Researchers at the University of Calgary have discovered the unique genes that allow the opium poppy to make codeine and morphine, thus opening doors to alternate methods of producing these effective painkillers either by manufacturing them in a lab or controlling the production of these compounds in the plant. “The enzymes encoded by these two [...]
Archive for the ‘Mind’ Category
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Meditation Helps Increase Attention Span
July 16th, 2010 It’s nearly impossible to pay attention to one thing for a long time. A new study looks at whether Buddhist meditation can improve a person’s ability to be attentive and finds that meditation training helps people do better at focusing for a long time on a task that requires them to distinguish small differences between [...]
TV Viewing, Video Game Play Contribute to Kids’ Attention Problems, Study Finds
July 10th, 2010 Parents looking to get their kid’s attention — or keeping them focused at home and in the classroom — should try to limit their television viewing and video game play. That’s because a new study led by three Iowa State University psychologists has found that both viewing television and playing video games are associated with [...]
Memory Loss Linked To Common Sleep Disorder
June 17th, 2010 For the first time, UCLA researchers have discovered that people with sleep apnea show tissue loss in brain regions that help store memory. Reported in the June 27 edition of the journal Neuroscience Letters, the findings emphasize the importance of early detection of the disorder, which afflicts an estimated 20 million Americans. Sleep apnea occurs [...]
How Poisonous Mushrooms Cook Up Toxins
June 16th, 2010 Heather Hallen spent eight years looking for poison in all the wrong places. Alpha-amanitin is the poison of the death cap mushroom, Amanita phalloides. The Michigan State University plant biology research associate was looking for a big gene that makes a big enzyme that produces alpha-amanitin, since that’s how other fungi produce similar compounds. But [...]
Two Brain Circuits Involved With Habitual Learning
June 14th, 2010 Driving to and from work is a habit for most commuters – we do it without really thinking. But before our commutes became routine, we had to learn our way through trial-and-error exploration. A new study out of MIT has found that there are two brain circuits involved with this kind of learning and that [...]
Hand Study Reveals Brain’s Distorted Body Model
June 14th, 2010 Our brains contain a highly distorted model of our own bodies, according to scientists at UCL (University College London). A new study on the brain’s representation of the hand found that our model of our bodies is out of sync with reality — with a strong tendency to think that the hands are shorter and [...]
Children Who Lose a Parent to Suicide More Likely to Die the Same Way, Study Finds
June 12th, 2010 Losing a parent to suicide makes children more likely to die by suicide themselves and increases their risk of developing a range of major psychiatric disorders, according to a study led by Johns Hopkins Children’s Center that is believed to be the largest one to date on the subject A report on the findings will [...]
Eczema in Early Childhood May Influence Mental Health Later
June 10th, 2010 Eczema in early childhood may influence behavior and mental health later in life. This is a key finding of a prospective birth cohort study to which scientists of Helmholtz Zentrum München contributed. In cooperation with colleagues of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU), Technische Universität München (TUM) and Marien-Hospital in Wesel, North Rhine-Westphalia this study followed 5,991 children who [...]
Two Brain Circuits Involved With Habitual Learning
June 10th, 2010 Driving to and from work is a habit for most commuters – we do it without really thinking. But before our commutes became routine, we had to learn our way through trial-and-error exploration. A new study out of MIT has found that there are two brain circuits involved with this kind of learning and that [...]