Scientific American

Old and New Neurons Trade Roles to Aid Memory

Sat, 26 May 2012 10:30:00 EST

For decades researchers have known that our ability to remember everyday experiences depends on a slender belt of brain tissue called the hippocampus. Basic memory functions, such as forming new memories and recalling old ones, were thought to be performed along this belt by different sets of neurons. Now findings suggest that the same neurons in fact perform both these very different functions, changing from one role to another as they age.

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Questions Surround Biosecurity Oversight of Mutant Bird Flu

Sat, 26 May 2012 08:00:00 EST

From Nature magazine

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Recommended: Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet

Fri, 25 May 2012 12:00:00 EST

Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet [More]

MIND Reviews: Connectome

Fri, 25 May 2012 12:00:00 EST

Connectome: How the Brain’s Wiring Makes Us Who We Are [More]

Would You Like a Side of Dirt with That?

Fri, 25 May 2012 07:00:00 EST

In the fall of 2009 a group of biology students at Tufts University sat down together and ate some dirt. They ground up small clay tablets and swallowed the powder to find out, firsthand, what clay tastes like. This unusual taste test was part of a Darwinian medicine class taught by one of us (Starks). The students were studying the evolution of geophagia--the practice of eating dirt, especially claylike soils, which is something animals and people have been doing for millennia.

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Cuttlefish Use Ancient Ink Formula

Fri, 25 May 2012 05:00:08 EST

Tens of millions of years ago, cephalopods were hiding from their enemies in clouds of ink. And it turns out that cuttlefish today produce ink that’s almost identical.

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Dollars and Scents: The Chemistry of a Delicious Tomato

Thu, 24 May 2012 15:35:00 EST

The typical supermarket tomato: ripe red, firm to the touch, free of blemishes--and of flavor. Since at least the 1970s, U.S. consumers have lamented the beautiful but bland fruits that farmers breed not for taste, but rather for high yield and durability during shipping. Recently, organic farmers and foodies have championed the superior flavors of heirloom tomatoes --older varieties that come in an assortment of shapes, sizes and colors. In a new study, researchers took a close look at the chemical composition of both standard tomatoes and hundreds of different heirloom varieties, which they also fed to 170 volunteers in a taste test. Their new findings confirm what scientists have learned in recent years: a tomato's flavor depends not only on the balance of sugars and acids within the fruit, but also on subtle aromatic compounds--many of which are lacking in the modern supermarket tomato. In the future the researchers hope to work with seed companies and farmers to breed tomatoes that produce large quantities of flavorful fruits packed with aromatic compounds--a healthier solution than engineering super-sugary tomatoes. [More]

Eating Fat Makes Mouse Brain Want More

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:27:08 EST

If you could add cells anywhere in your body, you might pick your brain. More brain cells should make you smarter, right? Well, a new study shows that they might just make you fatter. Because animals that make new nerve cells in a brain region that controls hunger tend to pack on the pounds. The results appear in the journal Nature Neuroscience . [Daniel A. Lee et al., " Tanycytes of the hypothalamic median eminence form a diet-responsive neurogenic niche "]

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The Brain May Disassemble Itself in Sleep (preview)

Thu, 24 May 2012 07:04:00 EST

Compared with the hustle and bustle of waking life, sleep looks dull and unworkmanlike. Except for in its dreams, a sleeping brain doesn’t misbehave or find a job. It also doesn’t love, scheme, aspire or really do much we would be proud to take credit for. Yet during those quiet hours when our mind is on hold, our brain does the essential labor at the heart of all creative acts. It edits itself. And it may throw out a lot.

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Off the Clock: Disrupted Daily Rhythms Hinder Fertility in Mice

Wed, 23 May 2012 17:00:00 EST

“My biological clock is ticking.” The phrase typically pops up in movies about middle-aged women who want to start a family before menopause makes it impossible. But a new study published May 23 in PLoS ONE indicates that another clock may also be important for females trying to conceive: the one that regulates our waking and sleeping cycles.

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U.S. Government Sets Out Alzheimer's Plan

Wed, 23 May 2012 08:00:00 EST

From Nature magazine [More]

Optical Illusion Relieves Arthritis Pain

Wed, 23 May 2012 07:30:00 EST

Amputees who experience phantom limb pain can sometimes get relief from an optical illusion. This trick involves looking in a mirror at the reflection of a healthy limb from a certain angle, which causes it to appear where the missing limb should be. Seeing the limb move freely fools the brain into relieving the pain. Now a study suggests this technique might also work for arthritis pain.

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High-Ranking Baboons Heal Faster

Tue, 22 May 2012 23:01:08 EST

As any high school quarterback knows, a lofty social status comes with plenty of perks. Now a study of baboons finds that such status benefits may include better health. The study is in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . [Elizabeth A. Archie, Jeanne Altmann and Susan C. Alberts, " Social status predicts wound healing in wild baboons "]

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Can Soil Sensors Save Georgia Waterways from Drought?

Tue, 22 May 2012 16:31:00 EST

By June 15 gasoline-powered augers will have drilled 100 holes in the corn, cotton and peanut fields of the Lower Flint River Basin in southwest Georgia. Into the holes, scientists from the University of Georgia (U.G.A.) will slip half-meter-long PVC pipes filled with sensors for soil moisture and temperature topped with a flexible antenna that can be run over by a tractor and spring back into place. Over the course of the next two years, these sensors will continuously relay soil conditions from 20, 40 and 60 centimeters deep to a computer. Combined with more accurate weather forecasts , the data will help farmers decide where and when to use their irrigation systems.

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Common Scents: Plants Constantly Catch a Whiff of Their Neighbors' Perfume

Tue, 22 May 2012 15:40:00 EST

Adapted from What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses, by Daniel Chamovitz, by arrangement with Scientific American/Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, LLC (North America), One World (UK), Scribe (AUS/NZ), Kawade Shobo Shisha (Japan). Copyright © 2012 by Daniel Chamovitz. To learn more visit, books.scientificamerican.com . [More]

Rats Display Altruism

Tue, 22 May 2012 07:30:00 EST

Calling someone a rat may be complimentary. According to a study published in the December 9, 2011, issue of Science , rats can be surprisingly selfless.

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Which Nations Consume the Most Water?

Tue, 22 May 2012 07:00:00 EST

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A Fine Brine: New Desalination Technique Yields More Drinkable Water

Tue, 22 May 2012 06:00:00 EST

More than a third of the world already suffers from shortages of potable water --with a rise to 50 percent expected by 2025 . Desalination of seawater can help coastal communities can address local shortfalls, although the process is costly, and releasing leftover brine back to the ocean has environmental implications . Now a new system promises to produce more drinkable water with less salty effluent. [More]

Improved but Not Always Safe: Despite Global Efforts, More Than 1 Billion People Likely at Risk for Lack of Clean Water

Mon, 21 May 2012 13:00:00 EST

This spring the World Health Organization (WHO) celebrated the early completion the 2015 development goal of bringing improved drinking water to an additional two billion people since 1990.

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Anxiety May Hinder Your Sense of Danger

Mon, 21 May 2012 07:30:00 EST

Worrywarts, beware: all that fretting may be for naught. Anxiety has long been interpreted as a symptom of hyperawareness and sensitivity to danger, but a study published last December in Biological Psychology turns that logic on its head.

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