American West Heating Nearly Twice As Fast As Rest Of World, New Analysis Shows:
The American West is heating up more rapidly than the rest of the world, according to a new analysis of the most recent federal government temperature figures. The news is especially bad for some of the nation's fastest growing cities, which receive water from the drought-stricken Colorado River. The average temperature rise in the Southwest's largest river basin was more than double the average global increase, likely spelling even more parched conditions.
Are You What You Eat? New Study Of Body Weight Change Says Maybe Not:
If identical twins eat and exercise equally, must they have the same body weight" By analyzing the fundamental equations of body weight change, NIH investigators Carson Chow and Kevin Hall find that identical twins with identical lifestyles can have different body weights and different amounts of body fat.
Appendix Removed Through Vagina: U.S. First:
On March 26, 2008, surgeons at UC San Diego Medical Center removed an inflamed appendix through a patient's vagina, a first in the United States. Following the 50-minute procedure, the patient, Diana Schlamadinger, reported only minor discomfort. Removal of diseased organs through the body's natural openings offers patients a rapid recovery, minimal pain, and no scarring. Key to these surgical clinical trials is collaboration with medical device companies to develop new minimally-invasive tools.
Teenage Risk-taking: Teenage Brains Really Are Different From Child Or Adult Brains:
Many parents are convinced that the brains of their teenage offspring are different than those of children and adults. New data confirms that this is the case. An article by Jay N. Giedd, MD, of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), published in Journal of Adolescent Health describes how brain changes in the adolescent brain impact cognition, emotion and behavior.
Who's Bad? Chimps Figure It Out By Observation:
Chimpanzees make judgments about the actions and dispositions of strangers by observing others' behavior and interactions in different situations. Specifically, chimpanzees show an ability to recognize certain behavioral traits and make assumptions about the presence or absence of these traits in strangers in similar situations thereafter. These findings are by Dr. Francys Subiaul - from the George Washington University in Washington DC - and his team.
Can You Rescue A Rainforest? The Answer May Be Yes:
Half a century after most of Costa Rica's rainforests were cut down, researchers from the Boyce Thompson Institute took on a project that many thought was impossible - restoring a tropical rainforest ecosystem.
Environment
Brain & Behavior
Comments
Thanks for the story lead on the chimps...but it does seem a stretch( a huge leap actually) when the "authors conclude that their results demonstrate chimpanzees’ ability “to infer stability in an individual’s character or behavior over time through observation," based on the limits of that one study.
Don't chimps also selectively choose to share/not share, situationally, i.e., they are smart enough to sometimes with-hold food until one need or another is met? I can't cite the study, but I do recall having seen that too.
And your baby PlOS has this: http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0000886
"The sharing of wild plant foods is infrequent in chimpanzees, but in chimpanzee communities that engage in hunting, meat is frequently used as a ‘social tool’ for nurturing alliances and social bonds..."
i.e. they aren't 'judging good or bad' so much as they are judging gullibility of researcher bias;-)
Posted by: the real cmf | March 31, 2008 8:15 AM