Hypnosis can serve as a valuable adjunct to certain kinds of psychotherapy, says Steven Lynn, professor of psychology at Binghamton University, State University of New York. But not everyone responds to it equally well.

In the popular imagination, a person who submits to hypnosis falls into a trance. The subject slavishly follows the hypnotist’s commands, perhaps to squawk like a chicken, re-enact events from childhood or develop a lasting aversion to cigarettes. When the su

Chronic inflammation comprises a vast array of diseases that affect millions of people worldwide. Chronic inflammatory diseases include asthma, arthritis, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, autoimmune diseases and allergies, to name but a few.

A common theme to all of the above diseases is that the inflammatory response, originally aimed at recognizing and eliminating foreign “pathogens” or damaging agents, overreacts to them and causes tissue damage that can be detriment

Thanks to a handful of very special mice, scientists have discovered a new tumor suppressor gene and a unique chemical signature implicated in the development of human leukemia, findings that open up a “treasure box” of opportunity and possibility, study authors say.

Researchers in The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center bred a type of mouse that develops acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The mouse first goes through a pre-leukemic stage marked by rapidly expan

Specialized brain cells predict intentions as well as define actions

The road to interpreting intentions is paved with mirror neurons. A study by UCLA neuroscientists featuring functional magnetic resonance imaging and a well-stocked tea service suggests for the first time that mirror neurons help people understand the intentions of others — a key component to social interaction.

Reporting Feb. 22 in the online edition of PLoS Biology, the UCLA team found that pre motor m

In the battle against insect pests, new research indicates that it may all come down to the sense of smell. A group of Rockefeller University scientists who had previously identified a key gene essential for the sense of smell in fruit flies now shows that this gene’s function appears to be evolutionarily conserved across very different insect species.

Research by Leslie Vosshall’s laboratory had previously shown that of 62 odorant-receptor proteins expressed by fruit f

Differing forms of taste genes mean that we all live in our own unique taste world

Why do brussels sprouts taste bitterly repellent to one person and bland – or even delicious – to the next? A study published in the February 22 issue of Current Biology confirms the influential role of genetics in determining the wide range of human sensitivity to taste, ultimately impacting how we each perceive the world in a slightly different way.

“Each human carries their own distincti

How smart is your parakeet or that crow in the back yard? Ask Dr. Louis Lefebvre, inventor of the world’s only comprehensive avian IQ index. His intelligence index is not only separating the featherweights from the big bird brains, it’s also providing clues about why some birds make great immigrants, as well as insight into the parallel evolution of primate and bird brains.

The smarts pecking order is based not on a single bird-in-cage test, but on 2,000 reports of feeding innova

Also protects against bone loss from aging or lack of estrogen

Leaping tall buildings in a single bound may be out of the question, but the genetically engineered “supermice” in Ormond MacDougald’s laboratory at the University of Michigan Medical School are definitely stronger than average. With bone mass up to four times greater than ordinary mice, these research animals could hold the secret to new drugs for preventing or treating osteoporosis and other human diseases.

Scientists at Jefferson Medical College and Mount Sinai School of Medicine have identified a protein that plays a leading part in triggering kidney disease in diabetic patients, a condition known as diabetic nephropathy and the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide. The finding, which they report February 22 in the journal PLoS Medicine, could lead to the eventual development of compounds that might be used to treat diabetic kidney disease.

According to study co-author K

Don’t stop and smell the roses: “blinding” an insect’s sense of smell may be the best repellent, according to research by Rockefeller University scientists “Pest insects have a profound negative impact on agriculture and human health,” says Rockefeller University’s Leslie Vosshall, Ph.D. “They are responsible for global losses of crops and stored agricultural products as well as the spread of many diseases.”

In the heated battle between people and insect pests, Vosshall and collea

New findings by Swedish and German scientists on the regulation of cellular growth are published in the March issue of Nature Cell Biology.

A greatly increased synthesis of new proteins is one of the first and most important events that occur in both normal and tumour cells upon growth stimulation.

The new proteins are formed in the part of the cell known as the ribosome. Assembly of ribosomes requires coordinated activation of genes that is mainly performed by two enz

Nature utilizes energy from the sun for its production. Some algae produce hydrogen from water with the help of solar energy. So why not imitate nature to extract renewable energy without harming the environment? The EU is now giving European research a boost by allocating €1.8 million to a new network to be led by Uppsala University.

Plant photosynthesis has long been studied with an eye to understanding its underlying mechanisms and then applying this knowledge to the product

How can workers be protected from detrimental production factors? Russian researchers have come to the conclusion that this can be done by a large number of actively working ribosomal genes.

Specialists of the Chair of Genetics, Kemerovo State University, have discovered that people with a large number of actively working ribosomal genes are found more frequently among workers of the by-product coke plant than among ordinary townsmen (ribosomal genes are responsible for the ribosom

Stomach ulcer not only aches, it also fluoresce. Russian researchers believe that the brighter the fluorescence is, the less chances the patient has to do without the operation.

Specialists of the Moscow Regional Scientific-Research Clinical Institute “MONIKI” named after M.F. Vladimirsky and the Chair of Biophysics, Russian State Medical University, have developed a fiber-optic spectrum analyzer that allows to measure intensity of fluorescence from the surface of the gastroint

Extremophiles are microbes that live in conditions that other creatures can’t. Most archaea, some bacteria and a few protists are able to survive in the harshest environments; colder than ice and hotter than steam; environments without light or without water and environments of great physical or osmotic pressure. This issue looks at how Extremophiles are able survive and what we can learn from them.

The February issue also contains the Biochemical Society’s Graduate Emp

A groundbreaking new treatment to combat the hospital killer bug MRSA, which is estimated to cause up to 5,000 deaths a year in Britain, is being developed by a University of Sussex scientist.

Philip Parsons, a professor of organic chemistry, has devised a simple “one-pot” method to make a synthetic version of a natural antibiotic, lactonamycin, which could be used to treat infected patients. He has now received a £280,000 grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research