Understanding the Human Brain

Where do character traits like creativity and humor originate? By studying nerve tissue and building a computational model, neuroscientist Giorgio Ascoli and his team of researchers at the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study are trying to answer this fundamental question.

Gratitude, meaningful relationships, and living in the present moment are three essential ingredients to living a happy life, according to psychology professor Todd Kashdan. In several new studies, he has found it’s the best way to achieve happiness.

Once thought to be a strictly American phenomenon, childhood obesity rates are soaring in nations still plagued with hunger and poverty. Nutritional anthropologist Lisa Pawloski has found a number of factors contribute to this phenomenon including a rise in two-income families and fast food restaurants.

Can Cancer Become a Manageable Disease?

Scientists at Mason’s Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine are focusing their efforts in the war against cancer on two primary fronts: early diagnosis and discovery of new drug targets. To identify cancer in the early stages, the lab uses proteomic techniques and novel nanotechnology methods invented by Lance Liotta, MD, PhD, and Emanuel Petricoin III, PhD, to harvest rare proteins in blood that are a likely sign that cancer is present.

Why are some things addictive and others not? Whether they are a narcotic or a cigarette, all things addictive have something in common—the reward pathway in the brain. “It is thought that anything that can perturb this pathway has addictive properties,” says molecular neuroscientist Nadine Kabbani.