Summary: When faced with prolonged psychological or environmental pressure, humans and animals naturally seek out comfort behaviors to soothe their emotional distress. Among the most universal and immediate strategies is…
Category: Life
Network Mapping Uncovers 641 Hidden Schizophrenia Risk Genes
Summary: Researchers have revolutionized psychiatric genomics by identifying 641 previously unrecognized genes associated with schizophrenia. The study analyzed genetic datasets from over 102,000 individuals alongside postmortem brain tissue samples spanning…
The New World screwworm has returned to the U.S. Now what?
Flesh-eating, hooked-mouth maggots have wriggled their way back into the United States. As of June 21, 15 cases of New World screwworm have been confirmed in Texas and New Mexico in cows, goats, sheep and even…
Sea cucumbers harbor ‘zombie’ tissues that won’t die
There’s no such thing as Thing, the disembodied hand that loyally skitters around the fictional Addams Family in the popular television series Wednesday. But at least one species of sea…
Losing Smell Triggers Severe Clinical Depression
Summary: Losing the senses of smell and taste inflicts an emotional, social, and psychological toll comparable to living with some of the world’s most serious chronic illnesses. The new review…
Trauma Therapy Reverses PTSD in Psychosis Patients
Summary: A new study reveals that individuals living with co-occurring psychosis and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can safely and effectively achieve recovery through an integrated, trauma-focused therapy. The STAR (Study…
Legalized Cannabis Does Not Increase Consumption
Summary: Decriminalizing cannabis or using tightly controlled legal frameworks does not increase use. However, the fully commercialized, for-profit legal markets seen in the US and Canada drive increased health risks,…
Andrés F. Ramírez-Mejía | The commonness of rarity: why there are so many rare species – Functional Ecologists
In this week’s blog post, we’re discovering how common it is to be rare! Through his paper: “Functional divergence drives the prevalence of low-abundance species in bat assemblages”, author Andrés…
A textbook assumption about early land vertebrates may be wrong
New fossil evidence is overturning a long-held assumption about how vertebrates first transitioned from water to land. The hatchlings of three different animals related to the earliest land-goers show that…
