Researchers have found that lower, though not necessarily impaired, performance on tests measuring story learning or retention and processing speed in motor tasks dependent on visual control, as well as symptoms of depression, predicted subsequent cognitive decline in a normal population.

Researchers have discovered a simple process -- employing molecules typically used in blue jean and ink dyes -- for building an organic framework that could lead to economical, flexible and versatile solar cells.

Modern marsupials may be popular animals at the zoo and in children's books, but new findings reveal that they harbor a "fossil" copy of a gene that codes for filoviruses, which cause Ebola and Marburg hemorrhagic fevers and are the most lethal viruses known to humans.

Adding to all that ails people managing their multiple sclerosis (MS) is depression, which has a lifetime risk for MS sufferers as high as 50 percent. Now for the first time in living humans, researchers suggest atrophy of a specific region of the hippocampus, a critical part of the brain involved in mood and memory, among other functions, may be the cause.

The muscle weakness and coordination problems sometimes seen in patients with neonatal diabetes -- a rare, inherited form of diabetes -- are caused by problems in the brain rather than the muscles, according to new research. The findings could pave the way for the development of improved treatments for the disease.

With more than 100 billion neurons and billions of other specialized cells, the human brain is a marvel of nature. It is the organ that makes people unique.

Cigarette smoke plays an undisputed role in the development of lung and other cancers. Carcinogens in the smoke damage DNA, which often results in mutations in genes that promote the development of cancer. It's also well known that secondhand smoke can have effects indistinguishable from active smoking. While maternal tobacco smoking has been associated with low birth weight, premature delivery and brain and lung defects, only a few studies have found evidence of genetic mutations in the newborn resulting from exposure to tobacco smoke while in the womb.

A new study by Stephen Grant , professor of environmental and occupational health at the University of Pittsburgh, confirms that both active smoking and passive exposure to secondhand smoke in pregnant women lead to genetic damage in newborns. Importantly, the research shows that there was a similar frequency of mutations among smoking mothers, those exposed to secondhand smoke, and moms-to-be that quit smoking after they learned of their pregnancy. The authors conclude that quitting smoking during pregnancy without actively avoiding exposure to secondhand smoke may not protect the developing fetus. The results were published online June 30 in the Open Pediatric Medicine Journal .

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Tobacco smoking - University of Pittsburgh - Cancer - Pregnancy - Mutation

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Mississippi - United States - Gulf Coast - BP - Dead zone

Premenopausal women who make even small increases in the amount of time they spend bicycling or walking briskly every day decrease their risk of gaining weight, according to a new study.

A meta-analysis of previously published studies finds no evidence that statins are associated with a reduced risk of death among individuals at risk for but with no history of cardiovascular disease, according to a new study.