An international team of evolutionary biologists and paleontologists have reconstructed the evolution of the avian brain using a massive dataset of brain volumes from dinosaurs, extinct birds like Archaeopteryx and the Great Auk, and modern birds. The study, published online today in the journal Current Biology, reveals that prior to the mass extinction at the...
Before being halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a relentless vaccination campaign had nearly succeeded in eradicating polio from the world. Between 2000 and 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that its campaign had reduced the burden of the disease by 99 percent, preventing more than 13 million children from becoming infected and risking potentially...
Recognition of the needs of wives and intimate partners in supporting the recovery of veterans and front-line emergency workers affected by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been highlighted in a new study led by Flinders University. Their contribution to trauma recovery, and their own need for support, are not well understood by military and emergency...
A new study from the University of Helsinki presents the current state of knowledge on the exposure and vulnerability of Indigenous Peoples to environmental pollution, reviewing the innumerable impacts that pollution poses on Indigenous communities from all over the world. “While the number of studies examining the impacts of environmental pollution upon Indigenous Peoples is...
A new study explains how cocaine modifies functions in the brain revealing a potential target for therapies aimed at treating cocaine addiction. The study was published this week in Cell Reports. Researchers from the University of California, Irvine have demonstrated that a key receptor for dopamine, called D2 (D2R), intervenes in the mechanism through which cocaine...
As people binge watch TV shows and movies during this period of physical distancing, they may find themselves eerily drawn to fictional villains, from Voldemort and Vader to Maleficent and Moriarty. Rather than being seduced by the so-called dark side, the allure of evil characters has a reassuringly scientific explanation. According to new research published...
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COVID-19 is unlikely to be spread through semen, according to University of Utah Health scientists who participated in an international study of Chinese men who recently had the disease. The researchers found no evidence of the virus that causes COVID-19 in the semen or testes of the men. The study was not comprehensive enough to...
The origin of machine and deep learning algorithms, which increasingly affect almost all aspects of our life, is the learning mechanism of synaptic (weight) strengths connecting neurons in our brain. Attempting to imitate these brain functions, researchers bridged between neuroscience and artificial intelligence over half a century ago. However, since then experimental neuroscience has not...
The coronavirus pandemic has been unprecedented in its impact, leaving no aspect of life unaffected from its arrival in late 2019. From day-to-day impacts on work, school, social gatherings, and travel, to larger shockwaves to the world’s economy and health care systems, COVID-19 is a once-in-a-lifetime crisis on the global stage. And with such a...
From 2007 to 2009, the Great Recession affected Las Vegas more than anywhere else in the United States. The Las Vegas’s economy will, once again, be dealt a difficult hand as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic, according to Stephen M. Miller, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) and economics professor at...
