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SCIENCEFriday 29 January 2016
Study hints at biology of schizophrenia, may aid treatment
MALCOLM RITTER This image provided by Heather de Rivera and made with a flu- routes for treatment and minds or plotting against
AP Science Writer orescent microscope shows C4 proteins, green, located at the potential for prevention, them. Nobody knows what
NEW YORK (AP) — Scien- synapses in a culture of human neurons. In research released said Bruce Cuthbert, act- causes the disorder, so the
tists pursuing the biologi- on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016, scientists pursuing the biological ing deputy director of the new result offers a possible
cal roots of schizophrenia roots of schizophrenia have zeroed in on a potential factor _ a National Institute of Mental peek into a black box. The
have zeroed in on a poten- normal brain process that gets kicked into overdrive. Health, which helped fund work is reported in a paper
tial factor — a normal brain the research. released Wednesday by
process that gets kicked (Heather de Rivera/McCarroll Lab/Harvard via AP) An expert unconnected the journal Nature.
into overdrive. The finding to the research said the The finding might pertain
could someday lead to study’s conclusion was not to “a very substantial frac-
ways to treat the disease yet proven, but plausible. tion of cases, maybe most
or even prevent it. Almost 1 percent of the cases, even,” said senior
The result — accomplished general population will author Steven McCarroll,
by analysis of genetics, au- have schizophrenia at of Harvard Medical School
topsy brain tissue and lab- some point in their lives. and the Broad Institute in
oratory mice — is “going They may hear voices or Cambridge, Massachu-
to be a game-changer” hallucinate, talk about setts. The result links schizo-
in terms of understanding strange ideas, and believe phrenia risk to a problem
schizophrenia and offering others are reading their with a normal process that
happens in adolescence
Beyond chess: and early adulthood, when
disease symptoms often
Computer beats human in ancient Chinese game appear. That age range is
when the brain trims back
MALCOLM RITTER strategy may someday let mon. But among classic than one’s opponent, as the number of specialized
AP Science Writer computers help solve real- games, Go has long been well as capturing the oppo- places on brain cells where
NEW YORK (AP) — A com- world problems like mak- viewed as the most chal- nent’s pieces by surround- the cells signal each other,
puter program has beaten ing medical diagnoses and lenging for artificial intelli- ing them. called synapses. The new
a human champion at the pursuing scientific research. gence to master. While the rules are simple, work suggests a connec-
ancient Chinese board The program and its victory Go, which originated in playing it well is not. It’s tion to schizophrenia when
game Go, marking a sig- are described in a paper China more than 2,500 “probably the most com- this process gets out of
nificant advance for de- released Wednesday by years ago, involves two plex game ever devised hand, deleting too many
velopment of artificial intel- the journal Nature. players who take turns put- by humans,” Dennis Hass- synapses.
ligence. Computers previously have ting markers on a checker- abis of Google DeepMind “It’s like you have a gar-
The program had taught surpassed humans for other board-like grid. The object in London, one of the study dener who was supposed
itself how to win, and its games, including chess, is to surround more area on authors, told reporters to prune the bushes and
developers say its learning checkers and backgam- the board with the markers Tuesday.q just got overactive,” Cuth-
bert observed. q
