Learning to fight an adversary that won't stay down
New biomolecular technologies have largely failed to deliver the hoped-for knockout punch breakthrough against the defences of disease-causing bacteria, says a leading Canadian specialist in antibiotic resistance. Techniques such as genomic sequencing and high throughput screening were expected to make the development of new antibiotic compounds easier and more productive. But in most cas...Bird Brains Show How Trial and Error May Contribute to Learning
The adult male zebra finch knows only one scratchy tune learned in its youth, which it performs repeatedly and intensely when females are listening. But occasionally, the finch might improvise, experimenting with a slower, more sultry variation or emphasizing different notes. Neurobiologists studying the finch now say the improvisation arises from a component of a crucial learning circuit...Structure-building cell signals also may influence learning and memory
A Burnham Institute study has found that one of the cell's largest families of signaling molecules, called ephrins, which are known to regulate the development of nerve cells, also controls nerve cells' ability to engulf critical chemicals and proteins for learning and memory. These findings, the first to link these molecular semaphores to this important nerve cell function, appear in the May iss...Building a protein name dictionary from full text: a machine learning term extraction approach
The majority of information in the biological literature resides in full text articles, instead of abstracts. Yet, abstracts remain the focus of many publicly available literature data mining tools. Most literature mining tools rely on pre-existing lexicons of biological names, often extracted from curated gene or protein databases. This is a limitation, because such databases have low coverage o...Mice brains shrink during winter, impairing some learning and memory
The brains of one species of mouse actually shrink during the winter, causing the mice to have more difficulty with some types of learning, a new study found. This is one of the first studies to show...Improve your networking skills by learning from other professionals
Without effective and proper networking techniques, you may not be maximizing your time while attending events or when reaching out to other professionals. While people have their own networking style that works for them, it may not work for others. You need to do what works best for you and your personality. At the same time, it never hurts to learn new ideas about networking from other...Distance-Learning Remote Laboratories using LabVIEW
Laboratories, which are found in all engineering and science programs, are an essential part of the education experience. Not only do laboratories demonstrate course concepts and ideas, but they also bring the course theory alive so students can see how unexpected events and natural phenomena affect real-world measurements and control algorithms. However, equipping a laboratory...Learning from the big boys: With technology, women urged to go gradual
That was one of the messages to come out of the recent Wisconsin program, where women-owned businesses were encouraged to le...Video game learning has no traction in K-12
Someday, the curriculum for physics, history, engineering, or management classes could be delivered through computerized simulations, an idea that some members of the <a href="http://w...TechnoJungle to highlight learning, innovation
Others call it the ambition gap. Whatever the label, they are referring to the dearth of American youth actively pursuing careers in the so-called STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines, an ominous trend that, if left unchecked, will negatively impact the future of technol...Novel Treatment to Cure People with Learning Disabilities
Wynford Dore a British millionaire currently living in Australia claims to have discovered a novel way of curing children suffering from the worst form of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). //This novel method, space-age technology is usually used for testing astronauts returning from space. But it can also be used by the doctors to cure ADHD patients by rebalancing their brains....Chemicals in clear plastics can cause learning difficulties
In a recent study that came out in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives had brought out the// detrimental effects of clear plastics on human beings. Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a chemical founding the clear plastics that are used as food grade materials for making air tight containers, drinking water bottles, even feeding bottles for infants. The scientists from Yale School of Medic...Habit Memory May Enhance Learning In People
Learning may be unconscious and happen even when people are not aware of their learning experience//. The research comes out in the July 28, 2005 issue of Nature. Researchers from University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the San Diego Veterans Affairs Health System had undertaken the study to find out if like animals humans could learn through habits formed even when...Learning Just How Different We Are
A very subtle change in the genetic constitution is what makes each one of us unique. If mystery// associated with it is unraveled, then health care can be individualized according to personal needs. Although we all share the same genetic code, how those genes express themselves at individual levels presents a challenge for scientists in developing medicines and dietary advice. Accordi...Learning process to be regulated by altering brain protein
Identification of a new biochemical switch that affects how neurons fire in a part of the brain associated with learning could pave way for better understanding of schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. // A protein named “ Reelin”, an important component of the nervous system has been the focus of the research. During development, reelin sends cues to migrating neurons, telling the...