Science News
clock | October 24, 2008So, let's see what's new in PLoS Genetics, PLoS Computational Biology, PLoS Pathogens, PLoS ONE and PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases this week. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
An End to Endless Forms: Epistasis, Phenotype Distribution Bias, and Nonuniform Evolution:
At the very end of his On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin wrote, "from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are…
clock | October 24, 2008Voters Swayed By Candidates Who Share Their Looks, Researchers Say:
Made up your mind who to vote for? Maybe it's because you like the looks of the candidate. Or maybe it's because the candidate looks a little like you, even if you don't realize it.
Memories Selectively, Safely Erased In Mice:
Targeted memory erasure is no longer limited to the realm of science fiction. A new study describes a method through which a selected set of memories can be rapidly and specifically erased from the mouse brain in a controlled and inducible manner. New and old memories have been selectively and safely…
clock | October 23, 2008Study Of Polar Dinosaur Migration Questions Whether Dinosaurs Were Truly The First Great Migrators:
Contrary to popular belief, polar dinosaurs may not have traveled nearly as far as originally thought when making their bi-annual migration.
ADHD Appears To Increase Level Of Nicotine Dependence In Smokers:
Young people with ADHD are not only at increased risk of starting to smoke cigarettes, they also tend to become more seriously addicted to tobacco and more vulnerable to environmental factors such as having friends or parents who smoke, according to a study from Massachusetts General…
clock | October 22, 2008There are 26 new articles published last night and 12 new articles published today in PLoS ONE. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
Sexual Cannibalism: High Incidence in a Natural Population with Benefits to Females:
Sexual cannibalism may be a form of extreme sexual conflict in which females benefit more from feeding on males than mating with them, and males avoid aggressive, cannibalistic females in order to increase net fitness. A…
clock | October 22, 2008Voters In Battleground States More Ambivalent About Presidential Candidates:
Heavy advertising by both Democratic and Republican presidential candidates may actually make voters in battleground states more confused about which candidate to vote for, a new study suggests.
Amphibian Diversity Decreases Chances Of Parasitic Disease, Study Shows:
American toads who hang out with gray tree frogs reduce their chances of parasitic infection, limb deformation.
Earth In Midst Of Sixth Mass Extinction: 50% Of All Species Disappearing:
The Earth is in the midst of the sixth mass extinction of both…
clock | October 20, 2008There are new articles in PLoS Biology, PLoS Medicine and PLoS ONE today:
Gender Dimorphism in Skeletal Muscle Leptin Receptors, Serum Leptin and Insulin Sensitivity:
To determine if there is a gender dimorphism in the expression of leptin receptors (OB-R170, OB-R128 and OB-R98) and the protein suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) in human skeletal muscle, the protein expression of OB-R, perilipin A, SOCS3 and alpha-tubulin was assessed by Western blot in muscle biopsies obtained from the m. vastus lateralis in thirty-four men (age = 27.1±6.8 yr) and thirty-three women (age = 26.7±6.7…
clock | October 20, 2008New Fossil Reveals Primates Lingered In Texas (Last I heard, primates are still lingering in Texas):
More than 40 million years ago, primates preferred Texas to northern climates that were significantly cooling, according to new fossil evidence discovered by Chris Kirk, physical anthropologist at The University of Texas at Austin.
Dinosaur Dance Floor: Numerous Tracks at Jurassic Oasis on Arizona-Utah Border:
University of Utah geologists identified an amazing concentration of dinosaur footprints that they call "a dinosaur dance floor," located in a wilderness on the Arizona-Utah border where…
clock | October 19, 2008
Genes Hold Secret Of Survival Of Antarctic 'Antifreeze Fish':
A genetic study of a fish that lives in the icy waters off Antarctica sheds light on the adaptations that enable it to survive in one of the harshest environments on the planet. The study is the first to search the genome of an Antarctic notothenioid fish for clues to its astounding hardiness.
Physical Decline Caused By Slow Decay Of Brain's Myelin:
During this year's baseball playoffs, Chicago White Sox outfielder Ken Griffey Jr., 38, threw a picture-perfect strike from center field to home plate to stop an opposing player from…
clock | October 18, 2008Human Brain Still Awake, Even During Deep Sleep:
Sleep in humans is divided in two main phases: non-REM sleep, which occupies most of our early sleep night, and REM sleep, during which our dreams prevail. Non-REM sleep is usually considered as a compensatory 'resting' state for the brain, following the intense waking brain activity. Indeed, previous brain imaging studies showed that the brain was less active during periods of non-REM sleep as compared to periods of wakefulness. Although not rejecting this concept, researchers from the Cyclotron Research Centre of the University of Liège in…
clock | October 18, 2008So, let's see what's new in PLoS Genetics, PLoS Computational Biology, PLoS Pathogens, PLoS ONE and PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases this week. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
Birdsong 'Transcriptomics': Neurochemical Specializations of the Oscine Song System:
Vocal learning is a rare and complex behavioral trait that serves as a basis for the acquisition of human spoken language. In songbirds, vocal learning and production depend…
clock | October 17, 2008
Brain Structure Provides Key To Unraveling Function Of Bizarre Dinosaur Crests:
Paleontologists have long debated the function of the strange, bony crests on the heads of the duck-billed dinosaurs known as lambeosaurs. The structures contain incredibly long, convoluted nasal passages that loop up over the tops of their skulls.
Movement Restored To Paralyzed Limbs In Monkeys Through Artificial Brain-muscle Connections:
Researchers in a study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have demonstrated for the first time that a direct artificial connection from the brain to muscles can…
clock | October 16, 2008There were 6 new articles published last night and another 14 new articles published today in PLoS ONE. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
The Effect of Diet Quality and Wing Morph on Male and Female Reproductive Investment in a Nuptial Feeding Ground Cricket:
A common approach in the study of life-history trade-off evolution is to manipulate the nutrient content of diets during the life of an individual in order observe how the…
clock | October 16, 2008People With Autism Make More Rational Decisions, Study Shows:
People with autism-related disorders are less likely to make irrational decisions, and are less influenced by gut instincts, according to research funded by the Wellcome Trust. The study adds to the growing body of research implicating altered emotional processing in autism.
Details Of Evolutionary Transition From Fish To Land Animals Revealed:
New research has provided the first detailed look at the internal head skeleton of Tiktaalik roseae, the 375-million-year-old fossil animal that represents an important intermediate step in…
clock | October 15, 2008Despite 'Peacenik' Reputation, Bonobos Hunt And Eat Other Primates, Too:
Unlike the male-dominated societies of their chimpanzee relatives, bonobo society--in which females enjoy a higher social status than males--has a "make-love-not-war" kind of image. While chimpanzee males frequently band together to hunt and kill monkeys, the more peaceful bonobos were believed to restrict what meat they do eat to forest antelopes, squirrels, and rodents.
Did Termites Help Katrina Destroy New Orleans Floodwalls And Levees?:
Three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, people still…
clock | October 14, 2008There are 15 new articles in PLoS ONE this week. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
Detection and Molecular Characterization of 9000-Year-Old Mycobacterium tuberculosis from a Neolithic Settlement in the Eastern Mediterranean:
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the principal etiologic agent of human tuberculosis. It has no environmental reservoir and is believed to have co-evolved with its host over millennia. This is supported by…
clock | October 14, 2008Personal Music Players: Scientists Warn Of Health Risks From Exposure To Noise:
Listening to personal music players at a high volume over a sustained period can lead to permanent hearing damage, according to an opinion of the EU Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) released this week.
New Gene Found That Helps Plants Beat The Heat:
Michigan State University plant scientists have discovered another piece of the genetic puzzle that controls how plants respond to high temperatures. That may allow plant breeders to create new varieties of crops that…
clock | October 13, 2008An Autonomous Circadian Clock in the Inner Mouse Retina Regulated by Dopamine and GABA:
The circadian clock in the mammalian retina regulates many retinal functions, and its output modulates the central circadian clock in the brain. Details about the cellular location and neural regulation of the mammalian retinal circadian clock remain unclear, however, largely due to the difficulty of maintaining long-term culture of adult mammalian retina and the lack of an ideal experimental measure of the retinal clock. We have circumvented these limitations by developing a protocol for long-term culture…
clock | October 13, 2008There are 12 new articles in PLoS ONE this week. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
Worm Grunting, Fiddling, and Charming--Humans Unknowingly Mimic a Predator to Harvest Bait:
For generations many families in and around Florida's Apalachicola National Forest have supported themselves by collecting the large endemic earthworms (Diplocardia mississippiensis). This is accomplished by vibrating a wooden stake driven into the soil, a…
clock | October 13, 2008Here's one for bloggers to rip apart: Why Your Boss Is White, Middle-class And A Show-off:
The way male managers power dress, posture and exercise power is due to humans' evolutionary biology, according to research from the University of New South Wales (UNSW).
Girls Are Happier Than Boys At Primary School, Study Shows:
Just over one quarter (26 per cent) of primary seven boys are completely happy coming to school, compared with 44 per cent of girls, according to a survey carried out by Queen's University Belfast and the University of Ulster.
American Culture Derails Girl Math Whizzes, Study…