Twelve-month-old infants can use previous observations as a basis to understand new interactions, although five-month-olds cannot, according to a Yale study.

“This finding shows not only that one-year-old infants are paying attention to the actions of others, but that they can focus on a behavior in one scene and use that information to interpret behavior in a different scene,” said Valerie Kuhlmeier, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology and lead author of the study

Exercise enthusiasts have more reasons to put on their running shoes in the morning, but an Oregon Health & Science University scientist says they shouldn’t step up their work-outs just yet.

A study published today in the journal Neuroscience, journal of the International Brain Research Organization, confirmed that exercise increases the chemical BDNF – brain-derived neurotrophic factor – in the hippocampus, a curved, elongated ridge in the brain that controls learning and memory. BDNF

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have tested and validated novel proteins, created by California-based Xencor, that block activity of a major molecule involved in the onset of inflammation, an innovation that may translate into new therapeutic options for people with rheumatoid arthritis.

Researchers at both institutions report in today’s issue of Science that blocking the activation of a regulator of inflammation called tumor necrosis factor (TNF) decreased swel

Allowing sex selection for social reasons would be highly unlikely to skew the gender balance – at least in Germany and the UK – according to new research published today (Thursday 25 September) in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction[1].

Surveys of more than 1,000 men and women in each country did reveal differences between the two countries, with the British expressing stronger gender preferences and the Germans being more relaxed about the sex of their

Managers about to add new computer-based systems should be aware: a technology that fosters access and coordination will be embraced by workers while one that controls behavior to increase productivity will be rejected, say two Penn State researchers who studied how workers adopted IT tools such as software, cell phones and other Internet applications.

“We have this production view of the world in which new software will improve workers’ efficiencies and effectiveness, but new technolo

A team of ten CSIRO researchers has helped Canadian oil company InterOil find exciting new oil shows in Papua New Guinea.

This early success follows from a vigorous exploration program, conducted in an ongoing research partnership with CSIRO’s Petroleum Division. The CSIRO studies have been critical to this result, consolidating evidence for a new petroleum system in InterOil’s exploration Licenses.

In late July InterOil announced finding fourteen oil shows through 135 me

Transitioning through menopause is not accompanied by a decline in working memory and perceptual speed, according to a study appearing in the Sept. 23 issue of Neurology Journal. In the study, led by researchers at the Department of Preventive Medicine, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago, 803 randomly selected Chicago-area African American and white women aged 40 to 55 were tested annually for loss of brain function over the course of six years. The study, begun in 1996, is t

After working at it for the past decade, gerontologist and Dean of the Decker School of Nursing Sarah Gueldner has led a team of colleagues from institutions the world over in the development of a unique research tool to quantifiably measure almost anyone’s sense of well-being. Refined across four countries and three continents, with the help of more than 3,000 study participants, the instrument looks as if it was torn from the pages of a children’s coloring book and can be completed with a crayon.

The Biosciences Federation, an umbrella organisation representing over 60,000 life scientists, will be launched today at the House of Lords.

The Federation has been formed by an amalgamation of the Institute of Biology and the UK Life Sciences Committee.

It has over 20 member societies, in disciplines as disparate as ecology and neuroscience.

The main aims of the Federation are to promote dialogue between life scientists and to provide a single coherent voice for bioscient

Using a video game featuring a yellow taxi, virtual city and human players with electrodes embedded in their memory banks, neuroscientists at UCLA and Brandeis University have discovered how three types of brain cells interact to help people navigate the real world.

Published in the Sept. 11 edition of the peer-reviewed journal Nature, the findings offer unique information about how human memory works and present new avenues of investigation for treatment of memory disorders such as Alzheim

An IBM study released today reveals that companies in the electronics industry who adopt a flexible, adaptive, on-demand business model can produce up to twice the revenue per employee and more than twice the operating income per employee than less mature companies.

According to the study, The On Demand Outlook for the Electronics Industry, average revenue per employee for electronics companies surveyed for the period 1998-2002 was about US$300,000 for companies implementing on-deman

More than 220 ideas for making European scientific endeavours and policies better known, understood and more attractive to the young and to the public at large are published today on the Web by the European Commission’s research and innovation information service CORDIS (www.cordis.lu/eoi/science-society/).

These ideas, initiated by citizens, public and private bodies, research and civil society organisations, as well as by the media, in 29 countries, represent the impressive results from a

Both fathers and mothers have distressing thoughts after the birth of a baby, according to a new Mayo Clinic study published in the Sept. 3 issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings.

In a survey mailed to 300 childbearing women and their partners, participants were asked to report distressing thoughts, such as “My baby is going to die from SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome)” or “What if I drown my baby while bathing her?” Overall, seven categories of thoughts were st

New statistical research carried out by a team of experts at the University of Southampton suggests that the number of people dying as a result of diabetes may be directly influenced by ‘male macho attitudes’.

Professors Robert Peveler and Colin Pritchard of the Mental Health research unit at the University’s School of Medicine found that during the period studied (1974-1997) while the numbers of youth and young adults dying from diabetes fell, there was still a disproportionately higher de

Staying healthy may involve more than washing hands or keeping a positive attitude. According to a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, it also may involve a particular pattern of brain activity.

By monitoring activity levels in the human brain’s prefrontal cortex, the researchers demonstrate for the first time that people who have more activity in the left side of this area also have a stronger immune response against disease. The findings, soon to be published i

You need to have thought of almost every eventuality when landing on a distant moon in a remote corner of the Solar System. You must have tested your spacecraft to its limits to be sure it will withstand the extreme conditions expected on Titan, a moon of Saturn.

Moreover, you have to gather in advance as much information as you can about the way your instruments will work in those conditions. It is only when the scientific instruments work properly that you can say your mission has been suc