Other posts
- February 26, 2013
- 07:10 AM
- 184 views
Sea Lamprey Genome Sheds Light on Human Evolution
by Carian Thus in United Academics
Although the identity of this monster is not yet confirmed, it's probably a massive sea lamprey. Scienists just managed to decode the entire genome of this creature, which can give important information about human evolution. ... Read more »
Smith, J., Kuraku, S., Holt, C., Sauka-Spengler, T., Jiang, N., Campbell, M., Yandell, M., Manousaki, T., Meyer, A., Bloom, O.... (2013) Sequencing of the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) genome provides insights into vertebrate evolution. Nature Genetics. DOI: 10.1038/ng.2568
- February 25, 2013
- 03:00 PM
- 419 views
Whorfian economics reconsidered: Why future tense?
by Sean Roberts in A Replicated Typo 2.0
Keith Chen has found a link between people's economic decisions and whether their language has a future tense. But are there other linguistic variables that are even better at predicting economic decisions?... Read more »
Chen, M. (2011) The Effect of Language on Economic Behavior: Evidence from Savings Rates, Health Behaviors, and Retirement Assets. SSRN Electronic Journal. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1914379
Sean Roberts, & James Winters. (2012) Social Structure and Language Structure: the New Nomothetic Approach. Psycology of Language Learning, 16(2), 89-112. info:/10.2478/v10057-012-0008-6
- February 24, 2013
- 01:00 PM
- 268 views
Scientizing Art
by TheCellularScale in The Cellular Scale
I've always been fascinated with the way the eye moves around a piece of art. Andrew Wyeth's "Christina's World" (or as I looked up "that painting of a girl in a field looking at a house")This piece by Andrew Wyeth is an obvious example of an artist completely controlling your gaze. There are pretty much no options here. You look at the girl and then you follow her gaze to the house. You probably then take a quick glance at that other house/barn to the left, and then maybe follow the edge of the light circle around the houses. (It's my opinion that that is how the eye should go on this painting, but I have no eye tracking data to support it.)A paper last year in PLoS One really tries to "scientize' this process by testing what factors determine the eye movements, and the 'clusters' where the eye tended to fall. Massaro et al., (2012) compare dynamic and static images and images that contain human subjects or nature subjects. Their cluster analysis overlaying classic paintings makes for quite interesting images: The next installment at MoMAThis one is a dynamic human image. Each patch of color shows where the parts of the painting where the eye lingers (face, hands, ....crotch...). The authors do all sorts of interesting analysis on this and other paintings, having participants rate the painting for 'movement' or for 'aesthetic value' and since the paper is open access, it is free to people who may not have university access to journal publications. Anyone can read the whole thing here. One interesting thing that the authors find is that pictures containing humans have fewer clusters than pictures of nature. I expect this is because certain aspects of humans (faces, hands ...crotches...) are so salient and the brain focuses directly on them, while all the branches of a tree for example have about equal 'meaning' for a person.science creates modern art Another great image from this paper. The authors show how much gazing was done at different parts of a painting through a heat map. This one is a human static image. The end result is actually quite haunting because the place that you want to look is blanked out (sort of like a Magritte painting). So here are my questions: If someone looks at a blank page, where does their eye naturally go? Is there some sort of common pattern that most people use just to scan an area? Do chimpanzees use a similar pattern to scan a blank page? Does everyone have their own unique scanning pattern? Or is it just pretty much random? And here's an idea for artists: Buy yourself an eye tracker and have customers come use it and stare at a blank page. Trace their eye movements and then create a dynamic painting (or T-shirt, or napkin drawing) that follows the person's natural scanning patterns. This would be the ultimate in commissioned custom art! (Then give me one for free, because I think this sounds like fun.)© TheCellularScale Massaro D, Savazzi F, Di Dio C, Freedberg D, Gallese V, Gilli G, & Marchetti A (2012). When art moves the eyes: a behavioral and eye-tracking study. PloS one, 7 (5) PMID: 22624007... Read more »
Massaro D, Savazzi F, Di Dio C, Freedberg D, Gallese V, Gilli G, & Marchetti A. (2012) When art moves the eyes: a behavioral and eye-tracking study. PloS one, 7(5). PMID: 22624007
- February 22, 2013
- 11:32 AM
- 180 views
Why Do People Faint at the Sight of Blood?
by Andrew Porterfield in United Academics
The sight of blood doesn’t frighten most people, but can cause fainting and severe anxiety in others. The phenomenon, known as blood-injury-injection phobia (cleverly abbreviated as “BII”), is rather common, affecting about 3.5 percent of all men and women. ... Read more »
Ducasse D, Capdevielle D, Attal J, Larue A, Macgregor A, Brittner M, & Fond G. (2012) [Blood-injection-injury phobia: Physochophysiological and therapeutical specificities.]. L'Encephale. PMID: 23095595
Ferenidou F, Chalimourdas T, Antonakis V, Vaidakis N, & Papadimitriou G. (2012) Combined Case of Blood-Injury-Injection Phobia and Social Phobia: Behavior Therapy Management and Effectiveness through Tilt Test. Case reports in psychiatry, 368039. PMID: 23304602
- February 22, 2013
- 01:50 AM
- 120 views
Electricity Between Bees and Flowers
by Carian Thus in United Academics
Beyond their colors, sizes, and other fascinating attributes, have you considered the electrical capabilities of bees and flowers? A new study by researchers from the University of Bristol has uncovered the fact that both sides are actually making use of electricity to communicate with one another. How? First we have the bee, who is of course always flying through the air which is filled with charged particles. As a result of this, the bee actually carries a positive charge. Then there is the plant, which is of course grounded and therefore carries a negative charge and conducts electricity very slowly.... Read more »
Clarke, D., Whitney, H., Sutton, G., & Robert, D. (2013) Detection and Learning of Floral Electric Fields by Bumblebees. Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.1230883
- February 21, 2013
- 09:36 AM
- 238 views
The Sobering Reality of Orbital Weapons Platforms
by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos
Space warfare is quickly becoming a reality. Though people might often imagine that wars fought in space would be against some sort of extraterrestrial power, this might not be the case. It’s far more likely than human beings will someday war with one another. As with every other major venture, international law is involved with [...]... Read more »
Klein, J. (2004) SPACE WARFARE: A MARITIME-INSPIRED SPACE STRATEGY. Astropolitics, 2(1), 33-61. DOI: 10.1080/14777620490444740
Maogoto, J., & Freeland, S. (2007) The Final Frontier: The Laws of Armed Conflict and Space Warfare. SSRN Electronic Journal. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1079376
- February 21, 2013
- 07:19 AM
- 159 views
Unlocking the Secret of Regeneration
by Andrew Porterfield in United Academics
Newts and salamanders are known for their ability to re-grow new limbs after injury. But nobody quite understood how they do it. A new study led by researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Germany and the University of Dayton (Ohio) is a significant step towards that understanding, and could help devise ways for non-amphibian species (like us) to regenerate limbs or organs.... Read more »
Looso, M., Preussner, J., Sousounis, K., Bruckskotten, M., Michel, C., Lignelli, E., Reinhardt, R., Hoeffner, S., Krueger, M., Tsonis, P.... (2013) A de novo assembly of the newt transcriptome combined with proteomic validation identifies new protein families expressed during tissue regeneration. Genome Biology, 14(2). DOI: 10.1186/gb-2013-14-2-r16
- February 20, 2013
- 01:54 PM
- 232 views
How the daffodil got its trumpet
by Perikis Livas in Tracing Knowledge
The daffodil is one of the few plants with a ‘corona’, a crown-like structure also referred to as the ‘trumpet’. New research suggests that the corona is not an extension of the petals as previously thought, but is a distinct organ sharing more genetic identity with stamens, the pollen-producing reproductive organs.... Read more »
University of Oxford. (2013) How the daffodil got its trumpet. University of Oxford News. info:/
- February 18, 2013
- 04:02 AM
- 215 views
Casual Sex: Revisited
by Annemarie van Oosten in United Academics
In my first blog article (“Casual sex: not so casual?”) I wrote about how casual sex (i.e., a sexual interaction between two individuals outside of a long-term committed relationship) is often seen by young adults as a means of starting a relationship. However, things seem to be a bit more complicated (as is often the case with the topic of sexuality), especially for young higher educated women. According to an article by Hamilton and Armstrong (2009), many girls in their early twenties who attend college actually prefer casual sex over a committed relationship.... Read more »
Hamilton, L., & Armstrong, E. (2009) Gendered Sexuality in Young Adulthood: Double Binds and Flawed Options. Gender , 23(5), 589-616. DOI: 10.1177/0891243209345829
- February 15, 2013
- 06:23 AM
- 194 views
Artificial Intelligence Is Smarter Than Your Doctor
by Zach Urbina in United Academics
Researchers at Indiana University developed a computer model that uses aggregated health data, known as “big data,” to prescribe less-expensive treatments than doctors. The predictive modeling effort reported results indicating a 50% reduction in costs with 40% higher-quality patient outcomes.... Read more »
Bennett C, & Hauser K. (2012) Artificial Intelligence Framework for Simulating Clinical Decision-Making: A Markov Decision Process Approach. Artificial Intelligence in Medicine. DOI: 10.1016/j.artmed.2012.12.003
- February 15, 2013
- 05:56 AM
- 179 views
Anxiety Drug Found in Rivers Make Fish Antisocial
by Carian Thus in United Academics
Researchers have discovered that benzodiazepines, such as Valium and Oxazepam, which are being flushed into rivers from sewage works, build up in concentrations that can significantly affect behavior of wild freshwater fish.... Read more »
Brodin, T., Fick, J., Jonsson, M., & Klaminder, J. (2013) Dilute Concentrations of a Psychiatric Drug Alter Behavior of Fish from Natural Populations. Science, 339(6121), 814-815. DOI: 10.1126/science.1226850
- February 14, 2013
- 09:24 AM
- 168 views
Why Does a Massage Feel so Good?
by Carian Thus in United Academics
What’s your favorite Valentine’s Day scenario? What about candlelight, romantic music, the smell of oil and the hands of your lover on your naked body, massaging your back.. We all love it when others stimulate our skin, but why is it experienced as such a pleasure? A recent study provides the neurological reason.... Read more »
Vrontou, S., Wong, A., Rau, K., Koerber, H., & Anderson, D. (2013) Genetic identification of C fibres that detect massage-like stroking of hairy skin in vivo. Nature, 493(7434), 669-673. DOI: 10.1038/nature11810
- February 13, 2013
- 04:32 PM
- 293 views
Dog poo turning green – the power of science
by Cobb & Hecht in Do You Believe In Dog?
Hey Julie,Thanks for the run down on ScienceOnline and ‘Lend a Paw’ month. I completed the survey about my cat’s behaviour, it was quick and easy to do. I also liked your stroking video, but I’ll get back to that later, right now I need to tell you how dog poo (I think you usually say ‘poop’ in the USA?) is turning green.Dog poo is turning greenIt’s turning green and it’s thanks to the power of science. Or perhaps it’s the science of power? It’s easy to get confused. (source)The important bit is that a Melbourne-based entrepreneur, Duncan Chew, received funding in 2012 from the Inspiring Australia strategy for his idea to turn dog waste into energy to light up parks around Australia. Titled Poo Power!, his project is using science to help our communities live more sustainably. How big is this issue?In Australia, we have one of the highest incidences of pet ownership in the world with over 60% of households owning a pet. The average dog produces 0.34 kilograms (that’s 0.75 lb) of faeces per day.Do the maths, and that’s around 1.4 tonnes of dog poo needing to be disposed of DAILY in Australia, which adds up to a colossal 490,000 tonnes each year!490 MILLION KG! That’s 1,080,270 MILLION lbs! (or almost 20 million labradors if you were following my pre-post riddle clues on our Facebook page!)The USA have more than 20 times the number of dogs as Australia. Just saying.The issue of dog waste disposal (what I like to call Poo-llution!) is an especially important issue in areas of growing urbanisation, cities with limited park spaces and in light of declining landfill site availability.Using our love of dogs to brighten the futureDog poo light? Not as silly as it might seem! (source) The project will see a series of biogas generators turn dog waste into energy for lighting up Melbourne parks, at the same time as engaging audiences on the issue of ‘what is waste?’, and the potential opportunities posed by reassessing waste management practices. 1kg of dog poo will give you about 25-30 litres of raw biogas.... Read more »
Miller Rohan, & Howell Gwyneth V.J. (2008) Regulating consumption with bite: Building a contemporary framework for urban dog management. Journal of Business Research, 61(5), 525-531. DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2007.07.006
Wells D. L. (2006) Factors Influencing Owners' Reactions to Their Dogs' Fouling. Environment and Behavior, 38(5), 707-714. DOI: 10.1177/0013916505284794
Okoroigwe E.C., Ibeto C.N., & Okpara C.G. (2010) Comparative Study of the Potential of Dog Waste for Biogas Production. Trends in Applied Sciences Research, 5(1), 71-77. DOI: 10.3923/tasr.2010.71.77
Nemiroff Leah. (2007) Design, Testing and Implementation of a Large-Scale Urban Dog Waste Composting Program. Compost Science , 15(4), 237-242. info:other/http://montrealndgdogrun.org/image/downloads/compost studies.pdf
- February 13, 2013
- 01:10 AM
- 113 views
Small Business Contributions to U.S. Space Exploration
by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos
Many of you have likely been following the progression of the Mars Rover Curiosity in recent weeks. I’ve personally developed an interest in the types of tests that are being done on the red planet during the mission. This interest led me to think about the types of test equipment that is being utilized not [...]... Read more »
Archibald, R., & Finifter, D. (2003) Evaluating the NASA small business innovation research program: preliminary evidence of a trade-off between commercialization and basic research. Research Policy, 32(4), 605-619. DOI: 10.1016/S0048-7333(02)00046-X
- February 12, 2013
- 07:16 AM
- 173 views
Genetically Engineered Virus Fights Liver Cancer
by Zachery Urbina in United Academics
Cancer, one of the oldest and most formidable foes of humanity has an advanced, new adversary. 16 terminally-ill liver cancer patients treated with a high dose of the vaccine Pexa-Vec survived an average of 14.1 months, compared to 6.7 for patients receiving a low dose.... Read more »
Heo J, Reid T, Ruo L, Breitbach, C., Rose S, Bloomston M, Cho M, Lim H, Chung H, Kim, C.... (2013) Randomized Dose-Finding Clinical Trial of Oncolytic Immunotherapeutic Vaccinia JX-594 in Liver Cancer. Nature Medicine. DOI: 10.1038/nm.3089
- February 11, 2013
- 05:13 AM
- 211 views
Opinion | The Last Defense of Science
by Zach Urbina in United Academics
Courtney killed Kurt. Cancer has a cure. Aliens built the pyramids. 9/11 was an inside job. Territory once regarded as the domain of your hare-brained uncle, eccentric neighbor, or other vaguely threatening social leper, seems lately to have leaked precariously into the mainstream. The idea that elaborate conspiracies are being worked upon the nation –nay, the world – seem to be accepted more and more as not just true, but worthy of vitriolic defense by anyone who might call into question their claims.
Some are simplistic, many are complicated, few meet standard criteria of cause and effect. Virtually all rely on top-down thinking.
Inevitably, a layperson begins his/her story couched in a tone meant to warn against the offending they. What they do is… They do this all the time. Laypeople everywhere seem dead-serious that there exists a cadre of surreptitious malignancy, which simultaneously means us harm, yet is somehow profiting from said harm.... Read more »
Kaplan, H., & Gurven, M. (2008) Top-down and bottom-up research in biodemography. Demographic Research, 1587-1602. DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2008.19.44
Marathe, A., Lewis, B., Barrett, C., Chen, J., Marathe, M., Eubank, S., & Ma, Y. (2011) Comparing Effectiveness of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Strategies in Containing Influenza. PLoS ONE, 6(9). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0025149
- February 8, 2013
- 08:23 AM
- 190 views
New strain could be available in a few years.
by Andrew Porterfield in United Academics
Grapefruits, albeit sour, are nutritious and can be delicious. But they’ve also been known to interfere with many medications, and even some dietary supplements. So, many doctors try to steer some patients away from eating grapefruit.... Read more »
Greenblatt, D., Zhao, Y., Hanley, M., Chen, C., Harmatz, J., Cancalon, P., & Gmitter, F. (2012) Mechanism-based inhibition of human Cytochrome P450-3A activity by grapefruit hybrids having low furanocoumarin content. Xenobiotica, 42(12), 1163-1169. DOI: 10.3109/00498254.2012.700428
- February 8, 2013
- 04:20 AM
- 204 views
Are “Friends with Benefits” Relationships Sexually Satisfying?
by Carian Thus in United Academics
What do you do when you’re single and want to have sex? There’s the option to hookup with strangers. But you can also stay in your “comfort zone” and have sex with someone you already hang out with.... Read more »
Lehmiller, J., VanderDrift, L., & Kelly, J. (2012) Sexual Communication, Satisfaction, and Condom Use Behavior in Friends with Benefits and Romantic Partners. Journal of Sex Research, 1-12. DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2012.719167
- February 7, 2013
- 10:23 AM
- 194 views
Do you suffer from the IKEA Effect?
by Mark Fonseca Rendeiro in United Academics
If you are reading things from home or from the office, chances are there is something from Ikea in the room. Over the past decade, the affordable and semi-clever designs from the Swedish furniture juggernaut have become one of those recognizable symbols regardless of where in the world you live. And one aspect that is true about most Ikea stuff, is that you probably built it yourself. And if you built it yourself, there is a certain satisfaction that comes with having used that strange little tool and fit “wood screw A” into “panel 3″, a feeling that is know in the world of psychology as the “Ikea Effect”.... Read more »
Norton, M., Mochon, D., & Ariely, D. (2012) The IKEA effect: When labor leads to love. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 22(3), 453-460. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcps.2011.08.002
- February 7, 2013
- 09:53 AM
- 215 views
The Foods that Play a Factor in Deep Sleep
by Zach Urbina in United Academics
If the quest for the perfect night’s sleep remains one of your goals, you might need to start at the grocery store.
A recently published study out of the University of Pennsylvania isolated a few key nutrients and total caloric intake as contributing factors for length and duration of sleep. They also looked at the role that overall diet, demographics, socioeconomics, physical activity, and obesity, to rule out other potential causes.... Read more »
Grandner M, Jackson N, Gerstner J, & Knutson K. (2013) Dietary nutrients associated with short and long sleep duration. Data from a nationally representative sample. Appetite. DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2013.01.004
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