Category Biology/Biotechnology

In Feb 2015, the photo of a striped dress stirred a worldwide internet debate ; now, neuroscientists have further decoded the phenomenon, demonstrating optical illusion is linked to specific brain activation patterns.

For some, it is black-blue, for others, it is white-gold. In a fMRI study, the neuroplasticity group headed by Prof. T. Schmidt-Wilcke solved the riddle of the illusion. In no time at all, the dress had captured the attention of media and scientists worldwide. Many research institutes have explored the phenomenon from various angles, by analyzing psychophysics or details of the image components...

How the brain changes in space and ISS ways to deal with those changes. The Spaceflight Effects on Neurocognitive Performance: Extent, Longevity, and Neural Bases (NeuroMapping) study is examining changes in both brain structure and function and determining how long it takes to recover after returning from space.

In space, there is no “up” or “down.” That can mess with the human brain and affect the way people move and think in space. Previous research and first-hand reports suggest that humans have a harder time controlling physical movement and completing mental tasks in microgravity. Astronauts have experienced problems with balance and perceptual illusions – feeling as if, for example, they are switching back and forth between right-side-up and upside down.

Researchers are using ...

The rod-shaped bacterium E. coli served as the model system for DNA repair in the study. | Photo by U.S. Department of Defense

Bacterium exhibits remarkable ability to repair or prevent DNA damage arising from internal processes, contrary to previous findings. A study led by Indiana University biologist Patricia Foster and colleagues has found that forces in the external environment and oxidation are the greatest threats to an organism’s ability to repair damage to its own DNA.

The results are based on the first comprehensive, whole genome analysis of spontaneous mutation in Escherichia coli
“Our study investigated 11 DNA repair pathways previously identified as resulting in spontaneous mutations,” said Prof Foster...

A research team has found the first actual “sensor mechanism” that allows a living cell detect an electric field (stock image). Credit: © Sergey Nivens / Fotolia

A variety of animals are able to sense and react to electric fields, and living human cells will move along an electric field, eg in wound healing. Now researchers have found the first actual ‘sensor mechanism’ that allows a living cell detect an electric field.

“We believe there are several types of sensing mechanisms, and none of them are known. We now provide experimental evidence to suggest one which has not been even hypothesized before, a 2-molecule sensing mechanism,” Zhao said.

Zhao and colleagues have been studying these “electric senses” in cells from both larger animals (fish skin cells, human cell lines) and in the so...