News tagged with current biology

Do bacteria age? Biologists discover the answer follows simple economics

When a bacterial cell divides into two daughter cells and those two cells divide into four more daughters, then 8, then 16 and so on, the result, biologists have long assumed, is an eternally youthful population of bacteria. ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Oct 27, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (30) | comments 15 | with audio podcast

Political views are reflected in brain structure

We all know that people at opposite ends of the political spectrum often really can't see eye to eye. Now, a new report published online on April 7th in Current Biology reveals that those differences in political orientation are ti ...

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Apr 07, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (22) | comments 116 | with audio podcast

Bigger not necessarily better, when it comes to brains

(PhysOrg.com) -- Tiny insects could be as intelligent as much bigger animals, despite only having a brain the size of a pinhead, say scientists at Queen Mary, University of London.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 17, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (20) | comments 12

When social fear is missing, so are racial stereotypes

Children with the genetic condition known as Williams syndrome have unusually friendly natures because they lack the sense of fear that the rest of us feel in many social situations. Now, a study reported in the April 13th ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Apr 12, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (18) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Could a computer one day rewire itself? New nanomaterial ‘steers’ current in multiple dimensions

Scientists at Northwestern University have developed a new nanomaterial that can "steer" electrical currents. The development could lead to a computer that can simply reconfigure its internal wiring and become an entirely ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Oct 16, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (16) | comments 17 | with audio podcast

Study reveals why our ancestors switched to bipedal power

(PhysOrg.com) -- Our earliest ancestors may have started walking on two limbs instead of four in a bid to monopolise resources and to carry as much food as possible in one go, researchers have found.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Mar 20, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (15) | comments 12 | with audio podcast

To learn better, take a nap (and don't forget to dream)

Researchers reporting online on April 22nd in Current Biology offer more evidence that successful study habits should include plenty of napping. They found that people who take a nap and dream about a task ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Apr 22, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (14) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Sawfishes sure can wield a saw (w/ video)

Sawfishes wouldn't be sawfishes if they didn't come equipped with long toothy snouts—their saws. Now, researchers reporting in the March 6 issue of Current Biology, have figured out what they use those saws for, and it ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Mar 05, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (15) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Perceptual changes - a key to our consciousness

(PhysOrg.com) -- With his coat billowing behind him and his right eye tightly closed, Captain Blackbeard watches the endless sea with his telescope. Suddenly the sea disappears as the pirate opens his right ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Nov 19, 2010 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (14) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

JPEG for the mind: How the brain compresses visual information

Most of us are familiar with the idea of image compression in computers. File extensions like ".jpg" or ".png" signify that millions of pixel values have been compressed into a more efficient format, reducing ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Feb 10, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (14) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Electrical brain stimulation improves math skills

By applying electrical current to the brain, researchers reporting online on November 4 in Current Biology, have shown that they could enhance a person's mathematical performance for up to 6 months withou ...

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Nov 04, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (13) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Differences in human and Neanderthal brains set in just after birth

(PhysOrg.com) -- The brains of newborn humans and Neanderthals are about the same size and appear rather similar overall. It's mainly after birth, and specifically in the first year of life, that the differences ...

Biology / Evolution

created Nov 08, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (13) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers reshape basic understanding of cell division

By tracking the flow of information in a cell preparing to split, Johns Hopkins scientists have identified a protein mechanism that coordinates and regulates the dynamics of shape change necessary for division of a single ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 05, 2010 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (12) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

'Peter Pan' Apes Never Seem To Learn Selfishness

(PhysOrg.com) -- Sharing is a behavior on which day care workers and kindergarten teachers tend to offer young humans a lot of coaching. But for our ape cousins the bonobos, sharing just comes naturally.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Feb 01, 2010 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (15) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Video games lead to faster decisions that are no less accurate

Cognitive scientists from the University of Rochester have discovered that playing action video games trains people to make the right decisions faster. The researchers found that video game players develop ...

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Sep 13, 2010 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (13) | comments 19 | with audio podcast

Current Biology

Current Biology is a scientific journal that covers all areas of biology, especially molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, neurobiology, ecology and evolutionary biology. The journal is published twice a month and includes peer-reviewed research articles, various types of review articles, as well as an editorial magazine section. Current Biology was founded in 1992 by the Current Science group, acquired by Elsevier in 1998 and has since 2001 been part of Cell Press, a subdivision of Elsevier. Its current Editor is Geoffrey North and the 2006 impact factor is 11.

For more information about Current Biology, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: brain , genes , fruit flies , fish , brain regions