prune

As guardian of the occupied West Bank's oldest olive tree, Salah Abu Ali prunes its branches and gathers its fruit even as violence plagues the Palestinian territory during this year's harvest.

Earlier studies have found that it can reduce inflammation in brain cells and affect synaptic pruning -- a normal developmental process in which the brain trims and strengthens neural connections.

Halyna, selling dried prunes and mushrooms, told me she saw little cause for optimism.

"Then, the cell quickly prunes and filters many of those loops out when it enters G1."

A recent revision of history textbooks has pruned chapters on the Mughal era, the Muslim dynasty that came from central Asia and ruled swaths of northern India for centuries.