News on New Male Contraceptive Pill
Razi Berry In a new paper published by Nature Communications, The Lundquist Institute (TLI) Investigator Wei Yan, MD, PhD, and his research colleagues spell out an innovative strategy that has led to the discovery of a natural compound as a safe, effective and reversible male contraceptive agent in pre-clinical animal models. Despite tremendous efforts over […]
Intellectual Disability is Second Greatest Risk for Death From COVID-19
Razi Berry Intellectual disability puts individuals at higher risk of dying earlier in life than the general population, for a variety of medical and institutional reasons. A new study from Jefferson Health examined how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected this group, which makes up 1-3% of the US population. The study, published today in the […]
How to Improve the Way you ‘Daydream’
Razi Berry Did you daydream as a kid, maybe even get in trouble for it? If you find it harder to be pleasantly lost in your thoughts these days, you’re not alone. “This is part of our cognitive toolkit that’s underdeveloped, and it’s kind of sad,” said Erin Westgate, Ph.D., a University of Florida psychology […]
Whole Body Spring Cleaning
Dr Nicola Dehlinger, ND We’re starting to get our first tastes of spring, and it is such a balm for body, mind and soul! It can also bring allergies, irritability (spring fever), and a desire to deep clean everything. This is the perfect time to take a few days and tend to the ultimate home […]
Catnip as a Bug Repellant
Razi Berry New collaborative research from Northwestern University and Lund University may have people heading to their backyard instead of the store at the outset of this year’s mosquito season. Often used as an additive for cat toys and treats due to its euphoric and hallucinogenic effects on cats, catnip has also long been known […]
Microbes in Sea Survive in Radioactive Environments
Razi Berry A team of researchers from the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography and their collaborators have revealed that the abundant microbes living in ancient sediment below the seafloor are sustained primarily by chemicals created by the natural irradiation of water molecules. The team discovered that the creation of these chemicals is […]
Sewage Tells What Countries Do Most Designer Drugs
Razi Berry Despite deaths and hospitalizations linked to many new psychoactive substances (NPS), an international wastewater study led by the University of South Australia shows just how prevalent ‘party pills’ and ‘bath salts’ are in different parts of the world. In a new paper published in Water Research, the world’s most comprehensive wastewater analysis of […]
Sleep is Crucial to Memory
Razi Berry When you slip into sleep, it’s easy to imagine that your brain shuts down, but University of Michigan research suggests that groups of neurons activated during prior learning keep humming, tattooing memories into your brain. U-M researchers have been studying how memories associated with a specific sensory event are formed and stored in […]
New Brain Model Reveals How Our Eyesight Can ‘Trick’ Us
Razi Berry A computer network closely modelled on part of the human brain is enabling new insights into the way our brains process moving images — and explains some perplexing optical illusions. By using decades’ worth of data from human motion perception studies, researchers have trained an artificial neural network to estimate the speed and […]
Social Media is Just Like Any Other ‘Addiction’
Razi Berry Our use of social media, specifically our efforts to maximize “likes,” follows a pattern of “reward learning,” concludes a new study by an international team of scientists. Its findings, which appear in the journal Nature Communications, reveal parallels with the behavior of animals, such as rats, in seeking food rewards. “These results establish […]