cognition 2 1

Tag: "cognition" at biology news

DuPont's first biologically derived polymer receives global recognition

DuPont's newest polymer innovation, the first DuPont polymer derived from a biological source, has been recognized by the China State Intellectual Property Office and China Central Television (CCTV) as "Most Visionary Innovation" at a recent award ceremony. .. will receive the 2005 "New Technologies in Renewable Materials and Processes" award at the Global Plastics and Environmental Conference,...

Research on antibiotics receives historical recognition

Research leading to the discovery of streptomycin ?the first effective pharmaceutical treatment for tuberculosis ?will be designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark at Rutgers University in a special ceremony in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on May 24. The American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, sponsors the landmarks program. . Beginning in the 1930s, Selman Waksman...

New insight into autoimmune disease: Bacterial infections promote recognition of self-glycolipids

The immune system is a complex and powerful weapon that provides protection against bacteria and viruses that, if left unchecked, would wreak havoc throughout the human body. The ability of the immune system to recognize the body's own tissues is essential, but sometimes the immune system loses the ability to distinguish "self" from potentially harmful invaders. This can lead to autoimmune diseas...

Tropical dry forests receive international recognition

When most people think of tropical forests, rainforests immediately come to mind. But they are not the only kind under threat--the tropical dry forest is in as much danger as its popular cousin yet its grave situation continues to be ignored. Dr. Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa is hoping to change that. . Sanchez-Azofeifa is the director of the newly formed TROPI-DRY, a research network on tropical dry...

Weizmann Institute suggests that immune cells help to maintain cognition and brain cell renewal

A team of scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science, led by Prof. Michal Schwartz of the Neurobiology Department, has come up with new findings that may have implications in delaying and slowing down cognitive deterioration in old age. The basis for these developments is Schwartz's team's observations, published today in the February issue of Nature Neuroscience, that immune cells contribut...

Eminent inventor of DNA fingerprinting gains new recognition

The inventor of DNA Fingerprinting at the University of Leicester, Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, is to be honoured with a prestigious international accolade later this year, it has been announced. . .. The Dr H.P. Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics ($150,000) is one of six prizes in scienc...

Perceived facial similarity in children is an estimate of kin recognition

Perceived facial similarity of children is effectively an estimate of the probability that two children are close genetic relatives according to a new study recently published in Journal of Vision, an online, free access publication of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). . Participants in the study judged pairs of pictures of children, half of which portrayed actual...

Metacognition: Faced with a test, rats can check their knowledge first

Researchers have found evidence that rats are capable of metacognition—that is, they can possess knowledge of their own cognitive states. This ability, which can also be thought of as the capacity to assess or reflect on one's own mental processes, was previously only recognized in humans and other primates. The findings are reported by Allison Foote and Jonathon Crystal of the University of Geor...

Gene mutation linked to cognition is found only in humans

The human and chimpanzee genomes vary by just 1.2 percent, yet there is a considerable difference in the mental and linguistic capabilities between the two species. A new study showed that a certain form of neuropsin, a protein that plays a role in learning and memory, is expressed only in the central nervous systems of humans and that it originated less than 5 million years ago. The study, which...