Williams syndrome (WS) was first described in 1961 by New Zealand cardiologist John Williams. It is mostly caused by the microdeletion 7q11.23, a loss of a fragment of genetic material on chromosome 7. It is usually a “de novo” mutation, that is, it is not inherited from the parents, but rather arises in that child […]
Range tightened for dark matter’s mass New calculations using quantum gravity have narrowed the possible range for the mass of dark matter particles, suggesting the mass can’t be very light nor very heavy. “This piece of research helps physicists in two ways: It focuses the search area for dark matter, and it will potentially also […]
Today, computational chemistry helps the experimental chemist understand experimental data, explore reaction mechanisms or predict completely new molecules. There is no doubt that understanding at the molecular level will ultimately lead to an ab initio process design. Thus, the solution of the quantum mechanical many-electron problem is one of the central problems of physics and […]
From advertising to the workplace, it is often assumed that men and women are fundamentally different – from Mars and Venus, respectively. Of course, we all know people who are more androgynous, having a mix of personality traits that are stereotypically considered to be male or female. Importantly, such “psychological androgyny” has long been associated […]
The intranasal route is a rapid, efficient and direct way for different biological agents, small molecules, drugs and chemical compounds to reach the brain. It seems amazing, but people that snort a line of coke already knew that… To date, its mechanism of diffusion is believed to be using either olfactory nerve tracts or dense […]
What can we learn from 2 giant radio galaxies? The discovery of a pair of giant radio galaxies in a relatively small area has astronomers wondering if such massive galaxies are more common than previously thought. “We suspect that many more galaxies like these should exist, because of the way we think galaxies grow and […]
Honouring a secular tradition in the physical sciences, that of the Boltzmann constant (created by Planck) and the Avogadro constant (created by Cannizaro), the Auger effect was discovered by Lise Meitner in 1922 and rediscovered by Pierre Auger in 1923. The effect consists in the ejection of an electron from an atom without the emission […]
Hollywood blockbusters such as X-men, Gattaca and Jurassic World have explored the intriguing concept of “germline genome editing” – a biomolecular technique that can alter the DNA of sperm, eggs or embryos. If you remove a gene that causes a certain disease in an embryo, not only will the baby be free of the disease […]
Depression is a psychiatric and psychological diagnosis that describes a temporary or permanent mood disorder characterized by feelings of dejection, unhappiness and guilt. Depressed people show a low mood and an aversion to activity and are characterized by sadness, difficulty thinking and concentrating, and a significant increase or decrease in appetite and time spent sleeping […]
Arguments use more brain space Disagreements take up more real estate in the brain than agreements. After measuring brain activity in pairs of people either agreeing or disagreeing during discussions, researchers found that agreements activated sensory brain regions, while arguments activated cognitive regions, such as the frontal lobes. Yale Daily News Pack hunting amps up […]