http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- By building a tiny microscope small enough to be carried around on a rats' head, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany, have found a way to study the complex activity of many brain cells simultaneously while animals are free to move around. http://www.physorg.com/news176455156.html Biology Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:20:01 EST news176455156 (PhysOrg.com) -- Despite a 30-year lifespan that gives ample time for cells to grow cancerous, a small rodent species called a naked mole rat has never been found with tumors of any kind -and now biologists at the University of Rochester think they know why. http://www.physorg.com/news175792057.html Biology Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:40:01 EST news175792057 When do you first leave the nest? Early in development infants of many species experience important transitions -such as learning when to leave the protective presence of their mother to start exploring the wider world. Neuroscientists have now pinpointed molecular events occurring in the brain during that turning point. http://www.physorg.com/news175776769.html Medicine & Health Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:53:32 EST news175776769 (PhysOrg.com) -- If people can learn anything from rats, what to eat might be one of the most useful lessons. University of South Florida Professor David Diamond, in the Departments of Psychology, Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, and a career scientist at the Tampa VA Hospital, investigated the effects of a typical American diet, which is high in fat and sugar, compared to an Atkins-type diet, which is high in animal and vegetable fat but low in sugar, on the physiology and behavior of rats. Lesson learned: choosing between the so-called American diet and the Atkins diet can make a difference in managing weight and one`s response to stress. They found that rats fed the American diet exhibited greater anxiety and gained more weight than rats which were fed either the Atkins diet or a control diet, which was low in both fat and sugar. http://www.physorg.com/news175187601.html Medicine & Health Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:30:02 EST news175187601 Over-expressing a gene that lets brain cells communicate just a fraction of a second longer makes a smarter rat, report researchers from the Medical College of Georgia and East China Normal University. http://www.physorg.com/news175175805.html Biology Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:50:21 EST news175175805 An F1000 evaluation looks at a Canadian study on how giving caffeine to newborn rats has a long-lasting and detrimental effect on sleep and breathing in adulthood. http://www.physorg.com/news174219306.html Medicine & Health Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:40:05 EST news174219306 (PhysOrg.com) -- Picture this. A bunch of adolescent rats walk into a bar and start consuming Jell-O shots. Lots of them. http://www.physorg.com/news172767645.html Medicine & Health Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:01:35 EST news172767645 UCLA researchers have discovered that a combination of drugs, electrical stimulation and regular exercise can enable paralyzed rats to walk and even run again while supporting their full weight on a treadmill. http://www.physorg.com/news172672409.html Medicine & Health Sun, 20 Sep 2009 13:34:11 EST news172672409 (PhysOrg.com) -- Every year, for two weeks in the Arizona desert at Black Point Lava Flow, NASA's Desert Research and Technology Studies group (Desert RATS) conducts technology development tests in anticipation of lunar exploration. Teams of engineers and geologists from several NASA laboratories as well as a variety of private and academic partners participated in this year's test, including two key members from ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE). http://www.physorg.com/news172340440.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:00:01 EST news172340440 As part of efforts to understand drug abuse, Georgia State University researchers are finding that adolescent rats appear to be less vulnerable to the long-term effects of withdrawal and relapse in certain types of drug use than rats that take the drugs in adulthood. http://www.physorg.com/news172337762.html Medicine & Health Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:50:01 EST news172337762 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA has concluded two weeks of technology development tests on two of the agency's prototype lunar rovers. http://www.physorg.com/news172323843.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:46:12 EST news172323843 (PhysOrg.com) -- To prepare for human exploration of the moon and other destinations in our solar system, NASA is conducting a field test of rovers and equipment at an Earthly site in the Arizona desert. Hundreds of students are invited to experience it. http://www.physorg.com/news171896246.html Space & Earth Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:58:07 EST news171896246 Scientists led a rat to the fatty food, but they couldn't make it eat. Using an animal model of binge eating, University of Missouri researchers discovered that deactivating the basolateral amygdala, a brain region involved in regulating emotion, specifically blocked consumption of a fatty diet. Surprisingly, it had no effect on the rat wanting to look for the food repeatedly. http://www.physorg.com/news171643402.html Medicine & Health Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:30:01 EST news171643402 Although exercise is good for your health, extreme exercise may be physically addicting. Rats given a drug that produces withdrawal in heroin addicts went into withdrawal after running excessively in exercise wheels, according to new research. Rats that ran the hardest had the most severe withdrawal symptoms. http://www.physorg.com/news169735182.html Medicine & Health Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:50:01 EST news169735182 Rats fed a high-fat diet show a stark reduction in their physical endurance and a decline in their cognitive ability after just nine days, a study by Oxford University researchers has shown. http://www.physorg.com/news169209397.html Medicine & Health Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:00:04 EST news169209397 Chronic stress rewires the brains of rats to make them creatures of habit who make rote decisions instead of changing their behavior to gain rewards, a study published Thursday has found. http://www.physorg.com/news168188476.html Medicine & Health Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:50:01 EST news168188476 A UCLA study has discovered that chronic exposure during pregnancy to miniscule levels of carbon monoxide damages the cells of the fetal brain, resulting in permanent impairment. The journal BMC (BioMed Central) Neuroscience published the findings June 22 in its online edition. http://www.physorg.com/news165146334.html Medicine & Health Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:01:40 EST news165146334 New research from North Carolina State University and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) shows significant reproductive health effects in rats that have been exposed to bisphenol-A (BPA) at levels equivalent to or below the dose that has been thought not to produce any adverse effects. http://www.physorg.com/news164453865.html Medicine & Health Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:38:23 EST news164453865 In what could be a breakthrough in animal breeding, a team of scientists from Germany, Russia and Sweden have discovered a set of genetic regions responsible for animal tameness. This discovery, published in the June 2009 issue of the journal GENETICS, should help animal breeders, farmers, zoologists, and anyone else who handles and raises animals to more fully understand what makes some animals interact with humans better than do others. It may also lead to more precise breeding strategies designed to pass specific genes from one generation to the next as a way to produce tame animals. http://www.physorg.com/news163690355.html Biology Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:32:53 EST news163690355 Agnes Guillot dreams of one day seeing a giant 50-centimetre (20-inch) -long white rat called Psikharpax scuttling fearlessly around her lab. http://www.physorg.com/news163591762.html Electronics Sun, 07 Jun 2009 11:10:50 EST news163591762 Theta oscillations are a type of prominent brain rhythm that orchestrates neuronal activity in the hippocampus, a brain area critical for the formation of new memories. For several decades these oscillations were believed to be "in sync" across the hippocampus, timing the firing of neurons like a sort of central pacemaker. A new study conducted by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) argues that this long-held assumption needs to be revised. In a paper published in this week's issue of the journal Nature, the researchers showed that instead of being in sync, theta oscillations actually sweep along the length of the hippocampus as traveling waves. http://www.physorg.com/news162822140.html Medicine & Health Fri, 29 May 2009 13:22:58 EST news162822140 When someone becomes dependent on drugs or alcohol, the brain's pleasure center gets hijacked, disrupting the normal functioning of its reward circuitry. http://www.physorg.com/news162739866.html Medicine & Health Thu, 28 May 2009 14:31:33 EST news162739866 In the rat race of life, one thing is certain: there's no place like home. Now, a study just released in Molecular Ecology finds the same is true for rats. Although inner city rodents appear to roam freely, most form distinct neighborhoods where they spend the majority of their lives. http://www.physorg.com/news162553394.html Biology Tue, 26 May 2009 10:43:54 EST news162553394 Improving the environment in which rats are reared can significantly strengthen the physiological process of wound healing, according to a report in the online, open-access, peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE. http://www.physorg.com/news161412752.html Medicine & Health Wed, 13 May 2009 05:52:59 EST news161412752 New research on a brain chemical involved in development sheds light on why some individuals may be predisposed to anxiety. It also strengthens understanding of cellular processes that may be common to anxiety and depression, and suggests how lifestyle changes may help overcome both. http://www.physorg.com/news161367803.html Medicine & Health Tue, 12 May 2009 17:23:53 EST news161367803 University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers have discovered that a form of vitamin B1 could become a new and effective treatment for one of the world's leading causes of blindness. http://www.physorg.com/news159729742.html Medicine & Health Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:23:49 EST news159729742 Jet lag is the bane of many travelers, and similar fatigue can plague people who work in rotating shifts. Scientists know the problem results from disruption to the body's normal rhythms and are getting closer to a better understanding that might lead to more effective treatment. http://www.physorg.com/news159106695.html Medicine & Health Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:18:41 EST news159106695 If someone ever calls you a "dirty rat," consider it a compliment. A new discovery published online in the FASEB Journal shows that cellular mechanisms used by the blind mole rat to survive the very low oxygen environment of its subterranean niche are the same as those that tumors use to thrive deep in our tissues. The net effect of this discovery is two-fold: first the blind mole rat can serve a "living tumor" in cancer research; and -perhaps more important -that unique gene in the blind mole rat becomes a prime target for new anti-cancer drugs that can "suffocate" tumors. http://www.physorg.com/news155386021.html Biology Wed, 04 Mar 2009 10:47:22 EST news155386021 A research project at Rice University has brought scientists to the brink of comprehending a long-standing medical mystery that may link cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and perhaps even Alzheimer's disease. http://www.physorg.com/news154100968.html Medicine & Health Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:49:53 EST news154100968 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new neuroimaging study on stressed-out students suggests that male humans, like male rats, don`t do their most agile thinking under stress. The findings, published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that 20 male M.D. candidates in the middle of preparing for their board exams had a harder time shifting their attention from one task to another than other healthy young men who were not under the gun. http://www.physorg.com/news152292294.html Medicine & Health Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:25:28 EST news152292294