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Knowledge of our mother tongue acts as a sort of auditory "template" that influences the way we perceive the sounds of other languages (scientists call this "native listening"). Several clues, like the fact that many of the cortical auditory regions responsible for linguistic and musical processing are the same and the existence of auditory illusions dependent on the mother tongue or dialect, have led investigators to hypothesize that native listening transfers also to non-linguistic sound stimuli such as music.

Inland freshwaters with a greater variety of fish species (biodiversity) have higher-yielding and less variable fisheries according to a new study from the University of Southampton and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

At least two billion people depend directly on inland freshwaters, such as lakes, rivers and wetlands, for the provision of food. However, despite thousands of freshwater species contributing to food security, the relationship between biodiversity and yield remains poorly understood.

An interview technique for eliciting intelligence without asking questions has in a series of experiments proven to work very well. The idea dates back to the renowned WWII interrogator Hanns Scharff, but has now -- for the first time -- been empirically validated. The technique can help intelligence agencies reveal plans of future terrorist acts. This is the conclusion drawn in a new dissertation from the University of Gothenburg.

Aplastic anaemia is a rare, and potentially fatal, disease of the blood, by which the bone marrow is unable to generate blood cells at the appropriate pace. Many forms of aplastic anaemia share an important link with the ageing process: the shortening of telomeres, structures that protect the ends of chromosomes. Four years ago, a group at the CNIO created a new anti-ageing therapy based on repairing the telomeres. Now, the same researchers have proven that this therapy may be effective against the types of aplastic anaemia caused by short telomeres.

Unless greenhouse gas emissions from food consumption are reduced substantially, EU climate targets will not be met, according to a new study from Swedish researchers. Currently accounting for about 25 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, emissions from food and agriculture need to be cut by about three-quarters by 2050 to meet the targets.

Separated by several hundred kilometres from its next of kin, a new species of blue-tailed monitor lizard unique to the remote Mussau Island has been described. Unknown to science until recently and formally termed the "isolated", it is the only large-sized land-living predator and scavenger native to the island.

Nagoya, Japan - For decades most cancers have been treated with a core standard of treatments that include surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Now, immunotherapy--a type of treatment that harnesses the patient's immune system to combat the disease--represents the future of cancer treatment, with its efficacy being demonstrated in even the most aggressive types of cancer.

Hiding their DNA genome inside the nucleus of the infected cells, the herpesviruses establish a lifelong infection in humans. Not well defined stress conditions are known to wake up these parasites from their dormancy - the latent phase - and reactivate the production of new viral progeny, eventually causing cell death by lysis - the lytic phase. This process allows the virus to multiply and spread usually through lesions of the skin, as in the case of the well known Herpes Simplex virus. Unlike the Herpes Simplex, however, some other herpesviruses can cause cancer, they are oncogenic.

Preliminary findings from PREVAIL III, a study of Ebola virus disease (EVD) survivors being conducted in Liberia, indicate that both Ebola survivors and their close contacts have a high burden of illness. However, the prevalence of eye, musculoskeletal, and neurological complications was greater among the individuals who survived EVD.

According to initial results from a randomized, controlled trial of the experimental Ebola treatment ZMapp, the monoclonal antibody cocktail was well-tolerated and showed promise. Due to decreasing incidence in Ebola, the study could not enroll enough volunteers to determine definitively whether it is a better treatment for Ebola virus disease (EVD) than supportive care only. Initial findings from the clinical trial known as PREVAIL II were presented today at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston.

A team of scientists from Singapore and France has revealed the underlying mechanism for the formation and growth of a fundamental type of tissue - epithelial tubes. Defects in the architecture of epithelial tubes lead to diseases such as cholestasis, atherosclerosis and polycystic kidney disease. The research findings contribute towards a deeper understanding of the principles that underline epithelial tube formation, and offer opportunities for developing better therapies for such diseases.

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The slight loss in bone mineral density associated with HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) antiretroviral use is reversible in young adult patients who stop taking the drugs, according to findings presented by researchers today at the 23rd Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Boston. PrEP is an HIV prevention strategy in which at-risk HIV-negative people take a daily pill of Truvada, which contains the antiretroviral drugs tenofovir and emtricitabine, to prevent them from becoming infected.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have shown for the first time that an enzyme can be tweaked to reduce lignin in plants. Their technique could help lower the cost of converting biomass into carbon-neutral fuels to power your car and other sustainably developed bio-products.

Diagnostic health care is often restricted in areas with limited resources, because the procedures required to detect many of the molecular markers that can diagnose diseases are too complex or expensive to be used outside of a central laboratory. Researchers in the lab of Rustem Ismagilov, Caltech's Ethel Wilson Bowles and Robert Bowles Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and director of the Jacobs Institute for Molecular Engineering for Medicine, are inventing new technologies to help bring emerging diagnostic capabilities out of laboratories and to the point of care.

Two investigational vaccines designed to protect against Ebola virus disease were well-tolerated and induced an immune response among 1,000 vaccinated participants in the Phase 2 randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial called PREVAIL I. These findings were presented by one of the co-principal investigators, Fatorma Bolay, Ph.D., director of the Liberian Institute for Biomedical Research, this evening at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston.