Dancers and audiences are being fitted with electrode caps as part of a massive neurological study into how we respond to live performance – and the findings go far beyond what was first imagined The gel felt cold on my scalp and I had...
Light can be directed and steered around bends using a method similar to the way clouds scatter photons, which could lead to advances in medical imaging, cooling systems and even nuclear reactors
In support of their AI ambitions, tech companies are rapidly expanding US data centres, and this growth is on track to significantly increase US gas demand by 2030
A recent study reveals that a polymer called polyphosphate may stabilize fibrils, protein structures linked to Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers used computer models to show that polyphosphate...
A new study links hundreds of brain proteins to differences in how brain regions communicate, revealing how microscale molecules can influence macroscale brain connectivity. Researchers studied brain samples and scans from elderly...
People with stronger autistic traits exhibit distinct and highly effective exploration patterns, according to a new study. These individuals tend to persist longer in curiosity-driven tasks, leading to better overall performance. In the...
CBT for insomnia significantly reduces postpartum depression symptoms, directly and indirectly, by improving mood and alleviating insomnia throughout treatment.
Researchers have shown that echolocating bats use an acoustic map of their environment to navigate long distances, even after being displaced. In a study on Kuhl’s pipistrelle bats, scientists tracked the bats’ return journeys across a...
People conceived during the UK's 1940s and 50s sugar rationing have a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure than those conceived after rationing ended
Sleep apnea, a common yet underdiagnosed sleep disorder, contributes to the development of dementia among adults -- particularly women, a new study suggests. At every age level, women with known or suspected sleep apnea were more likely...
While the lockdowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic led many families to eat more meals at home, they had an additional benefit: an increase in the quality of family time during those dinners, according to new research.
Radiocarbon dating and DNA analysis have revealed that a complete skeleton found in a 2nd-century cemetery is made up of bones from many people spanning thousands of years – but we don’t know who assembled it or why
An off-the-shelf millimetre wave sensor can pick out the tiny vibrations made by a smartphone's speaker, enabling an AI model to transcribe the conversation, even at a distance in a noisy room
The infinite monkey theorem states that illiterate primates could write great literature with enough time, but the amount of time needed is much longer than the lifespan of the universe
The US Census Bureau processes data before publishing it in order to keep personal information private – but a new approach could maintain the same privacy while improving accuracy
Chronic, low-level lead poisoning is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease in adults and cognitive deficits in children, even at levels previously thought to be safe, Low-level lead poisoning is a risk factor for preterm....
The Renaissance artist Michelangelo had carried out human dissections, which may have led him to include women with breast cancer in some of his pieces
Men and adolescent boys are increasingly at risk of resorting to the dangerous use of anabolic steroids in a bid to achieve the desired muscular build modeled on social media, warn body image experts. A new review that focused...
A new study, using responses from the U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health, has found that about 6 percent of pregnant women reported using marijuana during the last month, and many did not associate it with health risks.
Your brain not only processes what you see but continuously makes predictions based on your experiences. This process may be less fine-tuned in people with autism, research suggests.
New research suggests older adults wait 3-6 months after a heart attack before elective noncardiac surgery to reduce the risk of serious complications like stroke or another heart attack.
Treating anxiety, depression and other disorders may depend on the amygdala, a part of the brain that controls strong emotional reactions, especially fear. But a deep understanding of this structure has been lacking. Now scientists have...
Our metabolism's response to food is highly idiosyncratic and there are hints that tailoring our diet to these personal differences can deliver health benefits
Researchers have found a process by which the brain guards against attack by the immune system. In mice with multiple sclerosis, such 'guardian' proteins that train the immune system were drastically depleted, and replenishing them...
In common marmosets, the brain regions that process social interactions develop very slowly, extending until early adulthood, like in humans. During this time, all group members are involved in raising the infants, which contributes to...
Scientists used AI to transform tourist photos into a 3D digital map of Antarctic penguin colonies – even as researchers debate whether to harness or discourage tourism in this remote region
Endurance sank beneath the ice during Ernest Shackleton’s legendary Antarctic expedition. More than a hundred years later, researchers document their own saga of how they found the vessel
Forget Armageddon-sized rocks, just one of 25,000 smaller asteroids could destroy a city on Earth. How to Kill an Asteroid by Robin George Andrew shows how science plans to save the planet
I have a confession to make. After taking a handful of autonomous taxi rides, I have gone from a hater to a friend of robot cars in just a few weeks, says Annalee Newitz
Feedback digs into a baffling ad for a mobile game and identifies a new and devilish way to advertise a product online: make it as confusing as possible to encourage people to click (it worked on Feedback)
Thanks to artificial intelligence, understanding animals may be closer than we think. But we may not like what they are going to tell us, says RSPCA chief executive Chris Sherwood
Most ingredients touted as the key to better health fail to live up to the hype but fibre bucks this trend, with benefits for the whole body, not just the gut
Aggression involves both sexually monomorphic and dimorphic actions. How the brain implements these two types of actions is poorly understood. We found that in Drosophila melanogaster , a set of neurons, which we call CL062, previously...
Odor information arrives first in the main olfactory bulb and is then broadcasted to the olfactory cortices and striatum. Downstream regions have unique cellular and connectivity architectures that may generate different coding patterns...
Harmonics are an integral part of music, speech, and vocalizations of animals. Since the rest of the auditory environment is primarily made up of nonharmonic sounds, the auditory system needs to perceptually separate the above two kinds...
It is well established that holding information in working memory (WM) elicits sustained stimulus-specific patterns of neural activity. Nevertheless, here we provide evidence for a distinct class of neural activity that tracks the number...
In demanding listening situations, a listener's motivational state may affect their cognitive investment. Here, we aim to delineate how domain-specific sensory processing, domain-general neural alpha power, and pupil size as a proxy for...
The superior colliculus receives a direct projection from retinal ganglion cells. In primates, it remains unknown if the same ganglion cells also supply the lateral geniculate nucleus. To address this issue, a double-label experiment was...
Dopamine (DA) and norepinephrine (NE) have been repeatedly implicated in neuropsychiatric vulnerability, in part via their roles in mediating the decision-making processes. Although two neuromodulators share a synthesis pathway and are...
The capabilities of the human ear are remarkable. We can normally detect acoustic stimuli down to a threshold sound-pressure level of 0 dB (decibels) at the entrance to the external ear, which elicits eardrum vibrations in the...
Neuroinflammation can positively influence axon regeneration following injury in the central nervous system. Inflammation promotes the release of neurotrophic molecules and stimulates intrinsic proregenerative molecular machinery in...
GABAergic inhibitory interneurons comprise many subtypes that differ in their molecular, anatomical, and functional properties. In mouse visual cortex, they also differ in their modulation with an animal’s behavioral state, and...
Low-intensity transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation (TUS) is a novel technique for noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS). TUS delivered in a theta (5 Hz) burst pattern (tbTUS) induces plasticity in the human primary motor...