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Mammalian Brain Knows Where It’s at

By Guest PostDecember 8, 2012Sciencebehavior, brain, brain injury, brown university, conventional wisdom, depression, disease, egocentric movement, electrical activity, fish sculpture, frequency, hippocampus, humans, journal, location, memory, neuron, neuropsychiatric diseases, neuroscientist, object, omar ahmed, parahippocampal cortex, pattern, phc, por, postrhinal cortex, primate neuroanatomy, rebecca burwell, region, rhythm, schizophrenia, sharon furtak, Space, spiking, theta, treat

A new study in the journal Neuron suggests that the brain uses a different region than neuroscientists had thought to associate objects and locations in the space around an individual. Knowing where this fundamental process occurs could help treat disease and brain injury as well as inform basic understanding of how the brain supports memory and guides behavior.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Where are you?

Conventional wisdom in brain research says that you just used your hippocampus to answer that question, but that might not be the whole story. The context of place depends on not just how you got there, but also the things you see around you. A new study in Neuron provides evidence that a different part of the brain is important for understanding where you are based on the spatial layout of the objects in that place. The finding, in rats, has a direct analogy to primate neuroanatomy. (more…)

Monkey Business: What Howler Monkeys Can Tell us about the Role of Interbreeding in Human Evolution

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2012Naturehowler monkeys, human evolution, hybridization, hybridization among primates, process of hybridization, role of interbreeding

ANN ARBOR — Did different species of early humans interbreed and produce offspring of mixed ancestry?

Recent genetic studies suggest that Neanderthals may have bred with anatomically modern humans tens of thousands of years ago in the Middle East, contributing to the modern human gene pool. But the findings are not universally accepted, and the fossil record has not helped to clarify the role of interbreeding, which is also known as hybridization. (more…)

New Research Underscores Vulnerability of Wildlife in Low-Lying Hawaiian Islands

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2012Environment, Natureblack footed albatross, bonin petrel, climate change, crystal m krause, curt storlazzi, global sea level, habitat loss, island biodiversity, jamie carter, karen n courtot, kure atoll, laysan albatross, laysan island, low lying island, michelle h reynolds, migratory wildlife species, model, multifaceted assessment, national wildlife refuge, northwestern hawaiian islands, nwhi, over fished ocean, pacific ocean, paul berkowitz, prediction, sea-level rise, topographic data, trend, tropical seabird rookery, U.S. Geological Survey, wave action, World Heritage Site

HONOLULU, Hawaii — If current climate change trends continue, rising sea levels may inundate low-lying islands across the globe, placing island biodiversity at risk. A new U.S. Geological Survey scientific publication describes the first combined simulations of the effects of sea-level rise and wave action in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, offering the most detailed and multifaceted assessment available of how island biodiversity may be affected by climate change.

The publication, “Predicting Sea-Level Rise Vulnerability of Terrestrial Habitat and Wildlife of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands,” by Michelle H. Reynolds, Paul Berkowitz, Karen N. Courtot, Crystal M. Krause, Jamie Carter, and Curt Storlazzi is available online. (more…)

Scientists Find Oldest Dinosaur – or Closest Relative Yet

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2012Nature, Scienceafrica, alan charig, ancestry, Antarctica, archosaurs, australia, bone cells, bone tissues, cape town, dinosaur family tree, dinosaur like characteristic, dinosaur lineage, diversification, earliest dinosaur, earth, eoraptor, evidence, evolution of dinosaurs, familiar dinosaurs, fossil, fossilized bones, fossilized footprints, herrerasaurus, humerus, labrador retriever, late triassic, lizard, london, middle triassic, middle triassic dinosaurs, natural history museum, nyasa, nyasasaurus parringtoni, oldest dinosaur, paleontologist, paleontology, pangaea, paul barrett, period, permian extinction, primitive dinosaurs, royal society, sarah werning, saurus, single bone, south african museum, south america, southern pangaea, sterling nesbitt, Tanzania, taxon, transitional fossil, triassic period, united kingdom, university, upper arm bone, vertebrae, Washington

Researchers have discovered what may be the earliest dinosaur, a creature the size of a Labrador retriever, but with a five foot-long tail, that walked the Earth about 10 million years before more familiar dinosaurs like the small, swift-footed Eoraptor and Herrerasaurus.

The findings mean that the dinosaur lineage appeared 10 million to 15 million years earlier than fossils previously showed, originating in the Middle Triassic rather than in the Late Triassic period. (more…)

Search for Life Suggests Solar Systems More Habitable than Ours

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2012Sciencecayman unterborn, Chile, dataset, dynamic, earth, european southern observatory, Galaxy, geologically active, habitable, habitable zone, heat source, jennifer johnson, microbial form, Milky Way, ohio state university, planet, plate tectonics, potassium, radioactive decay, radioactive element, san francisco, search for life, solar systems, solar twin, subsurface heat, terrestrial planet, thorium, uranium, wendy panero

SAN FRANCISCO — Scattered around the Milky Way are stars that resemble our own sun—but a new study is finding that any planets orbiting those stars may very well be hotter and more dynamic than Earth.

That’s because the interiors of any terrestrial planets in these systems are likely warmer than Earth—up to 25 percent warmer, which would make them more geologically active and more likely to retain enough liquid water to support life, at least in its microbial form.

The preliminary finding comes from geologists and astronomers at Ohio State University who have teamed up to search for alien life in a new way. (more…)

Frontline Employees Can Make or Break Retail and Service Companies

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2012EconomyAmazon, analyst, best buy, chris derose, commercial workforce, company leader, down, employee, Google, hewlett packard, j c penney, management structure, michigan, noel tichy, retailers, ritz carlton, service companies, shopping cart, top, university, US, zappos

ANN ARBOR — Retailers and service companies still utilizing a top-down management structure likely don’t see the connection between the frontline and the bottom line until it’s too late, according to University of Michigan professor Noel Tichy.

In the U.S. alone, retail and service workers are estimated to total more than 15 million people, or nearly one-fifth of the U.S. commercial workforce. Despite the common corporate tag line about “people are our most important asset,” we don’t see many company leaders tap into more than a tiny percentage of the knowledge, creativity and judgment of their largest group of employees. (more…)

Bilirubin Can Prevent Damage from Cardiovascular Disease, MU Researchers Find

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2012Healthagainst, americans, antioxidant, arterial blockage, arterial lesions, atherosclerosis, bad lifestyle, bilirubin, blood, blood vessels, bypass surgery, cardiovascular disease, clinical problem, first, flow, heart attack, inflammation, jaundice, liver, missouri, muscle cells, natural defense, red blood cells, suffer, university, william durante

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Each year, about 610,000 Americans suffer their first heart attack, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Heart attacks and other symptoms of cardiovascular disease can be caused when blockage occurs in the arteries. In a new study from the University of Missouri, a scientist has discovered a natural defense against arterial blockage: bilirubin.

Bilirubin is typically something parents of newborns hear about when their children are diagnosed with jaundice. Generated during the body’s process to recycle worn-out red blood cells, bilirubin is metabolized by the liver and, usually, leaves the body harmlessly. (Many babies’ livers are not developed enough to metabolize the bilirubin, which results in the infants being diagnosed with jaundice, or high levels of bilirubin in their systems.) Now, MU scientists have found that bilirubin can be used to inhibit the clogging of arteries, and thus prevent the deadly consequences often experienced by individuals with cardiovascular disease. (more…)

Learning to Control Brain Activity Improves Visual Sensitivity

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2012Scienceabnormal patterns, brain activity, brain function, control, electrical activity, emotional response, fmri, frank scharnowski, geneva, human volunteer, neurofeedback approach, stroke patients, training, university, visual cortex, visual information, visual perception, visual sensitivity

Training human volunteers to control their own brain activity in precise areas of the brain can enhance fundamental aspects of their visual sensitivity, according to a new study in the Journal of Neuroscience.

This non-invasive ‘neurofeedback’approach could one day be used to improve brain function in patients with abnormal patterns of activity, for example stroke patients. (more…)

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