New research could offer hope for victims of the most devastating spinal injuries - typically those caused in car crashes.
Life sciences news // 11 October, 2007 07:10:01
For the first time, scientists have linked the all-too-human preference for a food - chocolate - to a specific, chemical signature that may be programmed into the metabolic system and is detectable by laboratory tests. The signature reads 'chocolate lover' in some people and indifference to the popular sweet in others, the researchers say.
Life sciences news // 04 October, 2007 03:10:32
Dramatic daily variations in the cockroach's learning ability were discovered by a new study performed by Vanderbilt University biologists and published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Life sciences news // 13 September, 2007 07:09:27
A neuroscientist working at UCL (University College London) has devised the first experimental method to induce an out-of-body experience in healthy participants. In a paper published today in Science, Dr Henrik Ehrsson, UCL Institute of Neurology, outlines the unique method by which the illusion is created and the implications of its discovery.
Life sciences news // 12 August, 2007 07:08:00
Bones are typically thought of as calcified, inert structures, but researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have now identified a surprising and critically important novel function of the skeleton. They've shown for the first time that the skeleton is an endocrine organ that helps control our sugar metabolism and weight, which makes it a major determinant of the development of type 2 diabetes.
Life sciences news // 06 June, 2007 10:06:10
In a leap forward for stem cell research, three independent teams of scientists reported Wednesday that they have produced the equivalent of embryonic stem cells in mice using skin cells without the controversial destruction of embryos.
Life sciences news // 18 April, 2007 05:04:28
Neurobiologists have pinpointed brain regions critical to one of the brain's more remarkable feats—piecing together a continuous view of the world by integrating snippets of visual input from constantly moving eyes. Since the eyeball has only a narrow field of clear view, it must continually make tiny shifts to sample the visual world. And during these shifts, which last thousandths of a second, people are essentially blind.
Life sciences news // 13 March, 2007 07:03:46
Three decades ago, medical investigators began sounding the alarm about how lead exposure causes IQ deficits in children. Today, researchers at the University of Virginia Health System say children with sleep disorders can face similar risks of intellectual impairment.
Life sciences news // 12 March, 2007 08:03:18
The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health is among the first medical centers in the country taking part in a novel clinical trial investigating if a subject's own stem cells can treat a form of severe coronary artery disease.
Life sciences news // 25 February, 2007 07:02:08
The Allen Brain Atlas, a genome-wide map of the mouse brain on the Internet, has been hailed as "Google of the brain." The atlas now has a companion of the brain's working molecules, a sort of pop-up book of the proteins, or proteome map, that those genes express.
