Brain

Scientists at the University of Sheffield believe decision making mechanisms in the human brain could mirror how swarms of bees choose new nest sites.

Striking similarities have been found in decision making systems between humans and insects in the past but now researchers believe that bees could teach us about how our brains work.

A study on the geographic mobility of registered nurses (RNs) recently published in the December Health Affairs magazine suggests that the profession's relative lack of mobility has serious implications for access to health care for people in rural areas.

People with a certain form of inherited hearing loss have increased sensitivity to low frequency vibration, according to a study by Professor Thomas Jentsch of the Leibniz-Institut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP)/Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and Professor Gary Lewin (MDC), conducted in cooperation with clinicians from Madrid, Spain and Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

PHILADELPHIA – A research team led by Nancy Speck, PhD, professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has discovered a molecular marker for the immediate precursors of hematopoietic (blood) stem cells (HSCs) in the developing embryo, which provides much-needed insights for making these cells from engineered precursors.

(Washington, DC) – A new study of how compound word formation is influenced by subtle forms of linguistic pressure demonstrates that words which "sound better" to the speakers of a language have a higher chance of being created, suggesting that, like biological organisms, words are subject to selection pressures that play a role in deciding which words become part of a language over time.

Our senses of sight and hearing work closely together, perhaps more than people realize, a new UCLA psychology study shows.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Humble leaders are more effective and better liked, according to a study forthcoming in the Academy of Management Journal.

"Leaders of all ranks view admitting mistakes, spotlighting follower strengths and modeling teachability as being at the core of humble leadership," says Bradley Owens, assistant professor of organization and human resources at the University at Buffalo School of Management. "And they view these three behaviors as being powerful predictors of their own as well as the organization's growth."

The first evidence of empathy-driven helping behavior in rodents has been observed in laboratory rats that repeatedly free companions from a restraint, according to a new study by University of Chicago neuroscientists.

The observation, published today in Science, places the origin of pro-social helping behavior earlier in the evolutionary tree than previously thought. Though empathetic behavior has been observed anecdotally in non-human primates and other wild species, the concept had not previously been observed in rodents in a laboratory setting.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – House-hunting is full of decisions, for us and honey bees. One early decision we both face is where to live. P. Kirk Visscher at the University of California, Riverside, often in collaboration with Thomas Seeley at Cornell University, NY, has long been studying how honey bees make these decisions.

PULLMAN, Wash.—The emotions of rats and mice and the mental infrastructure behind them promise to illuminate the nature of human emotions, including empathy and nurturance, a Washington State University neuroscientist writes in this Friday's issue of the journal Science.

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Swarms of bees and brains made up of neurons make decisions using strikingly similar mechanisms, says a new study in the Dec. 9 issue of Science.

In previous work, Cornell University biologist Thomas Seeley clarified how scout bees in a honeybee swarm perform "waggle dances" to prompt other scout bees to inspect a promising site that has been found.

HOUSTON – (Dec. 8, 2011) - When the activity of a molecule that is normally elevated during viral infections is inhibited in the brain, mice learn and remember better, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine reported in a recent article in the journal Cell.

As London taxi drivers in training are busy learning how to navigate the city's thousands of streets and places of interest over a period of years, the experience actually changes the very structure of their brains, according to a report published online on December 8 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication.

The findings add to evidence that learning changes the adult brain and should come as encouraging news for life-long learning and also rehabilitation after brain injury, says Eleanor Maguire of University College London.

Acquiring 'the Knowledge' – the complex layout of central London's 25,000 streets and thousands of places of interest – causes structural changes in the brain and changes to memory in the capital's taxi drivers, new research funded by the Wellcome Trust has shown.

The study, published today in the journal Current Biology, supports the increasing evidence that even in adult life, learning can change the structure of the brain, offering encouragement for life-long learning and the potential for rehabilitation after brain damage.

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