Practice makes perfect, but sleep helps, too. Learning and executing a new motor skill can be enhanced if you can get additional memory processing during sleep, according to new research published in JNeurosci.

Researchers have found that the benefits of migration have been eroded by the effects of climate change and human pressure.

Jeremy Mobley, student success advisor in the University of Tennessee Department of Animal Science, was selected as an Outstanding New Advisor – Primary Role Award Winner as part of the 2021 Global Awards Program for Academic Advising from NACADA: The Global Network for Academic Advising.

Leaders in cell biology and anti-malarial drug development respectively, JoAnn Trejo and Elizabeth Winzeler were recognized by their peers with one of the highest honors in health and medicine.

Fralin Biomedical Research Institute scientists led a study that revealed how cells from the eye migrate deep into the brain to a processing core during brain development. These cells and their connections help regulate critical survival instincts in rodents. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, help decode how these complicated brain circuits form, laying a potential foundation for future research into how these pathways may be coaxed to regenerate.

Worldwide, lake temperatures are rising and seasonal ice cover is shorter and thiner. This effects lake ecosystems, drinking water supply and fishing. International research led by Luke Grant, Inne Vanderkelen and Prof Wim Thiery of Vrije Universiteit Brussel now - for the first time - shows that these global changes in lake temperature and ice cover are not due to natural climate variability. They can only be explained by massive greenhouse gas emissions since the Industrial Revolution. To prove this, the team has developed multiple computer simulations with models of lakes on a global scale, on which they ran a series of climate models. The researchers found clear similarities between the observed changes in lakes and model simulations of lakes in a climate influenced by greenhouse gas emissions. Besides measuring the historical impact of climate change, the team also analysed various future climate scenarios.

Are animals born to seek rewards or avoid punishment? Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Professor Bo Li and his lab found that mice have pre-programmed neurons and circuits that process “positive” and “negative” stimuli. Their findings may be useful for studying neurological and psychiatric disorders in humans.

Yuman Fong, M.D., the Sangiacomo Family Chair in Surgical Oncology at City of Hope, a world-renowned cancer research and treatment organization, was presented with one of the highest honors in health and medicine today. The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) honored Fong “for transforming the fields of liver surgery, robotics in surgery, imaging and display in medicine, and gene therapy.” His contributions as a surgeon, engineer, innovator and mentor have yielded patents and first-in-human trials that translated scientific discoveries to medicines and medical devices.