The reason why treadmill training can boost memory recall remains an active area of investigation. A couple of proteins have been shown to fuel exercise-induced neuron growth, but a June 23 study in Cell Metabolism presents a new candidate, cathepsin B--one that can be directly traced from the muscles to the brain in mice. Also, after a run, protein levels increased in blood in mice, monkeys, and humans.

"We wanted to cast a wide net. Rather than focus on a known factor, we did a screen for proteins that could be secreted by muscle tissue and transported to the brain, and among the most interesting candidates was cathepsin B," says senior author Henriette van Praag, a neuroscientist at the National Institute on Aging in the United States.

DURHAM, N.C. -- By combining super-fine electrodes and tiny amounts of a very specific drug, Duke University researchers have singled out a circuit in mouse brains and taken control of it to dial an animal's mood up and down.

Stress-susceptible animals that behaved as if they were depressed or anxious were restored to relatively normal behavior by tweaking the system, according to a study appearing in the July 20 issue of Neuron.

PRINCETON, N.J.--Pregnant women in Latin American countries were more likely to seek an abortion after receiving health alerts about Zika virus, according to a study co-authored by Princeton University researchers and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The researchers analyzed data from Women on Web -- an online portal that pairs patients with doctors able to prescribe abortion pills -- and found that many Latin American women using the site reported Zika as their reason for seeking an abortion. Because abortions are illegal or highly restricted across much of Latin America, many pregnant women seek outside options like Women on Web, which serves women who are less than 10 weeks along in their pregnancy and have no severe illnesses.

The implementation of state prescription drug monitoring programs was associated with the prevention of approximately one opioid-related overdose death every two hours on average nationwide, according to a new Vanderbilt-led study released June 22 in the journal Health Affairs.

States with the most robust programs saw the greatest reduction in overdose deaths: these states monitored and tracked a greater number of substances with abuse potential and updated their data more frequently (at least weekly).

T. rex is considered the most ferocious creature in the prehistoric jungle, but mammal-like reptiles outlived the scary beast - and a new study shows it may have been due to something as simple as growing hair.

Dr. Julien Benoit and his colleagues from the University of the Witwatersrand scanned the fossil remains of mammal-like reptiles from the Karoo of South Africa found that these reptiles, called therapsids, may have evolved the use of whiskers as a sensory tool in order to operate at night well before the Mesozoic age, when dinosaurs became the dominant terrestrial animals.

Women workers often rely on future spouses to organize their retirement finances, rather than making independent decisions now. Men and women working for private Japanese companies make decisions about their retirement savings plans differently based on their gender.

Satoshi P. Watanabe, Ph.D., of Hiroshima University completed new research on an insurance company's survey results from 2002. Although the survey is somewhat dated, the data is still relevant because employee demographics have not changed significantly in the intervening 14 years. This is the first study to examine Japanese workers' gender-based decision making about retirement investments.