Word: hypothalamus
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...Constitution is a bit less satisfying, it is probably because pinpointing the limits of a First Amendment right is more difficult than pinpointing a chemical imbalance in the hypothalamus. Each episode of the series, created by former CBS News President Fred W. Friendly, brings on a panel of experts who enact roles in hypothetical cases dramatizing Executive privilege, freedom of the press, school prayer, the right to life and other constitutional issues. President Ford and advisers like retired General Brent Scowcroft argue that classified information on covert CIA activity in the mythical country of Sierra Madre must be kept secret...
...When the hypothalamus finds the testosterone levels too high, as it does in the case of steroid abusers, it signals the pituitary to stop production. Problems can also arise in some cases after athletes stop taking the drugs and the hypothalamus fails to get the system started again...
...late 1981 scientists at the Salk Institute synthesized the remarkable chemical that triggers the body's stress reactions. As illustrated above, the substance, called corticotropin releasing factor (CRF), is produced in the hypothalamus, a tiny but powerful structure sometimes called "the brain's brain." Having duplicated CRF, the Salk scientists now hope to produce a modified version of the chemical that would actually block the body's reaction to stress...
...genes and their far-reaching impact always loom large in Konner's analysis. He notes that males are inherently more aggressive than females and explains this as a result of certain set differences in the structure of the hypothalamus, an important part of the brain which controls hormone levels. Males simply have more testesterone and so are simply--genetically--more violent (on average) than females. But to Kronner, this knowledge is promising, since it tells us. "Serious disarmament may ultimately necessitate an increase in the proportion of women in government. We would all be safer if the world's weapons...
...hormone is created, the child may become a giant; too little may cause a rare form of dwarfism. The production of the growth hormone is determined by another hormone, known as growth hormone-releasing factor (GRF). Scientists have known for decades that GRF is produced by the hypothalamus, located in the forebrain. But the problem of isolating GRF and then artificially reproducing it remained unsolved until the breakthrough, reported in Science last week, by researchers at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif...