Great minds think alike, so goes the saying. Greatness notwithstanding, a study in PNAS finds that the minds of friends do appear to share patterns of activity. “A lot of us have the intuition that our friends are kind … Continue reading
Journal Club
Highlighting recently published papers selected by Academy members
Friends appear to share patterns of brain activity
Categories: Journal Club | Neuroscience | Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Tagged connectome, MRI, neural fingerprint
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Model captures how polarization emerges on social media during political campaigns
In recent years, social media platforms have become hotbeds of political discourse—as well as rancorous division. In a recent paper in Physical Review X, researchers unveil a new mathematical model that demonstrates how a combination of campaign information and peer … Continue reading
Categories: Applied Physical Sciences | Journal Club | Political Science
Tagged agent-based modeling, echo chamber, polarization, social media, twitter
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A cellular and genetic atlas of the lung offers insights into disease and development
Explorers need maps. That’s as true for hikers blazing trails as it is for molecular biologists striving to cure disease. A new atlas of the lungs, recently published in Nature, is the most comprehensive map ever of that vital organ. … Continue reading
Categories: Genetics | Journal Club | Medical Sciences
Tagged bioengineering, cancer, cells, gene expression, lung, map, molecular biology, organ transplant, single-cell RNA sequencing
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Study finds clues to Alzheimer’s disease onset in the aging female brain
In the United States, women make up nearly two-thirds of all diagnosed cases of Alzheimer’s disease. On average, women live about 5 years longer than men, but that life expectancy discrepancy doesn’t likely account for such a large, sex-skewed prevalence … Continue reading
Categories: Immunology | Journal Club | Medical Sciences | Neuroscience | Physiology | Uncategorized
Tagged Alzheimer's disease, endocrine system, hippocampus, inflammation, menopause, microglia, neurodegenerative disease
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New technique builds animal brain–like spontaneity into AI
A woman walking to a bus stop realizes that she forgot her keys; she suddenly turns around and runs home. Such spontaneous activities are hallmarks of animal behavior. Eager to capture the essence of the human brain, roboticists have tried … Continue reading
Categories: Computer sciences | Journal Club
Tagged artificial intelligence, behavior switching, chaotic itinerancy, machine learning, robotics
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Insights into heat shock protein machinery could point to interventions for neurodegenerative disease
Heat shock proteins perform a range of functions related to protein quality control. Among them: breaking down dangerous protein aggregates called amyloid fibers. The buildup of certain amyloids has been linked to neurodegenerative disease. But the exact mechanism by which … Continue reading
Smaller salamander species associated with smaller genomes
The world’s tiniest salamanders are so small that some body parts appear to get short shrift. Those in the genus Thorius, for example, have heads that are “mind bogglingly small, maybe half the size of a pencil eraser,” says herpetologist … Continue reading
Categories: Developmental Biology | Evolution | Genetics | Journal Club | Physiology
Tagged cells, dinosaur, evolution, frog, genome, phylogenetic tree, retrotransposon, salamander
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Interdisciplinary study brings a humanist perspective to research on land use change
Decades ago, Brazil’s northeastern State of Bahia produced much of the world’s cocoa for chocolate. Most farms grew their cacao trees interspersed with other native trees, in dense agricultural forests. Children played at the forest edges. Today those children are … Continue reading
Categories: Agriculture | Journal Club | Social Sciences
Tagged agriculture, agro-forestry, cacao, cocoa, conservation, deforestation, farming, forests, land use change, monoculture, remote sensing
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Model suggests how evolution shapes ecological networks among species
The natural world is filled with networks. Predator and prey, flower and pollinator—each interacting pair forms a link in a networked community of organisms. Now, a French research team has developed a model that explores how evolution may help shape … Continue reading
Categories: Animal Behavior | Ecology | Evolution | Journal Club | Mathematics
Tagged community, ecological networks, model, mutualism, predator, prey
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Plants sense temperature with help of elegant protein
How plants sense temperature is a longstanding and little-understood question. Researchers have discovered some of the mechanisms involved. A recent study in Nature adds a new mechanism—among the first in which the biophysical behavior of a single protein regulates the … Continue reading
Categories: Journal Club | Plant Biology
Tagged amino acids, Arabidopsis, ELF3, flowering, meristem, NTL8, protein, temperature, thermosensing
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