Sleep is a physiological behavior that is common in all animal species. It forms around one third of a human life. It is not known clearly the exact functions of sleep but it seems to be essential for survival as prolonged sleep deprivation leads to severe physical impairment followed by cognitive loss and eventually death.
In July, the first direct-to-consumer blood test designed to assess a user’s risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease hit the market. The test, which has not undergone Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review, measures the level of a protein called beta amyloid, a key component of plaques that form in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients, disrupting brain function.
New animal research suggests that little-studied brain cells known as astrocytes are major players in controlling sleep need and may someday help humans go without sleep for longer without negative consequences such as mental fatigue and impaired physical health.
New research has found irregular sleep patterns are associated with harmful bacteria in your gut.
A team from the University of Tokyo has combined economic theory with biology to understand how natural systems respond to change. The researchers noticed a similarity between consumers' shopping behavior and the behavior of metabolic systems, which convert food into energy in our bodies. The team focused on predicting how different metabolic systems might respond to environmental change by using an economic tool called the Slutsky equation.
From Aristotle's musings on the nature of time to Einstein's theory of relativity, humanity has long pondered: how do we perceive and understand time? The theory of relativity posits that time can stretch and contract, a phenomenon known as time dilation. Just as the cosmos warps time, our neural circuits can stretch and compress our subjective experience of time. As Einstein famously quipped, "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute".
When octopuses sleep, their quiet periods of slumber are punctuated by short bursts of frenzied activity. Their arms and eyes twitch, their breathing rate quickens, and their skin flashes with vibrant colors.
Health officials warn that drug resistance could wipe out recent progress against malaria, particularly in Africa and southeast Asia.
Molecular clocks in our cells synchronize our bodies with the cycle of night and day, cue us for sleep and waking, and drive daily cycles in virtually every aspect of our physiology. Scientists studying the molecular mechanisms of our biological clocks have now identified a key event that controls the timing of the clock.
Neurons in a key area of the brain have different functions based on their exact genetic identity, and understanding this diversity could lead to better understanding of the brain's computational flexibility and memory capacity, potentially informing disease treatment options, Cornell researchers report in a new study.
We know a lot about mosquito preferences up close, but how do mosquitoes find us from up to a hundred meters away? Using an ice-rink-sized outdoor testing arena in Zambia, researchers found that human body odor is critical for mosquito host-seeking behavior over long distances.
University of Queensland-led research has revealed liver cells influence the body's internal circadian clock, which was previously believed to be solely controlled by the brain.
The balance of microbes in the human gut varies substantially from morning to night and even more by season -; with profound fluctuations completely transforming the microbiome from summer to winter, according to a study to be presented at Digestive Disease Week 2023.
New research from a multidisciplinary team helps to illuminate the mechanisms behind circadian rhythms, offering new hope for dealing with jet lag, insomnia and other sleep disorders.
The body’s biological clock is interfered with by abnormal sleep habits, such as those of night shift workers, which have been connected to lung health problems.
A team of UCF College of Medicine researchers has created a digital topographical map of the cardiac sympathetic neural network, the region that controls the body's heart rate and its "fight-or-flight" response.
Poor quality sleep may bolster a person's genetic susceptibility to asthma, potentially doubling their risk of being diagnosed with the condition, suggests a large UK Biobank study, published in the open access journal BMJ Open Respiratory Research.
Cold activates a cellular cleansing mechanism that breaks down harmful protein aggregations responsible for various diseases associated with aging.
A small nucleus in the brainstem called locus coeruleus (literally the "blue spot,") is the primary source of a major neuromodulator, norepinephrine (NE), an important mediator of the 'fight or flight' response in animals. However, very little is known about the local connections of this small albeit critically important group of neurons.
When it comes to oxygen, you can have too much of a good thing. Breathing air that contains higher levels of oxygen than the usual 21 percent found in Earth's atmosphere can cause organ damage, seizures, and even death in people and animals, particularly if it's in excess of the body's oxygen needs. Until now, however, scientists have mostly speculated about the mechanisms behind this phenomenon, known as oxygen toxicity, or hyperoxia.
The asthma medication theophylline can be used to treat the movement disorder ADCY5-related dyskinesia. A recent study conducted by Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), University Medicine Halle, and the University of Leipzig Medical Center demonstrated this.