorders.

With the development of optogenetics, researchers can study the function of specific neurons by turning them on and off with light under various conditions.

Translating the rules governing the functional organization of neural circuits requires knowledge of the synaptic connections among identified classes of neurons as well as the strength and dynamics of these connections.

As human language and birdsong are both acquired through vocal practice, different patterns emerge among individuals. These distinctions play an important role in communication and identification. Until now, however, it was unclear how individual birds learned slightly different vocal patterns.

Zika infection kills off neural stem cells in adult mice bred to be vulnerable to the virus, researchers at the Rockefeller University and the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology report August 18 in Cell Stem Cell. It has yet to be studied whether the death of these cells has any short or long-term effects in the rodents.

New Haven, Conn.-- In a new study, Yale researchers demonstrate Zika virus infection of cells derived from human placentas. The research provides insight into how Zika virus may be transmitted from expectant mother to fetus, resulting in infection of the fetal brain.

The study was published online Aug. 18 in JCI Insight.

By combining satellite data and sophisticated machine learning, researchers have developed a technique to estimate household consumption and income. Such data is particularly difficult to obtain in poorer countries, yet it is critical for informing research and policy, and for efforts including resource allocation and targeted intervention in these developing nations. The African continent provides a particularly striking example of limited insights into economic wellbeing.

Concerns over the Zika virus have focused on pregnant women due to mounting evidence that it causes brain abnormalities in developing fetuses. However, new research in mice from scientists at The Rockefeller University and La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology suggests that certain adult brain cells may be vulnerable to infection as well.

One of the biggest challenges in providing relief to people living in poverty is locating them. The availability of accurate and reliable information on the location of impoverished zones is surprisingly lacking for much of the world, particularly on the African continent. Aid groups and other international organizations often fill in the gaps with door-to-door surveys, but these can be expensive and time-consuming to conduct.

Kyoto, Japan -- Termites not only raid people's homes, but also the humble abodes of other happy termite couples.

In new research, Kyoto University scientists have found that male Japanese termites form homosexual couples when no females are around -- and when the chance arises, they take over a heterosexual couple's nest and kill the male so that one of them can mate with the now spouseless female. The research team's observations support a theory that homosexual couplings in invertebrates have evolutionary advantages.