The A&P Professor Science & Education Updates - Issue #154

Life Science

Boost in nerve-growth protein helps explain why running supports brain health.

Exercise increases levels of a chemical involved in brain cell growth, which bolsters the release of the “feel good” hormone dopamine, new research shows. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is known to play a key role in movement, motivation, and learning.

Dozens of confirmed and suspected cases have been reported worldwide to date, some with no obvious origin, which means the virus could be spreading undetected There is growing concern about an outbreak of monkeypox, with dozens of confirmed cases in at least six countries and more emerging by the da

Deep learning models based on artificial intelligence can identify someone's race just from their X-rays, new research has revealed – something that would be impossible for a human doctor looking at the same images.

Oh-oh.

Response speeds in simple decision-making tasks begin to decline from early and middle adulthood. However, response times are not pure measures of mental speed but instead represent the sum of multiple processes.

Applying the model to cross-sectional data from 1.2 million participants to examine age differences in cognitive parameters, results indicate that response time slowing begins as early as age 20, but this slowing was attributable to increases in decision caution and to slower non-decisional processes, rather than to differences in mental speed.

Slowing of mental speed was observed only after approximately age 60. This research thus challenges widespread beliefs about the relationship between age and mental speed.

Using data from over one million people, von Krause et al. show that mental speed in a decision task remains steady up to age 60, and that slowing response times before this age are due to decision caution and non-decision processes.

With cases of sexually transmitted infections growing, researchers hope self-tests — made popular by the pandemic — could stem the tide.

Long-lived species have a slower mutation rate than short-lived species.

In the quest for eternal youth, poo transplants may seem like an unlikely way to reverse the aging process.

However, scientists at the Quadram Institute and the University of East Anglia have provided evidence, from research in mice, that transplanting fecal microbiota from young into old mice can reverse the hallmarks of aging in the gut, eyes, and brain.

Teaching & Learning

The Grading Conference (formerly the “Mastery Grading Conference” is a place where faculty can join together to learn about the grading practices that best support student learning, promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the classroom, and enhance student and faculty classroom experiences. Now in its third year, the purpose of the conference is to support all instructors as they strive to challenge traditional, historically inequitable grading practices that have been shown to be damaging to students and their learning.

TAPP News & Notes

Is It "Warm Demander" or "Toxic Rigor" in Your Course? | More About Deadlines | Which Arm For Your Booster? | Growing New Auditory Hair Cells | Breathing With Your Intestines