Do intelligent people think faster? Researchers at the BIH and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, together with a colleague from Barcelona, made the surprising finding that participants with higher intelligence scores were only quicker when tackling simple tasks, while they took longer to solve difficult problems than subjects with lower IQ scores. In personalized brain simulations of the 650 participants, the researchers could determine that brains with reduced synchrony between brain areas literally “jump to conclusions” when making decisions, rather than waiting until upstream brain regions could complete the processing steps needed to solve the problem.

Earth probably shouldn't exist. 

That's because the orbits of the inner solar system planets — Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars — are chaotic, and models have suggested that these inner planets should have crashed into each other by now. And yet, that hasn't happened.

New research published May 3 in the journal Physical Review X(opens in new tab) may finally explain why. 

Through a deep plunge into the models for planetary motion, the researchers discovered that the motions of the inner planets are constrained by certain parameters that act as a tether that inhibits the system's chaos. Besides providing a mathematical explanation for the apparent harmony in our solar system, the new study's insights may help scientists understand the trajectories of exoplanets surrounding other stars. 

Psychology Test and Assessment Modeling showcased in Nr. 4/2022 + 1/2023 the potentials and promises that machine learning and deep learning algorithms can bring about to improve the current assessment theory and practices in different assessment settings: low stakes and high-stakes. Hong Jiao, Qiwei He, and Lihua Yao edited the two special issues.

INDIANAPOLIS—For centuries, people have suspected a full moon in the sky to cause mysterious changes in people. Now, psychiatrists at Indiana University School of Medicine have found deaths by suicide increase during the full moon.

“We wanted to analyze the hypothesis that suicides are increased during the period around full moons and determine if high-risk patients should be followed more closely during those times,” said Alexander Niculescu, MD, PhD.

Pregnancy caused women to lose gray matter, and reshaped the brain’s “default mode network,” a set of brain regions that are most active when the mind is wandering.

NEW YORK, N.Y. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Coronary bypass surgery is the most common heart surgery in the United States, with over 200,000 procedures done every year. The surgery improves blood flow to the heart by bypassing arteries clogged with plaque. Now, surgeons are performing this procedure in a specialized way and for many patients, that means the heart keeps beating during the entire procedure. Beating Heart Surgery

New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London has established a blood-based test that could be used to predict the risk of Alzheimer’s disease up to 3.5 years before clinical diagnosis.

The study, published in the journal Brain, supports the idea that components in the human blood can modulate the formation of new brain cells, a process termed neurogenesis. Neurogenesis occurs in an important part of the brain called the hippocampus that is involved in learning and memory.

Interdisciplinary team of heart surgeons and cardiologists has good experience with a prosthesis implanted via the apex of the heart. The mitral valve is one of our four heart valves. If it does not close properly, experts call it mitral valve insufficiency. It is the second most common heart valve disease in adults. Depending on the cause and severity, there are different treatment methods - from medication to repair or replacement of the valve. An innovative procedure is the implantation of a mitral valve prosthesis through the apex of the heart. It is particularly suitable for patients of advanced age or with pre-existing conditions. Hannover Medical School (MHH) is the only hospital in the Hannover region to use this new treatment method. The procedure is implemented by an interdisciplinary team from the Clinic for Cardiac, Thoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery, the Clinic for Cardiology and Angiology and the Clinic for Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine.

Humanity faces greater existential threats than it did during the Cold War, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

The Doomsday Clock, created 76 years ago by atomic scientists to warn against a human-made apocalypse, has moved to 90 seconds to midnight.

Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the climate crisis, and biological threats such as the unchecked spread of COVID-19 were the leading reasons given by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS), a non-profit organization of scientists and policy experts, for setting the hands of the clock closer to human extinction than they have ever been before — including at the height of the Cold War.

For the past three years the clock has been stuck at 100 seconds to midnight, hovering at what was until now the closest-ever point to humanity's annihilation. Now, "largely, but not exclusively" due to growing risks in the war in Ukraine, it has ticked one step closer.

About five percent of the population in industrialized nations suffer from autoimmune diseases. The most commonly occuring organ specific autoimmune diseases are the group of autoimmune thyroid diseases, followed by gluten-sensitive enteropathy (celiac disease) and autoimmune liver disease. Karsten Conrad and colleagues deliver the guide to the serological diagnosis of organ specific autoimmune diseases. The book consists of two alphabetically organized sections: The first deals with autoantibodies, the second with autoimmune or potential autoimmune diseases as well as symptoms related to particular organ specific autoimmune diseases.