Hippocampus of brain stores the time and place of memories

For the first time, scientists have seen evidence of where the brain records the time and place of real-life memories. The left anterior of the hippocampus aren't the totality of the memories, but just the broad picture of where and when it occurred and also it helped to "fine-tune" the time and place. "What we're picking up here is not the whole memory, but the basic gist the where and when of the experience," said Per Sederberg, senior author of the study and assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State."This could be viewed as the memory hub, where we have these general, large-scale representations of our experiences."

Ref: Dylan M. Nielson, 2015, PNAS

DOI:10.1073/pnas.1507104112

FDA nod for lung cancer screening device with a low dose CT

Detection of small lung nodules are critical in identifying lung cancer at its earliest stages when it is the most treatable and curable. Low dose CT lung cancer screening will inevitably save lives through earlier diagnosis and treatment for patients.

Source: GE Healthcare, 2015

Sleep calculator

Scientists have discovered how an animal's biological clock wakes it up in the morning and puts it to sleep at night. Brain circadian neurons that govern the daily sleep-wake cycle's timing. High sodium channel activity in these neurons during the day turn the cells on and ultimately awaken an animal, and high potassium channel activity at night turn them off, allowing the animal to sleep.

Ref: Matthieu Flourakis et al., 2015, Cell.

The molecular mechanisms of brassinosteroids in plant breeding

Fig: Growth defects of the model research plant thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) which are induced by missing of steroid hormones (left side). With the help of gibberelline production the defects could be repaired (right side). Credit: Brigitte Poppenberger / TUM

Two growth-promoting groups of substances, or phytohormones, the gibberellins and the brassinosteroids are used independently of each other for the breeding and production of crop plants. It is discovered that without brassinosteroids, a plant is unable to produce gibberellins.

Reg: Unterholzner, 2015, Plant Cell.

DOI: 10.1105/tpc.15.00433​