Spinal muscular atrophy is a debilitating neuromuscular disease that in its most severe form is the leading genetic cause of infant death. By experimenting with an ALS drug in two very different animal models, researchers at Brown University and Boston Children’s Hospital have identified a new potential mechanism for developing an SMA treatment.

Many animals, including humans, harbor ingrained biases to act when they can obtain rewards and to remain inactive to avoid punishment. Sometimes, however those biases can steer us wrong. A new study finds that theta brainwave activity in the prefrontal cortex predicts how well people can overcome these biases when a better choice are available.

James W. Head, the Louis and Elizabeth Scherck Distinguished Professor of Geological Sciences, was part of a research team that has shown that the Moon had a surprisingly strong magnetic field 3.56 billion years ago. Samples of that age recovered during the Apollo 11 mission showed signs of having been magnetized by a stable field, the new research found. That suggests that the field persisted for at least 160 million years longer than researchers had previously thought. The new finding enables scientists to rule out one possible source for the field.

Researchers used a multicollector ion microprobe to study hydrogen-deuterium ratios in lunar rock and on Earth. Their conclusion: The Moon’s water did not come from comets but was already present on Earth 4.5 billion years ago, when a giant collision sent material from Earth to form the Moon.

Brown University has named David Savitz, currently professor of epidemiology in the Brown School of Public Health and professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the Alpert Medical School, as its next vice president for research. Savitz will begin his new post Sept. 1, 2013, succeeding Clyde Briant.

Forty Brown researchers and scholars are receiving University research awards through eight Research Seed grants and 17 Richard B. Salomon Faculty Research Awards, with awards totaling more than $760,000.

Amanda Jamieson, newly hired assistant professor of biology, is the lead author of a paper in Science Express April 25 that traces the reason why dual infection of first a virus and then bacteria can be so deadly. In a series of experiments, she and colleagues at Yale and her current institution, the University of Vienna, used a mouse model of flu and then Legionella pneumophila to investigate what makes the combination so troublesome. The team ruled out possibilities including impaired resistance to the pathogens or an overzealous immune response.