Bioscience Bulletin: Musical Talent Located, a Drug for Hearing Loss, and Vitamin D for Eye Health

Welcome to today’s installment of Bioscience Bulletin, where we bring you the most popular headlines from the week.

Brain Region for Musical Talent Found, Says New Study [1]
The top story this week involves a new study that located where musical talent is located in the brain. Cynthia Fox reported on the research, which involved 14 subjects learning to play simple piano pieces over a six week period.

“Super-Predator” Humans Kill More Than Was Known [2]
New research finds that humans are unique among all other carnivores and our eating habits may impact the environment even more than previously thought. Humans kill adult fish at 14 times the rate that marine predators do.

Drug for Curing Hearing Loss Being Tested at Military Base [3]
Soldiers at Fort Jackson military base in South Carolina are participating in an experimental drug trial to test a liquid micronutrient called d-methionine to see if it can prevent hearing loss. The military is looking to help noise-induced hearing damage that results from the constant firing of loud weapons.

The Timing of Sleep Just as Important as Quantity [4]
Washington State University researchers found that when an animal sleeps can be just as important as how much it sleeps. The findings indicate that when animals biological clocks became out of sync with the light-dark cycle they were less able to fight illness and more likely to get sick.

Vitamin D May Play Key Role in Preventing Macular Degeneration [5]
Researchers at the University of Buffalo published findings that implicate vitamin D in the prevention of age-related macular degeneration. The study found that women who are deficient in vitamin D and have a specific high-risk genotype are 6.7 times more likely to develop the disease.