My picks from ScienceDaily

Nurture Over Nature: Certain Genes Are Turned On Or Off By Geography And Lifestyle, Study Suggests:

Score one for the nurture side of the nature vs. nurture debate, as North Carolina State University geneticists have shown that environmental factors such as lifestyle and geography play a large role in whether certain genes are turned on or off. By studying gene expression of white blood cells in 46 Moroccan Amazighs, or Berbers - including desert nomads, mountain agrarians and coastal urban dwellers - the NC State researchers and collaborators in Morocco and the United States showed that up to one-third of genes are differentially expressed due to where and how the Moroccan Amazighs live.

Human Brain Appears 'Hard-wired' For Hierarchy:

Human imaging studies have for the first time identified brain circuitry associated with social status, according to researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health. They found that different brain areas are activated when a person moves up or down in a pecking order -- or simply views perceived social superiors or inferiors. Circuitry activated by important events responded to a potential change in hierarchical status as much as it did to winning money.

Infant Carrying Ruled Out As Reason Why Early Humans Walked Upright, According To New Research:

Scientists investigating the reasons why early humans -- the so-called hominins -- began walking upright say it's unlikely that the need to carry children was a factor, as has previously been suggested.

Shell-breaking Crabs Lived 20 Million Years Earlier Than Thought:

While waiting for colleagues at a small natural history museum in the state of Chiapas, Mexico last year, Cornell paleontologist Greg Dietl chanced upon a discovery that has helped rewrite the evolutionary history of crabs and the shelled mollusks upon which they preyed.

Reputation And Money: New Insights Into How The Brain Processes Social, Economic Reward:

Researchers have mapped the brain regions that process social standing and money rewards, yielding new insights that they said will aid understanding of the basis of social behaviors.

On The High Horse: Why Dominant Individuals Climb The Proverbial Ladder:

Psychological findings imply that a person's level of dominance could be measured based on their biases favoring vertical representations of power, as is the case in a hierarchy. In an attempt to grasp complex concepts, humans have tried to represent abstractions like power and dominance through visually-stimulated metaphors such as pyramids and steeples. And dominance especially has been measured socially, linguistically and artistically on a vertical dimension, as with upper and lower class divisions in hierarchical structures.

What's Not To Like? Why Fondness Makes Us Poor Judges, But Dislike Is Spot-on:

How good are we at guessing other people's likes and dislikes? Ever bring a favorite dish to a potluck -- only to watch it go uneaten? Or receive an unwelcome shock when a cherished product is discontinued for lack of sales? People have the tendency to assume the whole world likes what we like, reveals new research from the June 2008 issue of the Journal of Consumer Research. However, we don't generalize the same way when it comes to things we hate.

Coke Or Pepsi? Being Distracted Can Make You More Susceptible To Ads:

A can of Coke next to the word "awesome"; a can of Pepsi next to a picture of a happy couple. Seem too basic to be effective advertising? Prior research has shown that reported attitudes towards brands are not affected by such simple juxtapositions. However, a new paper in the June 2008 issue of the Journal of Consumer Research examines our implicit opinions -- and finds that we may actually be more susceptible than we think.

Molecular Analysis Confirms Tyrannosaurus Rex's Evolutionary Link To Birds:

Putting more meat on the theory that dinosaurs' closest living relatives are modern-day birds, molecular analysis of a shred of 68-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex protein -- along with that of 21 modern species -- confirms that dinosaurs share common ancestry with chickens, ostriches, and to a lesser extent, alligators.