I receive much crackpot email. There is a very common misunderstanding often central, one I have not seen a good answer to anywhere. This is partially due to that few who write about physics counter crackpot theories well. Allow me to explain this point with a new personal story before explaining why energy seems quantized, why photons seem to be little packets of energy rather than a concept that describes quantum interactions more or less well.

PHILADELPHIA - Stimulation of a certain population of neurons within the brain can alter the learning process, according to a team of neuroscientists and neurosurgeons at the University of Pennsylvania. A report in the Journal of Neuroscience describes for the first time that human learning can be modified by stimulation of dopamine-containing neurons in a deep brain structure known as the substantia nigra. Researchers suggest that the stimulation may have altered learning by biasing individuals to repeat physical actions that resulted in reward.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Depression in preschool teachers is associated with behavioral problems ranging from aggression to sadness in children under the teachers' care, new research suggests.

The study identified one contributing factor to this link: a poor-quality atmosphere in the child care setting that exists as a result of the teacher's depressive symptoms. In this study, "teacher" refers to both classroom instructors and in-home child care providers.

Researchers conducted the study using data from a large national study that collected family information primarily from low-income, single-mother households.

Much like using dimmer switches to brighten or darken rooms, biochemists have identified a protein called CFIm25  that can be used to slow down or speed up the growth of brain tumors in mice. 

Are you a control freak? 

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is something else entirely. It is a condition marked by thoughts and images that chronically intrude in the mind and by engaging in repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety. Some forms of the disorder can add an extra hour to the day's routine but some people are so disabled that they can't leave their homes.

Estimates say that OCD affects 1 percent of the U.S. population or more. Antidepressants known as SSRIs work for some, as does behavioral therapy.  Its causes and mechanisms are as much guessing as science. 

More than 60 years ago, Otto Warburg said that cancer cells differ from normal cells in the metabolic pathway they use for the oxidation of sugar.

Rather than the typical series of oxidative steps that take place in the citric acid cycle, cancer cells metabolize sugar via the glycolytic pathway irrespective of whether oxygen is present or not.

Writing in a new paper for The EMBO Journal, researchers believe that the reason for this difference in colon cancer is changes in the Wnt signaling pathway, an essential communication pathway operating in these tumors.

Psychologists probably won't like the implication that e-cigarettes cause mental illness, or vice versa, but in the topsy-turvy world of the American culture wars, where vaccines are bad and inhaling marijuana smoke is good, all fields are going to take their lumps.

E-cigarettes should be healthier for people - there is no smoke and smoking is what causes 10 percent of lung cancer - but there is definitely a concerted effort to undermine them. A new pape in Tobacco Control, for example, warns us that the FDA has not approved e-cigarettes as a cessation aid. It doesn't mean they are harmful or homeopathy but that is how the issue is framed. And in science and health, framing is always bad.

Researchers at Children's Hospital Los Angeles have discovered that by targeting a particular receptor, chemotherapy-resistant cancer cells can be killed in an acute form of childhood leukemia, offering the potential for a future treatment for patients who would otherwise experience relapse of their disease.

Nora Heisterkamp, PhD, and colleagues at The Saban Research Institute of Children's Hospital Los Angeles have discovered that by targeting the B-cell activating receptor (BAFF-R), chemotherapy-resistant precursor B acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells (pre-B ALL) can be selectively killed in vivo and in vitro. Results will be published on May 13 in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.

Though numbers are difficult to estimate, advocates believe one in three women around the world have experienced physical or sexual violence from a partner.

It's difficult to be sure so a few countries, notably the United States, have introduced screening program in healthcare settings to try and see what works. The results in BMJ found no evidence to support domestic violence screening.