Summary: New research shows that negative expectations, known as nocebo effects, exert a stronger and longer-lasting impact on pain perception than positive expectations, or placebo effects. In a two-session study,…
Category: Life
How synthetic biology is producing greener chemicals, climate-resilient agriculture and repurposing food waste
Since the development of recombinant DNA technology 50 years ago – pioneered here at Stanford – we’ve seen the rise of breakthrough therapeutics that have transformed countless lives. What, then,…
Dopamine Signals Teach the Brain to Unlearn Fear
Summary: A new study reveals that dopamine release along a specific brain circuit helps extinguish fear by activating reward-related neurons in the amygdala. Researchers showed that dopamine from the ventral…
Bird flu in cows shows no signs of adapting to humans — yet
WASHINGTON — When traces of H5N1 bird flu showed up in cow’s milk last year, it raised fears that the virus could become more infectious to humans. So far, that…
Animals have developed a mind-boggling variety of ways to become male or female.
[S]o far, researchers have uncovered a dizzying array of exceptions to the XX/XY “rule:” birds and butterflies that use the ZW system, in which males have a matching pair of sex chromosomes (ZZ)…
