Dogs May Be Responding To Psychological Seizures, Not Epilepsy Seizures:
Reports of dogs that can predict their owners' epilepsy seizures have been anecdotal and not objectively confirmed by doctors and researchers. Some people obtain service dogs trained specifically for people with seizures. In two new studies published in the January 23, 2007, issue of Neurology®, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology, researchers found that in some cases these dogs are responding to seizures caused not by epilepsy, but by psychological conditions.
Bumblebee House Warming: It Takes A Village:
All bumblebees always aren't as busy as, well, a bee. It all depends on what their job is. Researchers have known that a key to the insects' success in adapting to cooler climates is their ability to maintain fairly stable body temperatures when flying to flowers. Whether and how they maintained nest temperature was poorly understood. But now scientists from the University of Washington and the University of Puget Sound have peered into bumblebee colonies and have discovered some answers.
New Form Of Sleeping Sickness Discovered In India Stems From Deficiency In Natural Immunity Protein:
Human trypanosomiases are commonly known as sleeping sickness in Africa and Chagas disease in South America. The first case of human trypanosomiasis has now been discovered in India. The specialist investigations conducted, at the request of WHO and the Maharashtra Public Health Department, India, by an IRD scientist (1), has led to the identification of the parasite and the treatment of the patient, a farmer from the State of Maharashtra. He proved to be infected by Trypanosoma evansi, a trypanosome which is usually a parasite of various animals, particularly cattle. The mode of infection has not yet been clearly determined, but the discovery of this first human case of T. evansi raises questions both as to the evolution and adaptation of the parasite and on the real size of the problem.
An Advance In Mimicking Mother Nature:
Birds use them to reduce the weight of their feathers. Polar bears rely on them to keep warm in the Arctic cold. Now scientists in China report what they believe to be the first easy, straightforward method for making the kind of multi-channel microtubes found in birds, polar bears and other animals.
