Everyday experience and psychology research both indicate that paying close attention to one thing can keep you from noticing something else.

However, a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggests that attention does not have a fixed capacity - and that it can be improved by directed mental training, such as meditation.

Tropical plants may be more adaptable than commonly thought to changing rainfall patterns expected to accompany a warming climate, new research shows.

A University of Florida scientist and other researchers have found that plants in Hawaii have the ability to acclimate to big changes in rainfall in at least one important respect – how they get nutrients. The plants largely rely on one form of the vital nutrient nitrogen in moist areas. But in the still wetter terrain that characterizes some rainforests, they switch to another form of nitrogen that becomes more available in those conditions.

New immigrants to Western nations are believed to experience fewer chronic health problems (e.g., diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease) than long-time residents of those countries. Dr. Joel Ray and coauthors tested whether this "healthy immigrant effect" extends to complications during pregnancy.

Implanted pumps improved heart function enough in a small percentage of patients awaiting a heart transplant that they were able to leave the hospital without a pump and without a new heart, according to a study in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

The heart-assist devices also significantly improved the cardiac function in many other heart failure patients.

Does the time of year in which a child is conceived influence future academic achievement? Yes, according to research by neonatologist Paul Winchester, M.D., Indiana University School of Medicine professor of clinical pediatrics.

Dr. Winchester and colleagues linked the scores of 1,667,391 Indiana students in grades 3 through 10 who took the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress (ISTEP) examination with the month in which each student had been conceived. The researchers found that ISTEP scores for math and language were distinctly seasonal with the lowest scores received by children who had been conceived in June through August.

Most Americans are familiar with the popular city rankings of the fattest cities, the fittest cities, the most livable cities and the most expensive cities. Now, in the first-of-its-kind survey, the American Academy of Dermatology (Academy) has identified the cities that take sun protection seriously and those that fail to make the grade despite repeated health warnings.