The ability to disengage from our own desire to cater to someone else’s wishes is thought to be a unique feature of human cognition. In a study published in the journal, Biology Letters, Prof Clayton and her colleagues challenge this assumption. Despite wanting something different to eat, male Eurasian jays can disengage from their own current desire in order to feed the female what…
The stress of growing up in a poor and unstable household affects children as young as 9 years old on a genetic level, shortening a portion of their chromosomes that scientists say is a key indicator of aging and illness, according to a study released Monday. The researchers say their findings are the first that document this type of genetic change…
One in a thousand children in the United States is deaf, and one in three adults will experience significant hearing loss after the age of 65. Whether the result of genetic or environmental factors, hearing loss costs billions of dollars in healthcare expenses every year, making the search for a cure critical. Now a team of researchers led by Karen…
ISG Director, Eric Vilain, and his research team have published a paper titled “Mutant Cohesin in Premature Ovarian Failure” in the premier medical journal New England Journal of Medicine SUMMARY: Premature ovarian failure is a major cause of female infertility. The genetic causes of this disorder remain unknown in most patients. Using whole-exome sequence analysis of a large consanguineous family with inherited…
Why does a mouse’s heart beat about the same number of times in its lifetime as an elephant’s, although the mouse lives about a year, while an elephant sees 70 winters come and go? Why do small plants and animals mature faster than large ones? Why has nature chosen such radically different forms as the loose-limbed beauty of a flowering…
For the first time, scientists at King’s College London have identified a gene linking the thickness of the grey matter in the brain to intelligence. The study is published today in Molecular Psychiatry and may help scientists understand biological mechanisms behind some forms of intellectual impairment. The researchers looked at the cerebral cortex, the outermost layer of the human brain.…