Ultrafast 12-minute MRI maps brain chemistry to spot disease before symptoms

A new technology that uses clinical MRI machines to image metabolic activity in the brain could give researchers and clinicians unique insight into brain function and disease, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign report. The non-invasive, high-resolution metabolic imaging of the whole brain revealed differences in metabolic activity and neurotransmitter levels among brain regions;…

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Banned in Europe, sprayed in America: The fungicide threatening our pollinators

A widely-used agricultural chemical sprayed on American and Australian fruits and vegetables to prevent fungal disease is killing beneficial insects critical for pollination and ecosystem health, new Macquarie University research shows. The study, published in Royal Society Open Science, found chlorothalonil – one of the world’s most extensively used fungicides – severely impacts insect reproduction…

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How female friendships help chimp babies survive

In chimpanzee communities, strong social ties can be a matter of life and death not just for the adults who form them, but for their kids, too. A new federally-funded study of wild eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) from Gombe National Park shows that female chimpanzees who were more socially integrated with other females in…

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