Alcohol: a great way to make friends

What alcohol does with a human being is quite well-known, and not everything it induces in terms of human behaviour is agreeable. Still, most of us like to drink a couple of alcoholic beverages in company of others. Scientists from the University of Pittsburgh have now scientifically proven that drinking alcohol together with other people does make things better. They showed that consumption makes positive things more positive, while negative emotions are toned down.

Genetic discovery explains variety of brain disorders

Development of an organism, construction of tissues and even the onset of disease: it all starts with genetics. Genes provide the blueprint for proteins, which in turn form the foundations of all structures. Finding genetic modifications, or mutations, often tell us something about how things go wrong, as a disturbed blueprint leads to malfunctioning proteins and thus disease. Scientists from Seattle Children's Research Institute have found a series of mutations in genes that explain a variety of disorders which predominantly focus on the brain. This includes cancer, but also explains why some people have very large brains or suffer from epilepsy.

Exercise helps to prevent alzheimer's disease

There is much research going on regarding alzheimer's disease. Because it severely impacts the life of the patient and people around him or her, many studies are devoted to find out how we can prevent development of alzheimer's. A previous study revealed that diet may play an important role, but according to scientists from Kyoto University, exercise is actually more important.

Google creates computer network to simulate the brain

The engineers over at Google have been busy with another interesting project in the elusive X lab. After self-driving cars, they now managed to develop a computer system that can learn without human supervision. By connecting over 16.000 processors, they created a network powerful enough to simulate some features of the human brain. Google developers then managed to create an algorithm that turned the powerful computing grid into a 'self-learning machine'. While that may be the first step in order to develop scary machines that are set to take over the world, it actually helps us to understand our own brains better.

Birth of a human captured with an MRI scanner

Birth is a wonderful natural phenomenon. Mammals, like ourselves, carry an unborn child around for a set period of time, after which it is brought into the world as a completely new organism. Most of us only get to see the result of birth: the child itself. However, scientists from a hospital in Berlin, Germany have captured the birth of a child on video with an MRI scanner. It is interesting to see how a woman expels the unborn from her womb.

Exercise reduces the risk of breast cancer

A study conducted by a research group from the University of North Carolina has shown an interesting link between the occurrence of breast cancer and physical activity. It seems that exercise results in a rather dramatic decrease in breast cancer risk, which is relevant for those wishing to remain healthy. Although previous research already showed a correlation between exercise and breast cancer, the researchers from North Carolina made the effort to find out exactly what difference it makes.

Research on deadly H5N1 published, reveals dangers

Dutch and American scientists shocked the world a while ago by revealing that they have successfully modified the H5N1 influenza virus in order to become much more deadly. The study was halted because authorities feared terrorists could use the information in order to create biological weapons. Because just five genetic mutations are necessary to create the deadly variant, there is also a risk that nature itself will 'create' this particular lab virus. Because the benefits of publishing were deemed to outweigh the risks, authorities gave the green light for publishing the results, which has recently been done. The papers from both research groups reveal the dangers of this potentially devastating virus.