Author: Usha Ganesh

How loud noise can harm our ears is common knowledge, but biologists at University of California have pointed out that too much noise can be very harmful to your brain. With cutting-edge technology, Ivine biologists were able to determine that uncontrolled fluctuations, commonly referred to as ‘noise’, in the concentration of vitamin A derivative Retinoic acid (RA) may lead to disruptions in the brain segment during its developmental stage. Recognising how a cell responds to a signal transmitted by another cell, despite the level of noise present, may give us a better understanding of developmental disorders. While in development, RA is an important secreted unit that assists in proper brain functioning. The cellular response to RA is dependant upon its concentration, which is calculated by its production, movement through tissue and interactions with the several proteins present within the cell. In normal development, these cells can filter out the ‘noise’ in RA levels in order to establish proper brain organisation. Researcher Thomas F. Schilling and lead author Julian Sosnik wished to map the fluctuations in RA and determine how responsive cells are despite the presence of constant noise. To study this, they used fluorescence lifetime imaging to utilize the auto-fluorescent nature of the RA and measure its distribution across the developing zebrafish embryo. They even noticed that a substantial amount of noise existed within the RA gradient. They distinguished a single protein...

Research shows that babies raised in bilingual households possess brain activity related to executive functioning when they’re just 11-months-old. The executive functioning covers a plethora of mental abilities that include problem-solving, shifting attention and several other desirable cognitive traits, and these traits and brain activities are evidently differentiable when the babies reach 11 months of age. Lead author of the report, Naja Ferjan Ramírez from University of Washington, states that even before the babies start talking, the ones in bilingual house get practice at tasks linked to executive function. This goes on to show that bilingualism not only develops a child’s language skills, but also cognitive functions. The brains of babies from a bilingual families are more open to learning new sounds, as compared with those from monolingual backgrounds. The team employed magnetoencephalography (MEG), which measures the magnetic charges sparked by active nerve cells. They then compared the brain response to the language sounds of sixteen 11-month babies – eight from English-only families, and eight from Spanish-English families – and observed that the children from Spanish-English households had stronger brain responses to speech sounds. These reports suggest that this enhancement bilingualism gives to executive function in the brain could be because these children have to switch more often between languages, allowing them to practice and improve these skills on a regular basis. Ferzan stated that the 11-month-old baby brain is learning language(s) present in...

Google recently launched new doctor-vetted health cards on the Indian search-pages and knowledge graph, where anyone in India looking up for any particular health information could have it conveniently and quickly. The health cards cover more than 400 health conditions and detail basic information such as general symptoms, whether a particular disease is contagious, the age limit mostly affected by the disease, and even has medical illustrations for people with limited reading skills. The search giant has made the cards available in both English and Hindi languages at present, in an attempt to tap a promising market. Approximately one in twenty Google searches all over the world is regarding health-related information, stated the company. Prem Ramaswami, senior product manager at Google stated that with so many health-related questions being looked up on a constant basis, launching health cards made sense for the company. The simple outline of the cards makes it easy for the user to search and access information about a particular health condition and have a more informed conversation with their respective doctors. The company also stated that the health card’s content should be treated as information only and not a conclusive medical advice. Google faced a lot many difficulties while setting up the health cards. Most of its users preferred to consult friends or relatives for information rather than search for it online, and for the company to acquire and publish high-quality...