Knowing that experts understand something is enough to make lay persons think they, too, have better grasped a concept, according to a September 26 paper in the journal Psychological Science. Cognitive scientist Steven Sloman, of Brown University in Providence, Rhode … Continue reading
Journal Club
Highlighting recently published papers selected by Academy members
Author Archives: Amber Dance
Journal Club: How much you think you understand depends on what you believe others understand
Categories: Journal Club | Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Tagged community of knowledge
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Journal Club: Childhood adversities correlated with shortened telomeres, poorer health later in life
Stressful experiences during youth seem to leave a mark on a person’s genome decades later, in the form of withered chromosomal caps. As reported in PNAS, childhood stress correlates with increased odds to have shortened telomeres, the chromosome tips that … Continue reading
Categories: Cell Biology | Journal Club | Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Tagged childhood, stress, telomeres
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Journal Club: Low-calorie diets might improve effectiveness of cancer treatments
The old saying goes, “feed a cold, starve a fever”—now scientists might add, “starve a tumor.” In mice, a low-protein, low-calorie diet sensitizes breast cancer and melanoma cells to attack by the immune system, while prodding the immune system itself … Continue reading
Categories: Cell Biology | Immunology | Journal Club
Tagged cancer, diet, doxorubicin
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Journal Club: “Zombie” HIV RNA could cause ongoing damage
Streaming through the blood of people with HIV are cells carrying mutant, incomplete viral genomes—viral DNA sets that researchers have long deemed duds, irrelevant to disease. But a study in PNAS this week refocuses attention on these defective viral tagalongs. … Continue reading
Categories: Biochemistry | Cell Biology | Genetics | Journal Club
Tagged DNA, HIV, inflammation, RNA
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Journal Club: Microvesicles facilitate crucial signals in developing embryos
Early in mammal development, tiny vesicles provide key communication between the cells that will become the fetus and those destined to form the placenta, researchers have found. The message the microvesicles are imparting: It’s time to implant into the wall … Continue reading
Journal Club: Mutations in non-coding gene signal risk of celiac disease
Researchers struggling to find genes linked to celiac disease may have been looking in the wrong place. Recent findings have uncovered a gene that appears to amplify risk for the common autoimmune disorder by spelling out not a protein, but … Continue reading
Categories: Applied Biological Sciences | Genetics | Journal Club
Tagged celiac disease, lncRNA
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