Autism Spectrum Disorder, a broad range of behavioral and cognitive issues that usually impair learning ability, has been studied for many years but there remain far more questions than answers. Some research into the brain functions of individuals with autism spectrum have found a lack of synchronization ('connectivity') between different parts of the brain that normally work in tandem, while other studies have found the opposite: over-synchronization. 

One of the biggest struggles in toxicology is creating the correct parameters so you are modeling the real world as closely as possible. It's an enormous task to model the environment with its millions of factors, so controlled studies are done using animals.

Scientists design experiments that give an animal a lot of something at once and that can tell them 'this is the threshold where more analysis is a waste of time' and perhaps also find an effect that may be worth studying in more detail. It's a time-honored technique but it's also a technique that can be exploited.

Look lively! Stokkete/Shutterstock

By Clive Brown, University of Leeds

After a very drawn out and fraught construction, the Philharmonie de Paris is finally open. The 2,400 seat concert hall was conceived with ambitious plans to democratize classical music, and is situated, in line with these aims, on the boundary between the city’s affluent center and its banlieues. Whether it will succeed in these ambitions remains to be seen.

A new review of other studies concludes that viruses carried by commercial bees can jump to wild pollinator populations with potentially devastating effects. Pollinators in some regions have suffered declines and various hypotheses have been offered as to why.

A stem cell capable of regenerating both bone and cartilage has been identified in bone marrow of mice. The discovery by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) is reported today in the online issue of the journal Cell.

The cells, called osteochondroreticular (OCR) stem cells, were discovered by tracking a protein expressed by the cells. Using this marker, the researchers found that OCR cells self-renew and generate key bone and cartilage cells, including osteoblasts and chondrocytes. Researchers also showed that OCR stem cells, when transplanted to a fracture site, contribute to bone repair.

Over 10 percent of patients using aspirin therapy for primary cardiovascular disease prevention shouldn't be doing so, according to a recent paper. 

They were likely either inappropriately prescribed it or do it over the counter, according to a new study that examined practice variations in aspirin therapy by accessing data from the National Cardiovascular Disease Registry Practice Innovation and Clinical Excellence (PINNACLE) Registry. The authors examined a nationwide sample of 68,808 patients receiving aspirin for primary cardiovascular disease prevention and evaluating aspirin guidelines by the American Heart Association, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force, and other organizations.

Considering environmental effects such as a gravitational tidal force spread over a scale much larger than a galaxy cluster will be indispensable to explain the distribution and evolution of dark matter halos around galaxies, according to a comparison between theory and simulations by researchers at Kavli IPMU and collaborators.

Researchers at the Montreal Heart Institute announced today results showing that patients with cardiovascular disease and the appropriate genetic background benefit greatly from the new medication dalcetrapib, with a reduction of 39% in combined clinical outcomes including heart attacks, strokes, unstable angina, coronary revascularizations and cardiovascular deaths. These patients also benefit from a reduction in the amount of atherosclerosis (thickened walls) in their vessels. The detailed results are published in the prestigious Journal Circulation Cardiovascular Genetics. This discovery may also pave the way for a new era in cardiovascular medicine, with personalized or precision drugs.

Leaky blood vessels in the lung can lead to acute respiratory distress. Shutterstock

By Jalees Rehman, University of Illinois at Chicago

They're suspected al-Shabaab militants – but probably not ivory traders. UN, CC BY-NC-SA

By Diogo Veríssimo, Georgia State University

It is often said that if something is repeated often enough, it becomes accepted as true. This has certainly been the case for the link between terrorism and the poaching of elephants for the ivory trade.