My picks from ScienceDaily

Does Time Slow In Crisis? No, Say Researchers:

In The Matrix, hero Neo wins his battles when time slows in the simulated world. In the real world, accident victims often report a similar slowing as they slide unavoidably into disaster. But can humans really experience events in slow motion?

Monkeys Can Perform Mental Addition:

Researchers at Duke University have demonstrated that monkeys have the ability to perform mental addition. In fact, monkeys performed about as well as college students given the same test.

Why Diving Marine Mammals Resist Brain Damage From Low Oxygen:

No human can survive longer than a few minutes underwater, and even a well-trained Olympic swimmer needs frequent gulps of air. Our brains need a constant supply of oxygen, particularly during exercise.

Why Do People Support Underdogs And Find Them So Appealing?:

In a series of studies, researchers from the University of South Florida tested the scope of people's support for those who are expected to lose, seeking to understand why people are drawn to the Rocky Balboas and the Davids (versus Goliaths) of the world.

Sea Cucumber Protein Used To Inhibit Development Of Malaria Parasite:

Scientists have genetically engineered a mosquito to release a sea-cucumber protein into its gut which impairs the development of malaria parasites, according to new research. Researchers say this development is a step towards developing future methods of preventing the transmission of malaria.

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A lectin is a funny little protein that seems to be used in a lot of biological systems. They bind to sugars, and one of the roles they play is inhibition of "agglutination" ... clumping, or gluing together ... of other molecules. A sea cucumber is an echinoderm that lives in the ocean. It…
Thursday night is a good time to see what is new on PLoS Pathogens, Computational Biology, Genetics and Neglected Tropical Diseases. Here are my picks for the week: Hemolytic C-Type Lectin CEL-III from Sea Cucumber Expressed in Transgenic Mosquitoes Impairs Malaria Parasite Development: Malaria is…
You've all heard of Malaria. It's bad. It infects hundreds of millions of people, mostly in developing nations. It rarely leads directly to death*, but the resulting illness can lay people out for days or weeks, increasing an already heavy economic burden on many of the poorest countries in the…
We already know everyone's favorite echinoderm is a far-eastern delicacy, has purported aphrodisiac qualities, and is a real life shape shifter even J. K. Rowling couldn't dream up... but according to an international team of scientists, the under appreciated sea cucumber may just be a veritable…