By introducing expression of a special green-algae gene into neurons of the tiny, transparent nematode C. elegans, researchers have been able to elicit specific behavioral responses by simply illuminating animals with blue light. The work paves the way for better understanding of how neurons communicate with each other, and with muscles, to regulate behavior in intact, living organisms. Generally speaking, detailed information about the activity and function of specific neurons during particular behaviors has been difficult to achieve in undissected animals.
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Socially informed perceptions of which foods are appropriate to eat, when they should be eaten and how much should be consumed have a greater impact on our food intake than feelings of hunger or fullness, says a University of Toronto review paper published in Physiology & Behavior.
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He was the king — and kingmaker — of New York’s Silicon Alley, a new-media cheerleader turned media mogul. Then the bubble burst — but he’s back. By Eryn Brown of Wired magazine.
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Xbox 360, Video iPod, PSP, nano, Treo 650: How do they stack up? See our list (hot), with its five-point rating system (smokin’). By Robert Strohmeyer.
Plus: For more gadget news, check out the Wired News blog Gear Factor.
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NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered some of life’s most basic ingredients in the dust swirling around a young star. The ingredients - gaseous precursors to DNA and protein - were detected in the star’s terrestrial planet zone, a region where rocky planets such as Earth are thought to be born. The findings represent the first time that these gases, called acetylene and hydrogen cyanide, have been found in a terrestrial planet zone outside of our own.
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Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found two genes that are essential for the proper development of muscle.
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New York University School of Medicine researchers provide some of the most compelling evidence yet that long-term exposure to air pollution–even at levels within federal standards–causes heart disease. Previous studies have linked air pollution to cardiovascular disease but until now it was poorly understood how pollution damaged the body’s blood vessels.
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A Mayo Clinic study has found patients report less back pain at rest and while active following vertebroplasty, a procedure in which medical cement is injected into painful compression fractures in the spinal vertebrae due to osteoporosis.
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At an altitude of 63,000 feet, the Freeflight Atmospheric Scramjet Test Technique (FASTT) vehicle became the first air-breathing, liquid hydrocarbon fuel-powered scramjet engine to fly.
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