http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Researchers reporting online on July 26 in Current Biology have for the first time shown that they can control the behavior of monkeys by using pulses of blue light to very specifically activate particular brain cells. The findings represent a key advance for optogenetics, a state-of-the-art method for making causal connections between brain activity and behavior. Based on the discovery, the researchers say that similar light-based mind control could likely also be made to work in humans for therapeutic ends. http://phys.org/news262517940.html Biology Thu, 26 Jul 2012 12:20:11 EST news262517940 (Phys.org) -- In the quest to better understand how people learn to communicate, researchers have focused on different parts of the brain. In so doing, they’ve discovered two parts in particular that are involved in language processing and speech vocalization: Wernicke’s and Broca’s area respectively. Now new research shows that a type of songbird, the zebra finch, has analogous regions in its brain. The first called the NCM appears to be involved in processing the songs of its father when young, while the HVC is involved in song vocalization in finches of all ages. http://phys.org/news261726300.html Biology Tue, 17 Jul 2012 07:20:02 EST news261726300 The lengthening of days in late winter is an important signal that stimulates the reproductive activity of many animals. Animals living in the milder climatic conditions of southern Europe usually begin breeding earlier in spring compared to animals living in colder habitats further north. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and colleagues have now discovered that day length affects gene activity differentially in the brain of great tit populations from central and North Europe. This is particularly important because climate change has resulted in warmer temperatures in spring, and therefore day length has become a less reliable signal for the coming of spring. Since warmer spring temperatures also cause the insects that the birds need to feed their young to be available sooner, birds will have to change their breeding schedules accordingly. http://phys.org/news254481932.html Biology Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:25:38 EST news254481932 The emotions of rats and mice and the mental infrastructure behind them promise to illuminate the nature of human emotions, including empathy and nurturance, a Washington State University neuroscientist writes in this Friday's issue of the journal Science. http://phys.org/news242574401.html Biology Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:00:26 EST news242574401 New research in the UK on rhesus macaque monkeys has found for the first time that if they live in larger groups they develop more gray matter in parts of the brain involved in processing information on social interactions. http://phys.org/news239594282.html Other Sciences Fri, 04 Nov 2011 05:00:01 EST news239594282 Scientists at the University of Plymouth have shown, for the first time in an animal, that nanoparticles have a detrimental effect on the brain and other parts of the central nervous system. http://phys.org/news235620826.html Nanotechnology Mon, 19 Sep 2011 03:14:24 EST news235620826 University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have solved the mystery surrounding a "rogue protein" that plays a role in the release of neurotransmitters and hormones in the brain. http://phys.org/news150904539.html Medicine & Health Sun, 11 Jan 2009 13:55:39 EST news150904539