My picks from ScienceDaily

Want To Monitor Climate Change? P-p-p-pick Up A Penguin!:

We are used to hearing about the effects of climate change in terms of unusual animal behaviour, such as altering patterns of fish and bird migration. However, scientists at the University of Birmingham are trying out an alternative bio-indicator -- the king penguin -- to investigate whether they can be used to monitor the effects of climate change.

Scientists Directly Control Brain Cell Activity With Light:

Every thought, feeling and action originates from the electrical signals emitted by diverse brain cells enmeshed in a tangle of circuits. At this fundamental level, scientists struggle to explain the mind. Worse yet, they have lacked tools to understand what's going wrong in patients with ailments such as depression or Parkinson's disease. New Stanford-led research published in the April 5 issue of Nature describes a technique to directly control brain cell activity with light. It is a novel means for experimenting with neural circuits and could eventually lead to therapies for some disorders.

In Young Mice, Gregariousness Seems To Reside In The Genes:

Beyond the lineage of primates, according to scientific gospel, social behavior is dictated primarily by competition for resources such as food, territory and reproduction. That may well be true for many adult animals, but in a groundbreaking study researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found evidence that social interactions among young mice result from basic motivations to be with one another. What's more, the researchers say, the extent of a young mouse's gregariousness is influenced by its genetic background.

Reindeer And Snowflakes: NASA Helps During International Polar Year:

Two things that come to mind during wintertime are snowflakes and reindeer. Now, NASA is providing technology to help study both of those in various ways during a kick off of the International Polar Year in Norway. The International Polar Year (IPY) involves over 60,000 researchers whose purpose is to increase knowledge about the Arctic and the Antarctic. Although there have been two prior IPY events in 1882-83 and 1932-33, as well as the International Geophysical Year in 1957-58, the current event is the first to include a focus on changes in the societies of the Arctic indigenous peoples.