Washington, October 10: Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Florida Atlantic University say that they have adapted a technique originally developed for economic study to determine the flow of information from one part of the brain to another.

Writing about the use of the technique called Granger causality in The Journal of Neuroscience, the researchers said that it could provide important insights into brain organization and function, advancing efforts to help patients recover from brain injuries and mental disorders.

Washington, October 10: A new imaging study has revealed that the battle between lure of reward and fear of failure is rooted in the brain’s architecture.

Neuroscientists at the USC Brain and Creativity Institute claim to have identified distinct brain regions with competing responses to risk, both of which are located in the prefrontal cortex, an area behind the forehead involved in analysis and planning.

During the study, the researchers gave volunteers a task that measures risk tolerance, and observed their reactions with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Washington, October 8: UAB and CSIC researchers have developed a new material that can be used to manufacture smaller and faster computers.

The researchers have revealed that the new material is based on supernets formed with two alternative layers, one made of silicon (Si) and the other of germanium (Ge) nanocrystals (quantum dots).

Their project proposes to place the quantum dots in such a fashion that the dots on one layer would not be vertically aligned with those of the lower layer.

According to them, this can be achieved by introducing a small sub-layer of carbon between each layer of silicon and Ge nanodots, which hides the information of the quantum dots found on the lower levels.

Washington, October 9: Researchers at Rutgers University in Newark are examining how people are able to identify the emotional state and intent of others by watching their body movements, such as extending an arm forward to shake hands or raising it higher to protect the face.

Maggie Shiffrar, a professor of psychology, has revealed that the study has been designed to assist the U. S. Department of Homeland Security in identifying possible terrorist threats from the way people move their bodies, and to provide deeper insight into how autistic individuals perceive others.

Washington, Oct 9: Scientists at the University of Maryland in the US are hoping to predict disease outbreaks like cholera epidemics four to six weeks before they actually happen, by looking a satellite imagery.

According to a report in Discovery News, the research could help save lives worldwide, and could be used to develop other models to predict other seasonal or climate-driven infectious diseases.

“Predicting the conditions that trigger cholera outbreaks in coastal regions could be very valuable for public health,” said Rita Colwell, a University of Maryland scientist who has studied cholera for decades.

“If we see this coming, we could go into these areas with bottled water and medication to save lives,” she added.

Washington, October 9: Indian-origin researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have determined the crystal structure of a beneficial virus, known as Seneca Valley Virus-001.

Associate Professor Vijay S. Reddy, the study''s senior author, says that that the three-dimensional structure of the virus reveals that it is unlike any other known member of the Picornaviridae viral family, and confirms its recent designation as a separate genus "Senecavirus".