Science Trends

 Source: Nature Placebo effects are striking demonstrations of mind-body interactions 1,2. During pain perception, in the absence of any treatment, an expectation of pain relief can reduce the experience of pain, a phenomenon known as placebo analgesia 3–6. However, despite the strength of placebo effects and their impact on everyday human experience and failure of clinical trials for new therapeutics 7, the neural circuit basis of placebo effects has remained elusive. Here, we show that analgesia from the expectation of pain relief is mediated by rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) neurons that project to the pontine nucleus (rACC→Pn), a pre-cerebellar nucleus with no established function in pain. We created a behavioral assay that generates placebo-like anticipatory pain relief in mice. In vivo calcium imaging of neural activity and electrophysiological recordings in brain slices showed that expectations of pain relief boost the activity of rACC→Pn neurons and potentiate neu...

1. Scientists developed a simpler model for particle interactions, resulting in a new representation of pi. 2. Pi representations allow scientists to use values close to real life without storing millions of digits. 3. The new pi representation was created using a series, a structured set of terms that converge or diverge. 4. Researchers used quantum mechanics principles to build a new model that includes an innovative pi representation. 5. Quantum mechanics often requires complex answers for simple questions, demanding massive computing power. 6. Physicists Arnab Priya Saha and Aninda Sinha described a quantum model in Physical Review Letters that reduces complexity while maintaining accuracy. 7. Optimization, a common concept, involves making processes simpler without losing essential details. 8. Saha and Sinha combined the Feynman diagram of particle scattering with the Euler beta function from string theory. 9. A series can generalize into overall equations or expressions, helping ...

New findings in mice could one day lead to treatments for osteoporosis Birthing and caring for a newborn can be hard on a mother’s bones. Estrogen, which helps regulate bone growth, drops precipitously after birth, and lactation saps the skeleton of calcium. Yet nursing moms somehow maintain strong, dense bones. A hormone released from the brain may be the reason why, a study in mice suggests. When estrogen levels drop after birth, the hormone  CCN3 may take the role of boosting bone stem cell activity , leading to increased tissue production, researchers report July 10 in  Nature . This molecule originates in the hypothalamus, a brain structure that helps regulate appetite and body temperature. Besides possibly solving the mystery of nursing mothers’ strong bones, the finding could also point to a way to better heal fractures and fight bone loss in old age. The study “identifies a new direct loop between the hypothalamus and bone, which is, I think, totally unexpected,” says ...

  A controversial idea suggests there’s more to stature than genetics and nutrition The Maya people of Guatemala are among the shortest people in the world. Men on average hover a few inches above 5 feet and women a few inches below. But if they move to the United States as children, the Maya grow taller. That extra growth carries to the next generation: Maya children born to Guatemalan immigrants in the United States are roughly four inches taller than their peers in Guatemala, research by biological anthropologist Barry Bogin shows. Some of that gap disappears as children reach adulthood, but even then, Maya people in the United States are still taller than people in their native country. Economists have long observed increases in height across immigrant communities worldwide. Improved nutrition and sanitation are the conventional explanations for such growth. But Bogin, of Loughborough University in England, and other researchers think there’s more to it than just better health....