A Blog Around The Clock

Sleep Selectively Preserves Emotional Memories:

As poets, songwriters and authors have described, our memories range from misty water-colored recollections to vividly detailed images of the times of our lives. Now, a study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Boston College offers new insights into the specific components of emotional memories, suggesting that sleep plays a key role in determining what we remember - and what we forget.

Hard Day's Night? Enhancing The Work-life Balance Of Shift Workers:

Introducing a Compressed Working Week may enhance the work-life balance of shift workers without damaging productivity or competitiveness suggests a new systematic review published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Causes For Sexual Dysfunction Change As People Age:

Sexual dysfunction is not an inevitable part of aging, but it is strongly related a number of factors, such as mental and physical health, demographics and lifetime experiences, many of which are interrelated, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Chicago.

Microbes, By Latitudes And Altitudes, Shed New Light On Life's Diversity:

Microbial biologists, including the University of Oregon's Jessica L. Green, may not have Jimmy Buffett's music from 1977 in mind, but they are changing attitudes about evolutionary diversity on Earth, from oceanic latitudes to mountainous altitudes.

Is It Too Late To Save The Great Migrations?:

Long gone are the days when hundreds of thousands of bison grazed the Great Plains, millions of passenger pigeons darkened the skies while migrating to and from their breeding grounds, and some 12.5 trillion Rocky Mountain locusts crowded an area exceeding the size of California.

How Flesh-eating Bacteria Attack The Body's Immune System:

"Flesh-eating" or "Strep" bacteria are able to survive and spread in the body by degrading a key immune defense molecule, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

How DNA Repairs Can Reshape Genome, Spawn New Species:

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center and at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) have shown how broken sections of chromosomes can recombine to change genomes and spawn new species.

Cocaine-induced Synaptic Plasticity Linked To Persistent Addictive Behaviors:

The persistent nature of addiction is its most devastating feature. Understanding the mechanism underlying this phenomenon is the key for designing efficient therapy.

Oil And Gas Projects In Western Amazon Threaten Biodiversity And Indigenous Peoples:

The western Amazon, home to the most biodiverse and intact rainforest left on Earth, may soon be covered with oil rigs and pipelines.

Southern Ocean Seals Dive Deep For Climate Data:

According to a paper published today by a team of French, Australian, US and British scientists in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, elephant seals fitted with special oceanographic sensors are providing a 30-fold increase in data recorded in parts of the Southern Ocean rarely observed using traditional ocean monitoring techniques.