Tag: "conversation" at biology news

Grasping metaphors: UC San Diego research ties brain area to figures of speech

...er physician who could maintain the flow of normal conversation and even retained the ability to correctly diagnose descriptions of symptoms, got all 20 of the 20 proverbs he was tested on wrong. Prodded on "all that glitters is not gold," he finally said that it meant you had to be very careful when buying jewel...

Scientists discover that three molecules may be developed into new Alzheimer's drugs

...s "talking" to each other, he explained. "When the conversation goes awry the disease process begins. And it is not just one gene or one protein causing the damage." The complexity of Alzheimer's means that several different medications will likely be needed to control it, said Kosik. The same is true for many o...

Scientists at Galileo Pharmaceuticals confirm inflammatory response linked to glucose levels

...s "talking" to each other, he explained. "When the conversation goes awry the disease process begins. And it is not just one gene or one protein causing the damage." The complexity of Alzheimer's means that several different medications will likely be needed to control it, said Kosik. The same is true for many o...

Say what? Bacterial conversation stoppers

...tower of Babel, certain snippets of their chemical conversation are almost universally understood. HHMI researcher...age ?and also that some species can manipulate the conversation to confuse other bacteria. The interspecies crosstalk and misdirection could have important conseq...

What Makes The Brain Tick, Tick, Tick: Researchers Gaining New Insights Into Brain's Internal Clock

...ch as walking, manipulating objects, carrying on a conversation and tracking objects in the environment, they said. "Interval timing is necessary for us to understand temporal order of events, for example when carrying on a conversation," said Meck. "To understand speech, I not only have to process the milliseco...

Scientists and engineers apply nature's design to human problems

...m goal is to engage leaders in various fields in a conversation and learning process to help them understand the root causes of the region's economic, social and environmental problems, according to its Website ( http://www.inspiringfutures.org/bioneers/workshopdescriptions ). Then leaders can make decisions base...

Asian immigrants in NYC not receiving HIV education at religious institutions

...c for the communities they serve," Chin said. "The conversation about HIV is often nonexistent among Asian immigrants, and religious institutions need to take the lead to change that to prevent transmission in their communities, and assist those who are already infected." Academy scientists funded by the Nat...

The first laugh: New study posits evolutionary origins of two distinct types of laughter

...action in response to banal comments and humorless conversation is now being studied," write Matthew Gervais and David Sloan Wilson. "The unstated issue is whether such laughter is similar in kind to laughter following from humor." Using empirical evidence from across disciplines, including theory and data from ...

Recreating 'Flowers for Algernon' with a happy ending

...n creates hyperactive Ras, which disrupts cellular conversation and undermines the learning process. "The act of learning creates physical changes in the brain, like grooves on a record," said Silva. "But surplus Ras tips the balance between switching signals on and off in the brain. This interrupts the deli...

Stanford study of owls finds link in brain between sight and sound

...d lights, the hum of your computer and the muffled conversation down the hallway. To focus on the person speaking to you, your brain clearly can't give equal weight to all incoming sensory information. It has to attend to what is important and ignore the rest. Two scientists at the Stanford University School of ...

With cochlear implants, earlier use leads to better speech

...ss," Nicholas says. "They don't know how to have a conversation in sign language or teach it to their children. Many of these parents would like their children to learn spoken language." The researchers tested the spoken language skills of 76 children, all 3 and a half years old, who had cochlear implants and c...

PLoS ONE is launched by the Public Library of Science

...in PLoS ONE, as soon as an article is published, a conversation between authors and readers can begin. There might be a question about a method that is described in the article, a link to another useful work or resource that can be added, or an alternative interpretation that can be offered for some of the result...

Walking not enough for significant exercise benefits

...sity, a level allowing for one or two sentences of conversation with ease. Intensity was not set for the walking group; they completed their daily exercise at a self-selected pace. "When we matched the two programs for energy expenditure, we found that the traditional fitness program improved aerobic fitness and...

On automatic pilot

Walking while holding a conversation and writing a letter whilst thinking about its content: we perform many actions without even thinking about them. This is possible due to the cerebellum. It regulates the automation of our movements and as a result the cerebrum can perform other task...

Deconstructing brain wiring, one neuron at a time

... or even of single cells. The solution came from a conversation between Callaway and John Young, Ph.D., a Professor in the Infectious Disease Laboratory, and co-author of the study. When Callaway described the problem, Young immediately suggested the answer, which is based on an avian viral receptor that Young di...

A frown or a smile? Children with autism can't discern

When we have a conversation with someone, we not only hear what they say, we see what they say. Eyes can smolder or twinkle. Gazes can be direct or shifty. “Reading?these facial expressions gives context and meaning to the words we hear. In a report to be presented May 5 at th...

Art and music for the birds

...aray’s concept of art for the birds hatched from a conversation with co-creator John Walsh, a video artist, who sent Demaray sounds made by the catbird, an avid appreciator of human noise. The Rutgers-Camden scholar makes art that interacts with natural surroundings – imagine spotting a tree donning a sweater or ...

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