Brain

hominin fossils are the most important materials to explore human origins and evolution. Since most hominin fossils are incomplete, or filled with a heavy calcified matrix, it is difficult or often impossible to reconstruct the endocast in a real fossil without destroying it. Accordingly, traditional methods limited the study of human brain evolution. CT can explore fossils in a noninvasive way by transforming a real fossil into a virtual object, and make it possible for paleoanthropologists to extend the study of fossil specimens from the exterior to the interior.

The presence of tattoos on forensic psychiatric inpatients should alert clinicians to a possible diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD), and also about the potential for histories of suicide attempt, substance abuse, and sexual abuse, according to research published today in Personality and Mental Health.

Bumble-bees go 'off colour' and can't remember which flowers have the most nectar when they are feeling under the weather, a new study from the University of Leicester reveals.

The behaviour of the bumbling bees is reported in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters published today (Wednesday 16 July.) It reveals that, like humans who are ill, bees are often not at their most astute and clever when they feel poorly.

A potential new drug that 'opens the taps' for the release of useful hormones could stimulate new bone growth – and may eventually bring relief to osteoporosis sufferers.

The exciting potential of so-called negative allosteric modulators will be put under the microscope at a special symposium at The Federation of European Pharmacological Societies (EPHAR) 2008 Congress at The University of Manchester, UK, today (Wednesday, July 16).

1. Hodgkin¨CHuxley Model of Backpropagating SpikesYuguo Yu, Yousheng Shu, and David A. McCormick

PASADENA, Calif.--Some parents of children with autism evaluate facial expressions differently than the rest of us--and in a way that is strikingly similar to autistic patients themselves, according to new research by neuroscientist Ralph Adolphs of the California Institute of Technology and psychiatrist Joe Piven at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Use of simvastatin by children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a genetic disorder that can cause learning disabilities, did not result in improved cognitive function, according to a study in the July 16 issue of JAMA.

Following are story ideas and tips about upcoming AMS meetings, papers in our peer-reviewed journals, and other happenings in the atmospheric and related sciences community.

Neuroscientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) are part of a collaboration that has succeeded in demonstrating that overexpression of an enzyme in the brain can reduce telltale deposits causally linked with Alzheimer's disease.

ARGONNE, Ill. (July 15, 2008) -- Scientists and researchers have taken a big step closer to a cure for the most common strain of avian influenza, or "bird flu," the potential pandemic that has claimed more than 200 lives and infected nearly 400 people in 14 countries since it was identified in 2003.

Temptation may be everywhere, but it's how the different sexes react to flirtation that determines the effect it will have on their relationships. In a new study, psychologists determined men tend to look at their partners in a more negative light after meeting a single, attractive woman. On the other hand, women are likelier to work to strengthen their current relationships after meeting an available, attractive man.

Overweight mothers give birth to offspring who become even heavier, resulting in amplification of obesity across generations, said Baylor College of Medicine researchers in Houston who found that chemical changes in the ways genes are expressed – a phenomenon called epigenetics -- could affect successive generations of mice.

Philadelphia, PA, July 15, 2008 – Pharmacogenetics, the study of genetic variation that influences an individual's response to drugs, is an important and growing focus in all of medical research, including psychiatry. It is a complex field, however, revealed by the lack of consistent and replicable findings across multiple studies, but some encouraging results are beginning to emerge.

A multi-disciplinary group from Stanford University (California, US) has proposed ten principles to guide the use of racial and ethnic categories in genetic research, as reported today in BioMed Central's open access journal Genome Biology.

Research exploring new ways of exploiting the full medicinal uses of cannabis while avoiding unwanted side-effects will be presented to pharmacologists today (Tuesday, 15 July) by leading scientists attending the Federation of European Pharmacological Societies Congress, EPHAR 2008.

Cannabis is a source of compounds known as cannabinoids, one of which, THC – the main chemical responsible for the 'high' – has long been licensed as a medicine for suppressing nausea produced by chemotherapy and for stimulating appetite, for instance, in AIDS patients.