clock | September 20, 2007Earlier studies have indicated that a gene called FOXP2, possibly involved in brain development, is extremely conserved in vertebrates, except for two notable mutations in humans. This finding suggested that this gene may in some way be involved in the evolution of language, and was thus dubbed by the popular press "the language gene". See, for instance, this and this for some recent research on the geographic variation of this gene (and related genes) and its relation to types of languages humans use (e.g., tonal vs. non-tonal). Furthermore, a mutation in this gene in humans results in…
clock | September 20, 2007Symposium Light, Performance and Quality of Life is on Thursday, 8 November 2007 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands:
Introduction
The ancient Greek already referred to the wholesome effects of the (sun)light on mankind. Ever since the industrialization, more and more people are devoid of bright daylight for a large part of the day. With the ongoing industrialization and the current information-society the number of persons that spent al large part of the day indoors further increases.
The light in these buildings is, also due to the modern trend of small windows and low lighting-levels, notably…
clock | September 20, 2007Lali's Laboratory
Frog Blog
d(PhD)/dt
The Badge (SF Chronicle Police Beat Blog)
Alexipharmacopeia
Ed Boyden
The Conscience of a Liberal (Paul Krugman)
GMO Africa
clock | September 20, 2007There is an intriguing article in Scientific American about the consequences of sleep deprivation. When the brain is finally allowed to catch up with sleep, it tries to make-up for the loss of slow-wave sleep, but it also tries to make up for the loss of REM sleep as well - by making it more intense! As a result, the dreams are like scenes from something like "Jumanji" - wild animals running around and other crazy stuff. A very good article about various ideas on the function of sleep and dreams.
clock | September 20, 2007I thought the LiveJournal debacle taught them a lesson. I guess not. Melissa posted about this a couple of weeks ago, and Tara did it today again because the issue has not been resolved yet. So did PZ Myers (Janet Stemwedel and Dr. Joan Bushwell also chime in). Facebook is deleting pictures of breastfeeding and banning users who post them. Now that Facebook is not just for college crowd, there are more and more moms and dads on the network, proudly showing off their offspring to the world. Including offspring in the moments of feeding bliss.
But, you know that in this country there are…
clock | September 20, 2007Jim Giles, New Scientist contributor, got the memo and wrote a blog post and an article about it. You can read the actual memo here (pdf) to see what Dezenhall advised the dinosaur publishers to do to stave off the inevitable move to Open Access. So now you can see where PRISM comes from.
clock | September 20, 2007Based in part on this study, lethal injection has been ruled (at least for now) unconstitutional in the state of Tennessee.
The executions by lethal injection have been on hold for several months now in North Carolina as well, until the legality of it is figured out. I hope NC follows in the footsteps of TN soon.
clock | September 19, 2007The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.
- Abraham Lincoln, 1809 - 1865
clock | September 19, 2007Just a reminder - watch out as I am now getting into that mode when I get on everyone's nerves with promoting the conference almost daily - that there are now 60 amazing people already registered for the conference, so you should register soon, before we reach the cap. Don't forget to sign yourself for the Friday dinner as well. The Program is getting closer and closer to its final shape. We'll need volunteers (especially local drivers) and we'll be glad to get additional sponsors if your organization is interested.
clock | September 19, 2007The 135th Carnival of Education is up on The Education Wonks.
The latest edition of the Homeschooling Carnival is up on About:Homeschooling.
clock | September 19, 2007Circadian clocks: regulators of endocrine and metabolic rhythms by Michael Hastings, John S O'Neill and Elizabeth S Maywood is a new and excellent review of the interaction between the clocks and hormones in mammals, focusing at the molecular level. The pre-print PDF of the article is freely available on the Journal of Endocrinology site.
clock | September 19, 2007
Brain Network Related To Intelligence Identified:
A primary mystery puzzling neuroscientists - where in the brain lies intelligence? - just may have a unified answer.
The title alone should provoke a storm in the blogosphere ;-)
Prehistoric Aesthetics Explains Snail Biogeography Puzzle:
The answer to a mystery that long has puzzled biologists may lie in prehistoric Polynesians' penchant for pretty white shells, a research team headed by University of Michigan mollusk expert Diarmaid à Foighil has found.
Who's Afraid Of The Big, Bad Wolf? Coyotes:
While the wily coyote reigns as top dog in…
clock | September 18, 2007Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.
- Earl Nightingale, 1921 - 1989
clock | September 18, 2007There are 28 new articles up on PLoS ONE today. As always, I offer you my own picks, but you go there and look at all of them, then read, rate, comment and annotate:
Living with the Past: Nutritional Stress in Juvenile Males Has Immediate Effects on their Plumage Ornaments and on Adult Attractiveness in Zebra Finches:
The environmental conditions individuals experience during early development are well known to have fundamental effects on a variety of fitness-relevant traits. Although it is evident that the earliest developmental stages have large effects on fitness, other developmental…
clock | September 18, 2007There is new cool stuff published last night in PLoS Biology and PLoS Medicine, including:
Here is a write-up: Do Abstinence-Plus Interventions Reduce Sexual Risk Behavior among Youth?
And this is the actual paper: :
In an extensive search for existing abstinence-plus studies, the researchers identified 39 trials done in high-income countries that compared the effects on sexual behavior of various abstinence-plus programs with the effects of no intervention or of other interventions designed to prevent HIV infection. All the trials met strict preset criteria (for example, trial participants…
clock | September 18, 2007The good folks at The Scientist asked a few of us to recommend some of the best and most interesting life science blogs. We have done so and the article is now online:
So, we at The Scientist are asking you to help compile the first list of the best life science blogs. Tell us what your favorite life science blogs are and why by clicking the button and leaving a comment, and we will publish a list of the most popular choices across the different areas of life sciences. With your help we hope to provide a list of who is currently hot in the science blogosphere, and why you should be reading…
clock | September 18, 2007From the Independent:
The head has identified research which says that teenagers would be more likely to take in what they are learning if they started school two hours later. He is considering changing the school timetable for sixth-formers as a result.
"We have always assumed that learning early in the morning is best, probably because it is best for young children and adults," he writes. " Unfortunately, it is not true for teenagers. When teenagers are woken up at our morning time, their brain tells them they should be asleep. So they use stimulants such as coffee and cigarettes to get…