- February 4, 2012
- 06:55 PM
- 3 views
Searching for E.T., II: Ammonia-drinking aliens
by Mutant Dragon in Puff the Mutant Dragon
In the movies, lab chemicals are usually blue, green or some other startling color. In reality, most of the chemicals you encounter in a lab are colorless or have fairly boring colors. There are exceptions, however, and this is one of them.... Read more »
Benner, S., Ricardo, A., & Carrigan, M. (2004) Is there a common chemical model for life in the universe?. Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, 8(6), 672-689. DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2004.10.003
- February 4, 2012
- 06:33 PM
- 10 views
What Motivates A Suicide Bomber?
by Sam McNerney in Why We Reason
Suicide terrorism is a peculiar business. As a means of killing civilians it is hugely efficient. Steven Pinker explains that, “it combines the ultimate in surgical weapon delivery – the precision manipulators and locomotors called hands and feet, controlled by the human eyes and brain – with the ultimate in stealth – a person who [...]... Read more »
Sosis, R., & Bressler, E. (2003) Cooperation and Commune Longevity: A Test of the Costly Signaling Theory of Religion. Cross-Cultural Research, 37(2), 211-239. DOI: 10.1177/1069397103037002003
Atran, S. (2003) Genesis of Suicide Terrorism. Science, 299(5612), 1534-1539. DOI: 10.1126/science.1078854
- February 4, 2012
- 05:36 PM
- 14 views
The Common Origins of Homosexuality and Mental Illness
by ultimo167 in Strong Silent Types
Zietsch et al. (2012) argue that the 'dominant' minority stress explanation for why gay men are so depressed cannot explain how even in enlightened countries such as Norway, gay men remain so painfully low. Alternatively, they suggest a common but, as yet, not properly defined combination of etiological factors that cause both homosexuality and mental illness.... Read more »
Zietsch BP, Verweij KJ, Heath AC, Madden PA, Martin NG, Nelson EC, & Lynskey MT. (2012) Do shared etiological factors contribute to the relationship between sexual orientation and depression?. Psychological medicine, 42(3), 521-32. PMID: 21867592
- February 4, 2012
- 12:52 PM
- 10 views
The science of belly button fluff
by sahelanthropus in EvoAnth
Science excels at explaining the unknown, but try as we might there are some things that are remain just beyond our grasp. Why are we here? Where are we going? Why do some people have more belly button fluff than others? Georg Steinhauser is a man who isn’t afraid of a challenge and has come [...]... Read more »
Steinhauser, G. (2009) The nature of navel fluff. Medical Hypotheses, 72(6), 623-625. DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2009.01.015
- February 4, 2012
- 09:47 AM
- 9 views
Critical role for protein kinase A in the acquisition of gregarious behavior in the desert locust
by Björn Brembs in neuro JC
Posted on behalf of Hans-Joachim Pflüger:
In the article by Ott et al. the role of two protein kinases (PK) in the population density dependent transition from solitarious to gregarious animals is investigated. Only gregarious locusts form large swarms that are harmful for agriculture. The foraging gene product, a cGMP-dependent PK (PKG), implicated in foraging, and [...]... Read more »
Ott, S., Verlinden, H., Rogers, S., Brighton, C., Quah, P., Vleugels, R., Verdonck, R., & Vanden Broeck, J. (2011) Critical role for protein kinase A in the acquisition of gregarious behavior in the desert locust. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1114990109
- February 4, 2012
- 09:31 AM
- 16 views
The Mysterious Disease… Buruli ulcer
by Charles in science left untitled
Repost: originally appearing at endtheneglect.org April 29, 2011… Imagine for a moment you don’t live where you live. Let’s say you live in Benin, or Togo, or Côte D’Ivoire, or perhaps Ghana (we can even add Australia to the list). Perhaps one day you notice on your ankle a small, somewhat pointed elevation of the [...]... Read more »
Stienstra Y, van der Graaf WT, Asamoa K, & van der Werf TS. (2002) Beliefs and attitudes toward Buruli ulcer in Ghana. The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, 67(2), 207-13. PMID: 12389949
Walsh DS, Portaels F, & Meyers WM. (2011) Buruli ulcer: Advances in understanding Mycobacterium ulcerans infection. Dermatologic clinics, 29(1), 1-8. PMID: 21095521
- February 3, 2012
- 07:11 PM
- 31 views
On Transposable Elements and Regulatory Evolution
by Habib Maroon in Biobabel
Transposable elements (TEs), generally considered molecular parasites on the genome, are increasingly being linked to the evolution of new biological functions. TEs have been shown to be a source of novel genes and exons, the ‘arms race’ between them and … Continue reading →... Read more »
Lynch, V., Leclerc, R., May, G., & Wagner, G. (2011) Transposon-mediated rewiring of gene regulatory networks contributed to the evolution of pregnancy in mammals. Nature Genetics, 43(11), 1154-1159. DOI: 10.1038/ng.917
Schmidt, D., Schwalie, P., Wilson, M., Ballester, B., Gonçalves, A., Kutter, C., Brown, G., Marshall, A., Flicek, P., & Odom, D. (2012) Waves of Retrotransposon Expansion Remodel Genome Organization and CTCF Binding in Multiple Mammalian Lineages. Cell, 148(1-2), 335-348. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2011.11.058
- February 3, 2012
- 06:47 PM
- 25 views
Why Margarita Can Purr, but Can’t Roar
I rolled out of bed later than I intended to this morning. I blame the cats. Our youngest cat, a diminutive calico named Margarita, sprung onto the bed as soon as she heard me start to stir. She immediately started purring — the sound started as a low rumble and rose to a constant vibrato [...]... Read more »
Peters, G. (2002) Purring and similar vocalizations in mammals. Mammal Review, 32(4), 245-271. DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2907.2002.00113.x
Sissom, D., Rice, D., & Peters, G. (1991) How cats purr. Journal of Zoology, 223(1), 67-78. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1991.tb04749.x
Weissengruber, G., Forstenpointner, G., Peters, G., Kubber-Heiss, A., & Fitch, W. (2002) Hyoid apparatus and pharynx in the lion (Panthera leo), jaguar (Panthera onca), tiger (Panthera tigris), cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) and domestic cat (Felis silvestris f. catus). Journal of Anatomy, 201(3), 195-209. DOI: 10.1046/j.1469-7580.2002.00088.x
- February 3, 2012
- 04:34 PM
- 29 views
SPSP 2012: Political Polarization
by Melanie Tannenbaum in PsySociety
What’s that? This is some sort of big year for American politics? Ah, yes – it’s 2012. We’re in the middle of the Republican primaries, there’s a presidential election in 9 months, and political psychology was all over this year’s … Continue reading →... Read more »
Krosnick, J. A., Holbrook, A. L., & Visser, P. S. (2000) The impact of the Fall 1997 debate about global warming on American public opinion. Public Understanding of Science. info:/
- February 3, 2012
- 02:57 PM
- 21 views
Ameloblast from the past
by zacharoo in Lawn Chair Anthropology
I've posted a couple times about the prospects of using high-resolution computed tomography imaging to assess cellular-level processes of growth and development. Today, Paul Tafforeau and colleagues present a synchrotron-based visualization of the adventurous paths that individual enamel-forming cells'(ameloblasts) take to form tooth crowns. I've been focusing more on using these techniques for studying bone growth, but I got the idea of that from previous studies of teeth (see Ma........ Read more »
Macchiarelli, R., Bondioli, L., Debénath, A., Mazurier, A., Tournepiche, J., Birch, W., & Dean, M. (2006) How Neanderthal molar teeth grew. Nature, 444(7120), 748-751. DOI: 10.1038/nature05314
Smith, T., Tafforeau, P., Reid, D., Pouech, J., Lazzari, V., Zermeno, J., Guatelli-Steinberg, D., Olejniczak, A., Hoffman, A., Radovcic, J.... (2010) Dental evidence for ontogenetic differences between modern humans and Neanderthals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(49), 20923-20928. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1010906107
Tafforeau, P., Zermeno, J., & Smith, T. (2012) Tracking cellular-level enamel growth and structure in 4D with synchrotron imaging. Journal of Human Evolution. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.01.001
- February 3, 2012
- 02:14 PM
- 42 views
Friday Fun: A few simple tricks for healthier eating
by Psych Your Mind in Psych Your Mind
Confession: Today I ate three cookies. Not because I particularly wanted them, but because they were there. I could be a case study for Brian Wansink’s book “Mindless Eating: Why we eat more than we should.” Wansink was one of the invited speakers at SPSP 2012 and he and his colleagues, such as David Just, apply psychology and behavioral economics to food marketing. They use experiments to answer questions such as, “Why do we eat more than we should?” and “How do we get kids to pick ........ Read more »
Wansink, B., van Ittersum, K., & Painter, J. (2005) How descriptive food names bias sensory perceptions in restaurants. Food Quality and Preference, 16(5), 393-400. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2004.06.005
- February 3, 2012
- 12:12 PM
- 31 views
Evolutionary Road: Runoff Breeds Super Salamanders
by Elizabeth Preston in Inkfish
There's no comic-book hero I know of whose origin story begins, "I was lying in a swampy forest when suddenly, some dirty water trickled onto me."* But with roads and traffic crisscrossing their habitat--and runoff leaking into the pools where they breed and grow--salamanders have had to develop their own superpowers to survive.
Yale researcher Steven Brady recently studied spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) living in range of street runoff. Amphibians such as salamanders ........ Read more »
Brady, S. (2012) Road to evolution? Local adaptation to road adjacency in an amphibian (Ambystoma maculatum). Scientific Reports. DOI: 10.1038/srep00235
- February 3, 2012
- 10:35 AM
- 30 views
Friday Roundup-Rattlesnake Festivals and New Vipers Discovered
by David Steen in Living Alongside Wildlife
Making Strides in Georgia: In recent weeks, there have been many news stories coming out of Georgia that demonstrate how committed individuals and organizations have been making great strides in reptile conservation.
I have written previously about rattlesnake roundups in the southeastern United States (as have others). These events encourage people to catch rattlesnakes over the course of the ... Read more »
D. B. Means. (2009) EFFECTS OF RATTLESNAKE ROUNDUPS ON THE EASTERN DIAMONDBACK RATTLESNAKE (CROTALUS ADAMANTEUS). Herpetological Conservation and Biology, 132-141. info:/
Brown, D., Farallo, V., Dixon, J., Baccus, J., Simpson, T., & Forstner, M. (2011) Freshwater turtle conservation in Texas: harvest effects and efficacy of the current management regime. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 75(3), 486-494. DOI: 10.1002/jwmg.73
- February 3, 2012
- 10:17 AM
- 25 views
Gene therapy in VHL-null cells using human artificial chromosomes
by Vicki Colledge, Sanjay Thakrar, Galina Shyndriayeva in BHD Research Blog
Last month, our conference summary highlighted some of the work that is taking place in the field of gene therapy. Currently, many advanced gene therapy systems are derived from viruses, such as the adenovirus and lentivirus. However, these viral vectors … Continue reading →... Read more »
Kim JH, Kononenko A, Erliandri I, Kim TA, Nakano M, Iida Y, Barrett JC, Oshimura M, Masumoto H, Earnshaw WC.... (2011) Human artificial chromosome (HAC) vector with a conditional centromere for correction of genetic deficiencies in human cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(50), 20048-53. PMID: 22123967
- February 3, 2012
- 08:00 AM
- 41 views
Jumping spiders still have use for muscles
by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo
You can’t push on a rope.
This is why you typically need two muscles to get things done. Muscles only shorten; if you flex a joint, you can’t expand your muscles to push that joint back to its original position. You have to pull a different muscle, with different insertion points, to get that limb back to where it was. For instance, you have biceps to flex your forearm, and triceps to extend it.
Spiders have always been something of a puzzle, because many of their limb joints have unpaired........ Read more »
Weihmann T, Gunther M, & Blickhan R. (2012) Hydraulic leg extension is not necessarily the main drive in large spiders. The Journal of Experimental Biology, 215(4), 578-583. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.054585
- February 3, 2012
- 07:02 AM
- 33 views
We have nothing to fear (unless we are conservative)
by Rita Handrich in The Jury Room
A number of recent research projects have focused on attitudinal differences corresponding to political orientation. Many of them have looked at our political leanings are based in our genes. That is, we’re born this way. We have another one and this one is on how fear motivates conservatives (more than it motivates liberals). First, research participants [...]
Related posts:
Republicans prefer ‘Republican-looking’ political candidates
A screwdriver: The new addition to your trial toolbox........ Read more »
Dodd MD, Balzer A, Jacobs CM, Gruszczynski MW, Smith KB, & Hibbing JR. (2012) The political left rolls with the good and the political right confronts the bad: connecting physiology and cognition to preferences. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 367(1589), 640-9. PMID: 22271780
- February 3, 2012
- 02:05 AM
- 36 views
A gene for trauma
by Suzanne Elvidge in Genome Engineering
Why do some people go through some really traumatic experiences and emerge unscathed, and others end up traumatised? It might be down to coping strategies, but genes might influence it too, according to research from Rutgers University.... Read more »
Martel, G., Hevi, C., Wong, A., Zushida, K., Uchida, S., & Shumyatsky, G. (2012) Murine GRPR and Stathmin Control in Opposite Directions both Cued Fear Extinction and Neural Activities of the Amygdala and Prefrontal Cortex. PLoS ONE, 7(2). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0030942
- February 3, 2012
- 01:36 AM
- 118 views
Recurrent histone alterations in pediatric brain cancer
by Daniel Koboldt in Massgenomics
Brain tumors are a particularly deadly form of cancer, and the leading cause of cancer-related death in children. Two studies published this week in Nature journals applied next-generation sequencing to pediatric brain tumors, revealing a striking pattern of recurrent somatic mutations in H3F3A, a gene encoding the histone prorein H3.3. These are the first unbiased [...]... Read more »
Schwartzentruber J, Korshunov A, Liu XY, Jones DT, Pfaff E, Jacob K, Sturm D, Fontebasso AM, Quang DA, Tönjes M.... (2012) Driver mutations in histone H3.3 and chromatin remodelling genes in paediatric glioblastoma. Nature. PMID: 22286061
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital–Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project, Wu G, Broniscer A, McEachron TA, Lu C, Paugh BS, Becksfort J, Qu C, Ding L, Huether R.... (2012) Somatic histone H3 alterations in pediatric diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas and non-brainstem glioblastomas. Nature genetics. PMID: 22286216
- February 2, 2012
- 07:00 PM
- 83 views
Herpes Gladiatorum: Full Contact Infectious Diseases
by rbca in BODY HORRORS
In honor of one of the most lucrative American holidays happening this very weekend, I thought I’d explore sports and infectious diseases. Specifically, contact sports and skin infections! What could be better than watching the Super Bowl and knowing just exactly what kind of diseases could possibly be smeared between the players of the Patriots and Giants?... Read more »
Adams, B. (2010) Skin infections in athletes. Expert Review of Dermatology, 5(5), 567-577. DOI: 10.1586/edm.10.50
- February 2, 2012
- 05:19 PM
- 114 views
SPSP 2012: The Year Of Morality Research
by Melanie Tannenbaum in PsySociety
SPSP may as well have called this the “Year of Morality,” since there were so many interesting-looking sessions, posters, and talks on morality and injustice! I was able to attend 2 symposia on this topic while at SPSP. One set … Continue reading →... Read more »
Allemand, M. (2008) Age differences in forgivingness: The role of future time perspective. Journal of Research in Personality, 42(5), 1137-1147. DOI: 10.1016/j.jrp.2008.02.009
Hill, P., Allemand, M., & Burrow, A. (2010) Identity development and forgivingness: Tests of basic relations and mediational pathways. Personality and Individual Differences, 49(5), 497-501. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2010.05.011
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