It’s been known for more than a century that acetaminophen (also known as paracetamol and marketed as Tylenol and Panadol) is an effective painkiller, but according to a new Canadian study it could also be impeding error-detection in the brain. The research appears in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. “Past research tells us physical […]
In a new study that expands our understanding of how humans contribute to global warming, scientists have discovered that human activity has changed the terrestrial biosphere to make it a significant contributor to climate change. Published in Nature, the study looked at the net balance of the three major greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane, and […]
A law of physics that explains why larger animals live longer and travel further can be extended to the simplest forms of mass migration on the planet – like rolling stones and turbulent eddies in water and air currents, according to new research from Duke University. “The finding demonstrates that evolution doesn’t apply only to […]
When Dr. Charles Bradley administered Benzedrine to a group of children with hyperactivity in 1937 a new era of psychopharmacology was born. His observation that “fourteen children responded in a spectacular fashion” ushered in the widespread use of methamphetamine-like drugs to treat hyperactivity and learning disorders. But for more than seven decades scientists have not […]
Life on other planets would likely be brief and become extinct very quickly, according to a new paper by astrobiologists at the Australian National University. In research aiming to understand how life might develop, the scientists realised new life would commonly die out due to runaway heating or cooling on their fledgling planets. “The universe […]
Snapping shrimp, naked mole rats, ants, honeybees, and humans – what do they all have in common? They all share a similar colony-like organizational system that biologists have termed eusociality. Eusocial species have been remarkably successful in both surviving and thriving through the use of colony-level cooperation. One cooperative behavior used by all eusocial species […]
Using 20 years of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from tens of thousands of brain imaging experiments, neuroscientists at the University of Massachusetts have created a geometry-based method for massive data analysis to reach a new understanding of how thought arises from brain structure. The research, appearing in the current issue of Nature Scientific […]
Around one third of people with depression have high levels of inflammation markers in their blood. Now, new research appearing in in Molecular Psychiatry shows that persistent inflammation affects the brain in ways that are connected with stubborn symptoms of depression, such as anhedonia (the inability to experience pleasure). The findings bolster the case that […]
Oxybenzone, a UV-filtering compound used in sunscreens, has been found in high concentrations in the waters around popular coral reefs in Hawaii and the Caribbean. According to new research, the chemical not only kills coral, it causes DNA damage in adults and deforms the DNA in coral in the larval stage, making it unlikely they […]
A new study finds that rising placebo responses may play a part in the increasingly high failure rate for clinical trials of drugs, but the authors of the study say that the increase in placebo responses occurred only in trials conducted in the United States. Accepted for publication in the journal Pain, the study analyzed […]
