This blog entry is about one of the most interesting discoveries of the 90's in Neuroscience -- Mirror Neurons -- and a recent research paper that adds to their intrigue.

Mirror neurons are found in the premotor cortex, and what has made them so interesting is that they fire both when the individual performs a goal-directed action and when they watch someone else perform the same action. It is as if the mirror neurons encode an understanding about the intentions of someone else. For example, when my husband reaches for his coffee cup I understand that he intends to take a drink before he even raises the cup to his lips. Neuroscientists think it is the mirror neurons that encode the "understanding" when we watch what others are doing.

FRIMLEY, England, May 8 /PRNewswire/ --

- Glivec(R) (imatinib) Now Approved in the UK for Post-Surgery Treatment of Patients With KIT (CD117)-Positive Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumours (GIST), who are at Significant Risk of the Cancer Returning After Surgery(1)

- Use of Glivec(R) After Surgery Significantly Reduces Risk of Cancer Relapse(2)

- If Untreated After Surgery, 50% of patients Will Experience Their Cancer Returning Within Two Years(3,4)

New research that uses an innovative approach to study, for the first time, the relative contributions of food and exercise habits to the development of the obesity epidemic has concluded that the rise in obesity in the United States since the 1970s was virtually all due to increased energy intake. 

How much of the obesity epidemic has been caused by excess calorie intake and how much by reductions in physical activity has been long debated and while experts agree that making it easier for people to eat less and exercise more are both important for combating it, they debate where the public health focus should be.

When you're on a diet, deciding to skip your favorite calorie-laden foods and eat something healthier takes a whole lot of self-control--an ability that seems to come easier to some of us than others. Now, scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have uncovered differences in the brains of people who are able to exercise self-control versus those who find it almost impossible.

The key? While everyone uses the same single area of the brain to make these sorts of value-laden decisions, a second brain region modulates the activity of the first region in people with good self-control, allowing them to weigh more abstract factors--healthiness, for example--in addition to basic desires such as taste to make a better overall choice.

"The method we have developed means we can simultaneously detect various kinds of antibiotic residues (macrolides, tetracyclines, quinolones and sulfonamides) in honey", Antonia Garrido, lead author of the study and the researcher in charge of the UAL's Contaminants Analytical Chemistry Research Group, told Servicio de Información y Noticias Científicas (SINC).

In order to develop this method, the results of which have been published recently in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the researchers employed ultra performance liquid chromatography, a technique that makes it possible to separate the components of a sample, together with mass spectrometry, which permits the simultaneous identification of up to 17 antibiotics.

With the new movie ‘Star Trek’ opening in theaters across the nation, one thing movie goers will undoubtedly see is the Starship Enterprise racing across the galaxy at the speed of light but two Baylor University physicists believe they have an idea that can turn traveling at the speed of light from science fiction to science, and that their idea does not break any laws of physics. 

ATLANTA, May 7 /PRNewswire/ --

Xiocom Wireless and Aptilo Networks today announced a strategic partnership designed to enhance Xiocom's ability to cost efficiently operate and manage large scale deployments, better serving their partners across the globe.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081120/CLTH100LOGO)

Aptilo offers integrated management solutions for control of billing, user services and access in WiMAX(TM) and Wi-Fi networks. Aptilo's platform is designed for service providers, enterprises and municipalities needing rapidly deployable, scalable multi-service solutions to easily manage data and voice services over these networks.

HAIFA, Israel, May 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Oil Refineries Ltd. (TASE: ORL.TA) (ORL), Israel's largest oil refiner, received today from Israel Petrochemicals Enterprises (IPE), which holds 15.76% in ORL, its announcement on the receipt of a control permit under the Government Companies Decree (announcement on vital interests of the State in Oil Refineries Ltd. (2007). Please find below a convenience translation from Hebrew of IPE's announcement.

Israel Petrochemical Enterprises Ltd., (the Company), 8 Shaul Hamelech Street, Tel Aviv 64733 Tel. 03-6955559; Fax: 03-6964111 May 7, 2009 Messrs Messrs Securities Authority Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Ltd. Through the Magna Clearing Through the Magna Clearing

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, May 7 /PRNewswire/ --

Guzik Technical Enterprises today announced the availability of their new WDM 5044 Waveform Digitizer, which provides up to 6 GHz waveform capture and analysis bandwidth in a display-less rack-mounted format. This digitizer addresses demanding ATE and OEM applications in avionics, military electronics, physics, astronomy, semiconductors, and a variety of other disciplines.