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- December 26, 2012
- 07:48 AM
- 202 views
Eat All you Want; Just Not Late at Night
by Andrew Porterfield in United Academics
Oh, no, you’re thinking—another tedious, scolding holiday “science of overeating” story. Not so! You can eat what you want—even overindulge—as long as you don’t make a habit of it, and most important, don’t make that habit interfere with normal mealtimes.... Read more »
Zhang, L., Abraham, D., Lin, S., Oster, H., Eichele, G., Fu, Y., & Ptacek, L. (2012) PKC participates in food entrainment by regulating BMAL1. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(50), 20679-20684. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1218699110
- December 24, 2012
- 07:12 AM
- 210 views
West Antarctica warms up at top speed
by Katja Keuchenius in United Academics
Rising temperatures in West Antarctica are far more threatening than expected, a new study shows.... Read more »
Bromwich, D., Nicolas, J., Monaghan, A., Lazzara, M., Keller, L., Weidner, G., & Wilson, A. (2012) Central West Antarctica among the most rapidly warming regions on Earth. Nature Geoscience. DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1671
- December 23, 2012
- 07:20 AM
- 155 views
Any Time’s Good for a Song (if You’re a Whale)
by Gunnar de Winter in United Academics
Humpback whales are known virtuosos. Their mating songs are characterized by an impressive duration and complexity. In recent years, however, more and more reports show that they’re not only singing when they find themselves at breeding grounds.
A new study, published at the online journal PLOS ONE, followed ten humpback whales in the Western Antarctic Peninsula. The animals were tagged non-invasively and followed to study foraging and acoustic behavior. On the records of all ten animals background singing was heard, and in two of these recordings, long and complex songs could be discerned (audio files can be found by following the reference below).... Read more »
Stimpert, AK, Peavey, LE, Friedlaender, AS, & Nowacek, DP. (2012) Humpback Whale Song and Foraging Behavior on an Antarctic Feeding Ground. . PloS one, 7(12). info:/doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0051214
- December 21, 2012
- 09:26 AM
- 172 views
Men with Mostly Brothers More Fertile
by Carian Thus in United Academics
Men with more brothers than sisters are more likely to have increased fertility, according to new research.
Scientists of the University of Sheffield and Brown University studied the semen of 500 men, and measured how fast their sperm swam – a major predictor of fertility. The participants also reported how many brothers or sisters they had in their family.... Read more »
Mossman, J., Slate, J., Birkhead, T., Moore, H., & Pacey, A. (2012) Sperm speed is associated with sex bias of siblings in a human population. Asian Journal of Andrology. DOI: 10.1038/aja.2012.109
- December 20, 2012
- 11:41 AM
- 171 views
Interview: The Irreversible Commitment to Adulthood
by Zach Urbina in United Academics
C elegans makes it look easy. During the course of development, based on environmental conditions, they either ramp up to becoming adults, or lay low as dauer larvae.... Read more »
Schaedel ON, Gerisch B, Antebi A, & Sternberg PW. (2012) Hormonal signal amplification mediates environmental conditions during development and controls an irreversible commitment to adulthood. PLoS biology, 10(4). PMID: 22505848
- December 19, 2012
- 04:31 AM
- 161 views
Bias Bonanza: The Deceiving Powers of the Baby-Face
by Carian Thus in United Academics
Our first impression of another person is often purely based on physical appearance and it can strongly influence our following judgments. For instance, many experiments have shown that people are tended to judge beautiful people as more intelligent, competent and sociable than less attractive people. But attractiveness is not the only factor related to appearance that has biasing effects. Another pervasive bias concerns a person’s facial maturity: the baby-face bias.... Read more »
Zebrowitz, L., & McDonald, S. (1991) The impact of litigants' baby-facedness and attractiveness on adjudications in small claims courts. Law and Human Behavior, 15(6), 603-623. DOI: 10.1007/BF01065855
- December 18, 2012
- 12:02 PM
- 172 views
Brain-Computer Interface Allows Woman To Feed Herself Using Robotic Arm
by Zach Urbina in United Academics
A neurobiology team at the University of Pittsburgh has given a Jan Scheuermann the power to do something that a degenerative disease had taken away. Thanks to a brain-computer interface and a robotic arm she affectionately calls “Hector,” Jan is now able to feed herself, despite her paralysis.... Read more »
Collinger, J., Wodlinger, B., Downey, J., Wang, W., Tyler-Kabara, E., Weber, D., McMorland, A., Velliste, M., Boninger, M., & Schwartz, A. (2012) High-performance neuroprosthetic control by an individual with tetraplegia. The Lancet. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61816-9
- December 18, 2012
- 11:51 AM
- 164 views
Dolphins Nicer Than Humans When Forming ‘Cliques’
by Andrew Porterfield in United Academics
Their flippers may forever prevent them from starting card-playing leagues, but bottlenose dolphins do form social clubs much like ours, a study from Georgetown University suggests. There is one major difference between dolphin and human social groups that should give us some pause; the dolphins appear to be nicer.... Read more »
Mann, J., Stanton, M., Patterson, E., Bienenstock, E., & Singh, L. (2012) Social networks reveal cultural behaviour in tool-using using dolphins. Nature Communications, 980. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1983
- December 17, 2012
- 11:32 AM
- 169 views
Data Visualization: Every Living Bird on Earth
by Zach Urbina in United Academics
A Yale-led team recently released this exhaustively researched data visualization showing the nearly 10,000 species of living birds on Earth. The data shows changes in the rate of diversification among birds, with diversity increasing among more recent species.... Read more »
Jetz, W., Thomas, G., Joy, J., Hartmann, K., & Mooers, A. (2012) The global diversity of birds in space and time. Nature, 491(7424), 444-448. DOI: 10.1038/nature11631
- December 17, 2012
- 03:49 AM
- 140 views
Mutiny, Butchery, and A Doomed Power Struggle: The Wreck of the Batavia Examined Using Bioarchaeology
by Zach Urbina in United Academics
The wreck of the Batavia is well known, but utilizing bioarchaeological analyses, new facts have been brought to light.... Read more »
Franklin, D. (2012) Human skeletal remains from a multiple burial associated with the mutiny of the VOC , 1629 . International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 22(6), 740-748. DOI: 10.1002/oa.1235
- December 13, 2012
- 07:26 AM
- 154 views
Fruitfly Neurons Communicating Across a Surrounding Electric Field
by Zach Urbina in United Academics
Its been said that all things are delicately interconnected, and in the case of these neighboring fruitfly neurons, that connection proves astoundingly delicate. Neurons have long been understood to communicate via synaptic connection, i.e. tiny junctions between them, via which subtle electrical signals are exchanged. The “neuron doctrine” established this principal more than a century ago.
However, in a recently published discovery, neuroscientists documented multiple olfactory receptor neurons that directly influenced fruitfly behavior without a synaptic connection, with their overall output describing their surrounding olfactory environment across an electrical field.... Read more »
Su, C., Menuz, K., Reisert, J., & Carlson, J. (2012) Non-synaptic inhibition between grouped neurons in an olfactory circuit. Nature, 492(7427), 66-71. DOI: 10.1038/nature11712
- December 12, 2012
- 11:13 AM
- 193 views
Remarkable Conditions: (The Risks of) Eating Human Brains
by Carian Thus in United Academics
Beware: feasting on human brains is not without its consequences. History can tell that ingestion of contaminated brain tissue can result in a lethal disease called kuru.... Read more »
Mead, S. (2003) Balancing Selection at the Prion Protein Gene Consistent with Prehistoric Kurulike Epidemics. Science, 300(5619), 640-643. DOI: 10.1126/science.1083320
- December 12, 2012
- 04:38 AM
- 173 views
Placebo and the Brain: How Does it Work?
by Jakob Andree in United Academics
Placebo, the positive effect of a drug that lacks any beneficial ingredients, has been researched for centuries but remain a mystery for psychologists and neuroscientists alike. Although there is now a considerable amount of amassed knowledge of how placebo can be induced, through which mechanisms it works, and which individuals are susceptible to the effect, the explicit answer to why and how our brains have the ability to ‘cure’ themselves under certain circumstances is yet to be found. Having dived into the literature on the phenomenon, a picture has emerged in which one of the brain’s greatest tricks can be better understood and the fascinating implications it has for how we look at the body-mind distinction.... Read more »
Kaptchuk TJ, Friedlander E, Kelley JM, Sanchez MN, Kokkotou E, Singer JP, Kowalczykowski M, Miller FG, Kirsch I, & Lembo AJ. (2010) Placebos without deception: a randomized controlled trial in irritable bowel syndrome. PloS one, 5(12). PMID: 21203519
- December 11, 2012
- 11:52 AM
- 173 views
Science on the Screen: The Truman Show
by Mark Fonseca Rendeiro in United Academics
Reality TV as a disorder? Yes its true.. the condition of feeling like you're constantly being watched or broadcasted is not a new one, but has taken on a modern form in the wake of "The Truman Show."... Read more »
Gold, J., & Gold, I. (2012) The “Truman Show” delusion: Psychosis in the global village. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 17(6), 455-472. DOI: 10.1080/13546805.2012.666113
- December 11, 2012
- 11:50 AM
- 145 views
Science on the Screen: The Truman Show
by Mark Fonseca Rendeiro in United Academics
Reality TV as a disorder? Yes its true.. the condition of feeling like you're constantly being watched or broadcasted is not a new one, but has taken on a modern form in the wake of "The Truman Show."... Read more »
Gold, J., & Gold, I. (2012) The “Truman Show” delusion: Psychosis in the global village. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 17(6), 455-472. DOI: 10.1080/13546805.2012.666113
- December 11, 2012
- 03:48 AM
- 130 views
Do Bad Genes Beget Disease? Not So Fast
by Andrew Porterfield in United Academics
The purpose of genetic testing is to find altered genes that could cause disease. Then, people could be treated, or prospective parents can make decisions about having children. However, scientists are finding that having a gene that causes disease doesn’t necessarily cause that disease.... Read more »
Xue, Y., Chen, Y., Ayub, Q., Huang, N., Ball, E., Mort, M., Phillips, A., Shaw, K., Stenson, P., Cooper, D.... (2012) Deleterious- and Disease-Allele Prevalence in Healthy Individuals: Insights from Current Predictions, Mutation Databases, and Population-Scale Resequencing. The American Journal of Human Genetics, 91(6), 1022-1032. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2012.10.015
- December 9, 2012
- 07:56 AM
- 185 views
It’s a Fine Line between (Sexual) Pleasure and Pain
by Annemarie van Oosten in United Academics
Sexual behavior: it is one of the most universal behaviors, and yet one of the biggest taboos in many cultures. It can be experienced with excitement and pride as well as disgust and guilt. It seems this ambivalence surrounding sexual behavior is actually rooted in the act itself, and our expressions of sexual excitement.... Read more »
Hughes, S. M., & Nicholson, S. E. (2008) Sex differences in the assessment of pain versus pleasure facial expressions. . Proceedings of the 2nd Annual Meeting of the North Eastern Evolutionary Psychology. info:/
- December 8, 2012
- 07:28 AM
- 167 views
How to Make a Black Dahlia
by Andrew Porterfield in United Academics
Dahlias are very popular garden flowers; about 20,000 types have been bred, and display a wide range of shapes, sizes and splashy colors. These colors range from white and yellow to shapes of red, orange and pink. There also is a very rare variety: black.... Read more »
Thill J, Miosic S, Ahmed R, Schlangen K, Muster G, Stich K, & Halbwirth H. (2012) 'Le Rouge et le Noir': A decline in flavone formation correlates with the rare color of black dahlia (Dahlia variabilis hort.) flowers. BMC plant biology, 12(1), 225. PMID: 23176321
- December 5, 2012
- 01:21 PM
- 152 views
Predicting the future by smelling
by Katja Keuchenius in United Academics
Smells can bring back great memories, but they can also predict the future. Neuro researcher Marijn van Wingerden tells us all about it.... Read more »
van Wingerden, M., Vinck, M., Tijms, V., Ferreira, I., Jonker, A., & Pennartz, C. (2012) NMDA Receptors Control Cue-Outcome Selectivity and Plasticity of Orbitofrontal Firing Patterns during Associative Stimulus-Reward Learning. Neuron, 76(4), 813-825. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2012.09.039
- December 5, 2012
- 07:14 AM
- 177 views
What bodies say about faces
by Katja Keuchenius in United Academics
It's not always the face that's the open book. When emotions are too strong we can better focus on body language.... Read more »
Aviezer, H., Trope, Y., & Todorov, A. (2012) Body Cues, Not Facial Expressions, Discriminate Between Intense Positive and Negative Emotions. Science, 338(6111), 1225-1229. DOI: 10.1126/science.1224313
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