Ever since 1887, when Norwegian mathematician Sophus Lie discovered the mathematical group called E8, researchers have been trying to understand the extraordinarily complex object described by a numerical matrix of more than 400,000 rows and columns.

Now, an international team of experts using powerful computers and programming techniques has mapped E8--a feat numerically akin to the mapping of the human genome--allowing for breakthroughs in a wide range of problems in geometry, number theory and the physics of string theory.

At first glance, one might think Northeastern University junior Tanya Cashorali was bent on outshining the competition. At only 21-years-old, her achievements include three co-op jobs with top cancer scientists, one grant-funded study on tumor development, and numerous presentations to world-renowned doctors.

A newly discovered small molecule called IQ-1 plays a key role in preventing embryonic stem cells from differentiating into one or more specific cell types, allowing them to instead continue growing and dividing indefinitely, according to research performed by a team of scientists who have recently joined the stem-cell research efforts at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.

What is the very best way to learn a complex task? Is it practice, practice, practice, or is watching and thinking enough to let you imitate a physical activity, such as skiing or ballet? A new study from Brandeis University published this week in the Journal of Vision unravels some of the mysteries surrounding how we learn to do things like tie our shoes, feed ourselves, or perform dazzling dance steps.

"What makes one person clumsy and the next person a prima ballerina is a combination of talent and practice," explains study co-author Robert Sekuler a neuroscientist at Brandeis" Volen Center for Complex Systems. "We are trying to determine what strategies will optimize imitation learning, which is crucial for acquiring many of the skills used in daily life.

Suspicion and mistrust of Western medicine led Muslim religious leaders in three northern states of Nigeria to call for the 2003 boycott of the national polio vaccine campaign, according to a historical analysis in PLoS Medicine. The boycott led to fresh outbreaks of polio in Nigeria.

Ayodele Samuel Jegede (University of Ibadan, Nigeria), author of the analysis, says that the boycott needs to be considered in its proper historical and political context.

"The polio vaccination boycott," says Jegede, "should not be considered in isolation, but rather in the context of the history of orthodox health services in northern Nigeria.

Psychiatric researchers at The Zucker Hillside Hospital campus of The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research have uncovered evidence of a new gene that appears to increase the risk of developing schizophrenia, a disorder characterized by distorted thinking, hallucinations and a reduced ability to feel normal emotions..

Working in conjunction with researchers at the Harvard Medical School Partners Center for Genetics and Genomics in Boston, MA, the Zucker Hillside team utilized a cutting-edge technology called whole genome association (WGA) to search the entire human genome in 178 patients with schizophrenia and 144 healthy individuals.