Amygdala responses to the facial signals of others predict both normal and abnormal emotional states. An understanding of the brain chemistry underlying these responses will lead to new strategies for treating and predicting psychopathology.
By Ahmad R. Hariri & Paul J. Whalen
A father’s determination to help his son resulted in an experimental treatment for autism that uses roundworms to modulate inflammatory immune responses. Can the worms be used to treat other diseases?
The minority of Parkinson’s cases now known to have genetic origins are shedding light on the cellular mechanisms of all the rest, bringing researchers closer to a cause—and perhaps a cure.
This is your brain on emotions.
A snapshot of the highest-ranked articles from February on Faculty of 1000
Gabriele Sorci discusses how invaders can band together to more effectively infect hosts.
A newly minted PhD finds a 150-billion-base-pair-long DNA molecule in a plant.
Cells on standby are surprisingly busy.
Why are placebos so mysterious?
February 2011′s selection of notable quotes
Visualizing neuronal activity in small brains over four dimensions
Data standards need to be introduced—now.
Fast blood flow protects against atherosclerosis: implications for treatment
Editor’s Choice in Microbiology
Editor’s Choice in Physiology
Editor’s Choice in Developmental Biology
In Chapter 3, “Credibility: Validating Discovery Claims,” author Frederick Grinnell details the difficulty in making discoveries that buck current scientific paradigms.
The winding path that an interesting result takes to become a bona fide discovery is just one of the topics covered in this new book on the practice of science.
Lewis Cantley has made a career of turning chemical contaminants into groundbreaking discoveries—including novel lipids, potent inhibitors, and kinases involved in cancer.
Tricks for probing a cell’s moving parts
Secrets to scoring big money grants for innovative, out-of-the-box research
The debate over genetically engineered crops rages on, but other technologies offer new hope for sustainable farming.
Quirk, Darwin’s Armada, The Death & Life of Monterey Bay, Elegance in Science
Around the turn of the 20th century—before sunscreens hit the market and the damaging effects of UV radiation were widely…
Meet some of the people featured in the February 2011 issue of The Scientist.
For more than 40 years, German gynecologist and legendary science writer Fritz Kahn (1888-1968) captured the imagination of an international…
Meet the people behind studies that use nematodes to treat inflammatory diseases. Read the full story.
Stress and inflammation Cardiovascular disease, including coronary artery disease and stroke, is the single greatest cause of death worldwide and…
The hallmark pathology of Parkinson’s disease is the damage and death of dopamine producing neurons in the brain. Dopamine plays…
