Teenagers are known for making impulsive choices and decisions. Studies of the adult brain show that risk-taking among teenagers can be narrowed down to the "feel-good" hormone dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain's reward and pleasure centers, as well as helping to regulate movement and emotional responses, see rewards and take action to move toward them.
When it comes to adolescents, neurons sensitive to dopamine are activated less when looking at the prospect of a reward compared to adults. Tests conducted on rats show that adult rats appear to obtain a small dopamine rush from simply anticipating a reward, while adolescent rats do not exhibit the same level of dopamine-based satisfaction. In terms of hum ...
A team of researchers at Birjand University of Medical Sciences in Iran recently reviewed several past studies exploring the effects of cinnamon on cognitive functions. Their analysis, outlined in Nutritional Neuroscience, highlights the potential value of cinnamon for preventing or reducing memory or learning impairments.
Nakhaee, Kooshki and their colleagues reviewed hundreds of studies stored in several online research databases, including PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar and Web of Science. They then narrowed down their analysis to 40 of these studies, those that were most pertinent to their topic of interest.
Among these 40 studies, 33 were carried out in vivo (i.e., examining real living organisms, such as humans, rodents, or other animal ...
In a recent study, scientists delivered a molecule called FKBP1b into the central memory station found in the brain of aging rats. Upon administrating the molecule, hundreds of formally active genes were reactivated, in a pattern that closely resembles those of younger, more mentally agile rats than aged ones. As a result, the rats showed enhanced learning and appeared to reverse memory shortfalls when tackling a maze. These findings suggest that the mental rustiness which accompanies aging happens because the amount of this one molecule goes down; a follow up study is currently in the works to see why that is.
The short clip above shows what happens to an injured plant when a nibbling insect attacks the leaves of a plant: the entire plant is alerted to begin anticipatory defense responses.
Working in the model plant Arabidopsis, researchers recently showed that a systemic signal begins with the release of glutamate, which is perceived by glutamate receptor–like ion channels upon injury to a leaf. The ion channels then set off a cascade of changes in calcium ion concentration that propagate through the phloem vasculature and through intercellular channels called plasmodesmata. This glutamate-based long-distance signaling is rapid; within minutes, an undamaged leaf can respond to the fate of a distant leaf.
Some students go to great – and often curious – lengths to maximize their studying time before finals.
After countless semesters and multiple rounds of rounds of finals, I'm confident I've seen it all when it comes to crazy, odd or just plain absurd study methods.
Well, almost all.
I'm sure some of you fellow Biology Forums members out there have some interesting stories.
There was the kid across the hall freshman year who Aderol'ed himself into a 36-hour sleepless stupor. Don't take Aderol… just don't.
Then there's the classic (and much more popular) I'm-going-to-go-to-sleep-at-4-and-wake-up-at-5 method that is meant to secure some semblance of sanity.
There are the library residents, the library frequenters, the casual library users and the kid ...
Can listening to music while studying make you more productive?
I think one of the most underappreciated joys of college living is the exposure to your neighbors' music tastes. Never having met the two guys living below you, there's a good chance you could still create a fairly accurate profile of them after listening to their… diverse collection of Skrillex, Ace of Base, Lou Bega, and Lil Wayne.
I've lived with people who study to Broadway show tunes, Disney classics and Kelly Clarkson ballads. I'm not kidding. I've also lived with people who study in complete silence with nothing but a dim desk lamp to remind them of civilization.
There are myriad studies out there on the benefits of listening to music at different times. It calms nerves. It ...
In a new study, scientists have discovered that early marijuana use may result in abnormal brain function and lower IQ. To conduct this study, four groups of teenagers were recruited:
Those with depression who were not marijuana users
Those with depression who were frequent marijuana users
Frequent marijuana users without depression
and healthy individuals who were not marijuana users
Participants were later divided into youth who started using marijuana before the age of 17 and those who began using it later or not at all.
These participants underwent psychiatric, cognitive and IQ testing as well as brain scanning. The study found no evidence that marijuana use improved depressive symptoms; there was no difference in psychiatric symptoms between ...
Including the preceding or ensuing weekend, stop days give every college student a chance to catch his or her breath and relax for at least a few days before final exams begin.
But just like normal school days, in which you are often scrambling to complete ten different activities while still finding time to study, there is an art to maximizing your stop days.
So without further ado, here are five suggestions to keep in mind as you near those glorious few open dates on the calendar.
1. Don't study for at least two days. This one is self explanatory. You miss out on the whole idea of stop days if you plow through them buried in a textbook. Don't worry – you'll still have time to get your required amount of studying in befor ...
According to a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Grenoble in France, the results published were plain and simple - men who enjoyed dipping their food into hot, spicy sauce happened to have higher levels of free testosterone floating around their bloodstream after the meal. Salt preference, however, didn’t seem to have any link to testosterone levels. What does this correlation entail? Does capsaicin - the chemical responsible for spiciness - increase testosterone, or are those who are more likely to take risks possess higher levels of this potent male hormone? ...
Scientists have discovered evidence that homosexuality is not a lifestyle choice, but rather is rooted in a person’s biology. While specific genes have not been found, a male twin study reveals that homosexuality may be caused by chemical modifications that alter gene activity. As the fetus develops, certain genes get turned on or off depending the chemicals the fetus is exposed to. These chemicals don't necessarily have to be chemicals ingested or inhaled by the mother, but could be an imbalance in a hormone, such as testosterone. As adults, genes can also activate and deactivated based on our environment. More research is needed, but scientists stress that these findings shouldn’t be used to produce tests for homosexuality or a misguid ...
Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but what’s influencing our eye? Scientists reveal that it’s not genetics but life experiences that lead us to find one face more attractive than another. This finding furthers the on-going debate of nature versus nurture.
Here's how the study went down: Researchers asked 547 pairs of identical twins and 214 pairs of same-gender fraternal twins to view 200 faces and rate them on a scale of one to seven, with one being the least attractive and seven the most attractive. A group of 660 non-twins then completed the same survey. If genes were more involved in facial preference, identical twins would have had similar ratings; if the influence of a familial environment carried more weight, fraternal twins w ...
For decades, scientists have debated whether rapid eye movement sleep - the phase where dreams appear - is directly involved in memory formation. Now, a study provides evidence that REM sleep does, indeed, play this role in mice.
In this new study, the researchers used optogenetics, a recently developed technology that enables scientists to target precisely a population of neurons and control its activity by light. For this study, the neurons in the hippocampus were targeted (hippocampus being the structure that is critical for memory formation during wakefulness and is known as the 'GPS system' of the brain).
To test the long-term spatial memory of mice, the scientists trained the rodents to spot a new object placed in a controlled environm ...
According to a new study, it's your voice that is to blame if your joke ever falls flat. Researchers recorded men and women telling corny one-liners and then manipulated the pitches of their voices. Artificially lowered voices made the speakers sound more dominant; higher pitched voices made them sound less so. Volunteer listeners then rated each joke’s funniness. Female listeners laughed or groaned regardless of the comic’s voice pitch, but for men it depended on how burly and dominant they were. Guys with bigger biceps and higher self-rated attractiveness were more likely to prefer lower-pitched jokes than less dominant listeners, and vice versa, according to a study in press in Evolution and Human Behavior. The researchers suggest humor ...
At least to some scientists it is. Scientists believe that catching a yawn is a sign of empathy, since it is more likely to occur between relatives than strangers. Plus, other social primates like chimps and bonobos do it, too. A new study suggests that women (traditionally branded the more empathetic sex) might be more susceptible to copycat yawning than men. Researchers surreptitiously analyzed more than 4000 real-world yawns on planes and trains, in restaurants, and in offices. They noted when someone yawned, and then whether a nearby acquaintance or friend did the same within a 3-minute period. Men and women spontaneously yawned with about the same frequency. But when someone else yawned first, women were more likely than men to follow ...
This one is hard to believe, but a new study suggests that if you're learning a new language, you're better off listening to recordings of your lessons while you're asleep rather than while you're awake.
