19 posts · 5,902 views
'Nature' editor handling a variety of neuroscience. I also like to do the blog thing and the Twitter (@noahwilliamgray). And slip & slide.
Nothing's Shocking
9 posts
Action Potential
10 posts
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- May 2, 2010
- 07:01 PM
- 73 views
Boozing Treeshrews: Heavyweight drinkers in small packages (from Anne-Marie Hodge's blog)
by Noah Gray in Nothing's Shocking
Although political and moral stances on alcohol use have gone back and forth over the decades, anthropological studies suggest that low-level alcohol ingestion has been an important factor in primate evolution. Alcohol is associated with ripe, nutrient-rich fruits, in addition to functioning as an appetite stimulant to quickly take advantage of ephemeral food resources (Dudley 2002). As highly mobile herbivores, primates could have benefited these alcohol-producing plants through poll........ Read more »
Wiens, F., Zitzmann, A., Lachance, M., Yegles, M., Pragst, F., Wurst, F., von Holst, D., Guan, S., & Spanagel, R. (2008) Chronic intake of fermented floral nectar by wild treeshrews. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(30), 10426-10431. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0801628105
- April 28, 2010
- 08:20 PM
- 53 views
Saving face: Salamanders show why it's important to know thy enemies (from Anne-Marie Hodge's blog)
by Noah Gray in Nothing's Shocking
In the past I have focused on reviewing newly published literature, but I have decided to periodically take a look back at some “classic” zoology papers. Defining “classic” is difficult, I am using the slightly arbitrary criteria that the paper has been cited over 100 times, in addition to the very arbitrary and slightly self-centered criteria that the paper was published before the year of my birth, 1986. So, without further adieu, I bring you discussion of a ........ Read more »
Jaeger, R. (1981) Dear Enemy Recognition and the Costs of Aggression between Salamanders. The American Naturalist, 117(6), 962. DOI: 10.1086/283780
- March 27, 2009
- 02:59 AM
- 304 views
Research highlights from Dr. Obvious: Depressed kids have experienced more depressing events
by Noah Gray in Nothing's Shocking
Interview with Dr. Obvious to discuss the ground-breaking finding that kids who experience more depressing events are more depressed.... Read more »
Mayer, L., Lopez-Duran, N., Kovacs, M., George, C., Baji, I., Kapornai, K., Kiss, E., & Vetró, �. (2009) Stressful life events in a clinical sample of depressed children in Hungary. Journal of Affective Disorders, 115(1-2), 207-214. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2008.08.018
- March 18, 2009
- 06:34 PM
- 475 views
Biochemists rejoice as they receive optogenetic control of signaling pathways
by Noah Gray in Nothing's Shocking
The Deisseroth lab (Stanford) has created chimeric molecules combining parts from rhodopsin and adrenergic receptors. The result? Light-activated signaling molecules, giving biochemists control over signaling.... Read more »
Airan, R., Thompson, K., Fenno, L., Bernstein, H., & Deisseroth, K. (2009) Temporally precise in vivo control of intracellular signalling. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature07926
- February 22, 2009
- 03:46 AM
- 365 views
Research highlights from Dr. Obvious: Tracking the citation advantage of open-access publication in the developing world
by Noah Gray in Nothing's Shocking
Interview with Dr. Obvious regarding his latest work tracking the citation advantage of Open-Access publications in the developing world.... Read more »
Evans, J., & Reimer, J. (2009) Open Access and Global Participation in Science. Science, 323(5917), 1025-1025. DOI: 10.1126/science.1154562
- November 13, 2008
- 10:56 PM
- 309 views
The laboratory isn't a safe place for experiments anymore
by Noah Gray in Nothing's Shocking
Detailing the recent finding that experiment-modulating chemicals can leach out of the labware...... Read more »
McDonald, G., Hudson, A., Dunn, S., You, H., Baker, G., Whittal, R., Martin, J., Jha, A., Edmondson, D., & Holt, A. (2008) Bioactive Contaminants Leach from Disposable Laboratory Plasticware. Science, 322(5903), 917-917. DOI: 10.1126/science.1162395
- October 30, 2008
- 05:40 PM
- 300 views
Using the Google PageRank algorithm as an alternative citation metric
by Noah Gray in Nothing's Shocking
The Journal of Neuroscience ran a series of pieces examining alternative metrics. Here, the Google pagerank is assessed.... Read more »
Maslov, S., & Redner, S. (2008) Promise and Pitfalls of Extending Google's PageRank Algorithm to Citation Networks. Journal of Neuroscience, 28(44), 11103-11105. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0002-08.2008
- October 1, 2008
- 10:13 PM
- 282 views
Neuro Tech Update: Imaging calcium just got a lot easier
by Noah Gray in Nothing's Shocking
Perusing the latest technological adventures in functional Ca2 imaging in vivo.... Read more »
Wallace, D., zum Alten Borgloh, S., Astori, S., Yang, Y., Bausen, M., Kügler, S., Palmer, A., Tsien, R., Sprengel, R., Kerr, J.... (2008) Single-spike detection in vitro and in vivo with a genetic Ca2 sensor. Nature Methods, 5(9), 797-804. DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1242
Mank, M., Santos, A., Direnberger, S., Mrsic-Flogel, T., Hofer, S., Stein, V., Hendel, T., Reiff, D., Levelt, C., Borst, A.... (2008) A genetically encoded calcium indicator for chronic in vivo two-photon imaging. Nature Methods, 5(9), 805-811. DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1243
- August 27, 2008
- 04:01 AM
- 411 views
What does mirror self-recognition really mean?
by Noah Gray in Nothing's Shocking
Examination of the latest corvid research describing mirror self-recognition for these birds.... Read more »
Prior, H., Schwarz, A., & Güntürkün, O. (2008) Mirror-Induced Behavior in the Magpie (Pica pica): Evidence of Self-Recognition. PLoS Biology, 6(8). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0060202
- January 14, 2008
- 05:26 PM
- 289 views
Monkeys master mental math
by Noah Gray in Action Potential
Researchers explore how well a non-human primate can do math in its head.... Read more »
Cantlon, J., & Brannon, E. (2007) Basic Math in Monkeys and College Students. PLoS Biology, 5(12). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0050328
- December 18, 2007
- 04:44 PM
- 296 views
Learning from your horrible mistakes
by Noah Gray in Action Potential
Those with a particular genetic isoform of the D2 dopamine receptor will not learn as well from their mistakes.... Read more »
Klein, T., Neumann, J., Reuter, M., Hennig, J., von Cramon, D., & Ullsperger, M. (2007) Genetically Determined Differences in Learning from Errors. Science, 318(5856), 1642-1645. DOI: 10.1126/science.1145044
- December 4, 2007
- 04:02 PM
- 284 views
Antidepressants and caloric restriction, what's the connection?
by Noah Gray in Action Potential
Author found that an anti-depressant was able to extend lifespan.... Read more »
Petrascheck, M., Ye, X., & Buck, L. (2007) An antidepressant that extends lifespan in adult Caenorhabditis elegans. Nature, 450(7169), 553-556. DOI: 10.1038/nature05991
- November 28, 2007
- 02:11 PM
- 307 views
Cells reverting back to their youth
by Noah Gray in Action Potential
3 significant papers involving stem cell engineering came out at the same time and demanded attention.... Read more »
Takahashi, K., Tanabe, K., Ohnuki, M., Narita, M., Ichisaka, T., Tomoda, K., & Yamanaka, S. (2007) Induction of Pluripotent Stem Cells from Adult Human Fibroblasts by Defined Factors. Cell, 131(5), 861-872. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2007.11.019
Yu, J., Vodyanik, M., Smuga-Otto, K., Antosiewicz-Bourget, J., Frane, J., Tian, S., Nie, J., Jonsdottir, G., Ruotti, V., Stewart, R.... (2007) Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Lines Derived from Human Somatic Cells. Science, 318(5858), 1917-1920. DOI: 10.1126/science.1151526
Byrne, J., Pedersen, D., Clepper, L., Nelson, M., Sanger, W., Gokhale, S., Wolf, D., & Mitalipov, S. (2007) Producing primate embryonic stem cells by somatic cell nuclear transfer. Nature, 450(7169), 497-502. DOI: 10.1038/nature06357
- November 21, 2007
- 06:37 PM
- 280 views
Infants inherently interpret intentions?
by Noah Gray in Action Potential
Analyzing the social evaluation skills of pre-verbal infants.... Read more »
Hamlin, J., Wynn, K., & Bloom, P. (2007) Social evaluation by preverbal infants. Nature, 450(7169), 557-559. DOI: 10.1038/nature06288
- November 20, 2007
- 06:11 PM
- 308 views
Genetic control of intelligence
by Noah Gray in Action Potential
Study proposes that in order to achieve the benefits of nursing on intelligence, a particular allele of the metabolizing enzyme FADS2 is required.... Read more »
Caspi, A., Williams, B., Kim-Cohen, J., Craig, I., Milne, B., Poulton, R., Schalkwyk, L., Taylor, A., Werts, H., & Moffitt, T. (2007) Moderation of breastfeeding effects on the IQ by genetic variation in fatty acid metabolism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(47), 18860-18865. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0704292104
- October 24, 2007
- 02:54 PM
- 333 views
Patience, fairness and getting the girl
by Noah Gray in Action Potential
Testing chimps in a head-to-head test of patience with humans.... Read more »
Rosati, A., Stevens, J., Hare, B., & Hauser, M. (2007) The Evolutionary Origins of Human Patience: Temporal Preferences in Chimpanzees, Bonobos, and Human Adults. Current Biology, 17(19), 1663-1668. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2007.08.033
- August 22, 2007
- 05:08 PM
- 471 views
What kept Einstein smart…
by Noah Gray in Action Potential
Assessing whether Baby Einstein videos can actually harm linguistic development in infants.... Read more »
ZIMMERMAN, F., CHRISTAKIS, D., & MELTZOFF, A. (2007) Associations between Media Viewing and Language Development in Children Under Age 2 Years. The Journal of Pediatrics, 151(4), 364-368. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2007.04.071
- August 7, 2007
- 02:38 PM
- 354 views
Politicking for a mate
by Noah Gray in Action Potential
Exploring the intricate politics involved in chimp hierarchies...... Read more »
Duffy, K., Wrangham, R., & Silk, J. (2007) Male chimpanzees exchange political support for mating opportunities. Current Biology, 17(15). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2007.06.001
- July 30, 2007
- 05:43 PM
- 408 views
Another way for the sirtuins to enhance longevity
by Noah Gray in Action Potential
Controlling the activity of SIRT2 can be protective against Parkinsonian pathology involving α-synuclein... ... Read more »
Outeiro, T., Kontopoulos, E., Altmann, S., Kufareva, I., Strathearn, K., Amore, A., Volk, C., Maxwell, M., Rochet, J., McLean, P.... (2007) Sirtuin 2 Inhibitors Rescue -Synuclein-Mediated Toxicity in Models of Parkinson's Disease. Science, 317(5837), 516-519. DOI: 10.1126/science.1143780
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