Neural replay during waking rest may contribute to memory consolidation of action sequences in humans, according to a study published June 8 in the journal Cell Reports. Brain imaging results revealed fast, repeated reactivation of a neural network representing a behavioral sequence that people were learning—approximately 20 times the speed of the new memory—especially while […]
Home is where the microbes are. That’s one takeaway from newly published research by an interdisciplinary University of Oregon team that found a shared home environment to be the strongest predictor of human microbiome similarity, or the commonalities between the communities of microbes that live within us. “Our results demonstrate that the early life home […]
When scientists need to understand the effects of new infant formula ingredients on brain development, it’s rarely possible for them to carry out initial safety studies with human subjects. After all, few parents are willing to hand over their newborns to test unproven ingredients. Enter the domestic pig. Its brain and gut development are strikingly […]
Duke professor Herman Pontzer has spent his career counting calories. Not because he’s watching his waistline, exactly. But because, as he sees it, “in the economics of life, calories are the currency.” Every minute, everything the body does—growing, moving, fighting infection, even just existing—”all of it takes energy,” Pontzer says. In his new book, “Burn,” […]
Skoltech scientists and their colleagues have proposed a new human height inheritance model that accounts for the interaction between various factors that influence adult human height. The research was published in the European Journal of Human Genetics. Human height is a classical quantitative trait that depends on sex, genetics, and the environment. Scientists from Skoltech, […]
Mapping the cerebral vascular network in human patients, at unprecedented scales: This tour de force has been achieved by the French laboratory Physics for Medicine Paris (ESPCI Paris-PSL, Inserm, CNRS). In a study published on the front page of Nature Biomedical Engineering, the research team details its method—ultrasound localization microscopy, which combines ultrafast sonography and […]
An international team of bioethicists and scientists, led by a researcher at Case Western Reserve University, contends it may be justified to go beyond the standing 14-day limit that restricts how long researchers can study human embryos in a dish. Going beyond this policy limit could lead to potential health and fertility benefits, and the […]
Researchers in the Muir Lab at Princeton University’s Department of Chemistry have completed the first comprehensive analysis of cancer-associated histone mutations in the human genome, featuring both biochemical and cellular characterizations of these substrates. Their study reports that histone mutations that perturb nucleosome remodeling may contribute to the development or progression of a wide range […]
Researchers at the University of Chicago, the University of Birmingham, and Bournemouth University have uncovered evidence that physical embodiment can occur without the sense of touch, thanks to a study involving two participants who lack the ability to feel touch. The research was published on Feb. 12 in Experimental Brain Research. The transatlantic collaboration emerged […]
Ciliopathies are genetic disorders caused by defects in the structure and function of cilia, microtubule-based organelles present on the surface of almost every cell in the human body, which play crucial roles in cell signaling. Ciliopathies present a wide range of often severe clinical symptoms, frequently affecting the head and face and leading to conditions […]
