New Atlas

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Tracking brain waves to decode mood could help fight depression

Michael Irving September 10, 2018

Neuroscience is stumped by what’s going on in the brain when we feel joy or sadness. In an effort to peek inside our moody minds, researchers have developed a technique to read brain signals and infer what mood a patient may be in, which could lead to new treatments for depression and anxiety.

A new technique may be able to decode brain waves to infer what mood a patient ...

Science

Reptilian-mammal fossil changes the timeline of supercontinent breakup

Michael Irving May 25, 2018

If you feel like you’ve had some drawn-out breakups, think of the supercontinent of Pangaea, which took tens of millions of years to split up. Now a unique fossil skull might readjust the timeline, with a strange creature turning up on a different continent to its previously-discovered relatives.

An artist's rendition of Cifelliodon wahkarmoosuch, a transitional creature between reptiles and mammals that may readjust ...

Medical

Scientists developing a possible treatment for hearing loss

Ben Coxworth April 4, 2018

There may be new hope for people who are losing their hearing, thanks to research being conducted by scientists from the University of Southern California and Harvard University. They've developed a solution intended to stay put in the inner ear, where it will help repair cells.

Animal trials are planned to take place next, with a possible application to humans in the ...

Health & Wellbeing

Comprehensive study suggests biological aging is slowing down

Michael Irving March 15, 2018

How well are our anti-aging efforts paying off? A comprehensive new study from Yale University and the University of Southern California (USC) has found that Americans seem to be aging more slowly now than they were 20 years ago.

A comprehensive new study shows that Americans are biologically aging more slowly now than 20 years ...

Science

AI-based system designed to spot poachers

Ben Coxworth February 9, 2018

Poachers typically hunt at night, which is why drone-mounted infrared cameras are being used to spot them. The problem is, it can be difficult to tell humans from animals in the videos. Scientists from USC are making the job easier, using artificial intelligence.

A still from some of the video used to train SPOT

Health & Wellbeing

Molecule could grow cartilage in arthritic joints

Ben Coxworth February 8, 2018

Led by Dr. Denis Evseenko, scientists from the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine have developed a molecule that could be used to treat arthritis. If applied in the form of an injection at the affected joint, it might conceivably make joint replacement surgery unnecessary.

RCGD 423 may initially be used to treat osteoarthritis or juvenile arthritis

Health & Wellbeing

Study finds obesity can spread through communities like a "social contagion"

Rich Haridy January 24, 2018

A new study suggests that if you move to a community with a high rate of obesity, it could increase your own risk of becoming obese. Accounting for other factors that could result in obesity, such as genetics or environment, the research claims that obesity could be considered a “social contagion.”

Could obesity be contagious in a similar way to a virus?

Environment

Two millenia of data points to human-induced climate change

Michael Irving July 12, 2017

Scientists have updated one of the most comprehensive databases of the planet’s temperature changes over time, taking into account records from a variety of sources and stretching back to the year 1 CE – and it's very damning evidence of human-induced climate change.

One of the most comprehensive climate databases has revealed clear evidence of human-induced climate change

Health & Wellbeing

Faux fasting diet regenerates pancreas to reverse diabetes

Darren Quick February 26, 2017

Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) claim that a diet that mimics the effects of fasting spurs the growth of new insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreases of mice, essentially reversing type 1 and type 2 diabetes in mice.

USC researchers claim a diet that mimics the effects of fasting has led to the generation ...

Biology

Action of "gatekeeper" cells could be ground zero for Alzheimer's

Michael Franco February 1, 2017

In the hunt for a cause and cure for Alzheimer's disease, much attention has been focused on sticky proteins called beta-amyloid plaques. A new potential target has been identified by researchers however, in so called "gatekeeper" cells that control the flow of oxygen in the brain.

A new pathway in to preventing and treating Alzheimer's?