Stress is the reason why we find it hard to empathise with someone we do not know, researchers suggest.

In separate tests in mice and people, empathy towards strangers increased when stress hormones were blocked by a drug.

Playing a fun video game with a stranger was found to have a similar effect to the drug.

The Canadian and American research team published their findings in Current Biology.

Previous studies have shown that the ability to feel or share someone else’s pain is not something unique to humans. Mice can feel empathy too.

But in both species, empathy is stronger between those that recognise each other and all but absent between those unfamiliar with each other.

Stress levels have also been shown to rise in both mice and people in the presence of strangers.

BBC News

Two volunteers have been transferred to the UK after potential contact with the Ebola virus in separate incidents.

Public Health England said the patients’ risk of having the virus was low and the measure was a precaution.

Authorities said the individuals – one of whom is Australian – had not been diagnosed with Ebola and did not currently have symptoms of the disease.

Experts emphasised the risk to the public was low and said the volunteers would be monitored for 21 days.

Australian authorities confirmed an Australian nurse was flown to the UK after a low risk clinical incident while working in Sierra Leone.

SOURCE : BBC News

An elastic implant that moves with the spinal cord can restore the ability to walk in paralysed rats, say scientists.

Implants are an exciting field of research in spinal cord injury, but rigid designs damage surrounding tissue and ultimately fail.

A team at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) has developed flexible implants that work for months.

It was described by experts as a “groundbreaking achievement of technology”.

The spinal cord is like a motorway with electrical signals rushing up and down it instead of cars.

Injury to the spinal cord leads to paralysis when the electrical signals are stuck in a jam and can no longer get from the brain to the legs.

SOURCE BBC News

Two promising Ebola vaccines will soon be tried on the frontline of the epidemic in West Africa, the World Health Organization has announced.

Trials in limited numbers of volunteers suggest the vaccines are safe and can generate an immune response.

Further trials on thousands of people will take place in Africa, including in healthcare workers.

It is still unclear how much protection against Ebola, or for how long, the vaccines might provide.

The two leading candidates – being produced by GlaxoSmithKline and Merck – are going through safety trials in the US, UK and other countries.

The WHO said they had “an acceptable safety profile” and they were ready to be tested on the frontline.

“The world is waiting for us to get Ebola vaccines ready and out to the people that need them in their communities,” said Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, assistant director general of the WHO.

SOURCE BBC News