- March 16, 2010
- 12:45 PM
- 0 views
A new test of the Light:Nutrient hypothesis
by JL in Analyze Everything
To review: I love ecological stoichiometry (ES). I find it a fascinating subject and a useful framework for understanding ecological phenomena. However, ES is still relatively new, with a lot of the empirical work restricted to plankton (esp. Daphnia and algae). So it is always interesting to see theories developed predominantly in the pelagic system examined in other habitats.One of the more... Read more »
Hill, W., Smith, J., & Stewart, A. (2010) Light, nutrients, and herbivore growth in oligotrophic streams. Ecology, 91(2), 518-527. DOI: 10.1890/09-0703.1
Urabe, J., & Sterner, RW. (1996) Regulation of herbivore growth by the balance of light and nutrients. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 93(16), 8465-8469. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.93.16.8465
- March 16, 2010
- 10:10 AM
- 0 views
Do infants prefer music over speech?
by Henkjan Honing in Music Matters
In this weeks online edition of PNAS Marcel Zentner and Tuomas Eerola report on a study in which they carried out two experiments with a total of 120 infants, aged between 5 and 24 months. The infants were exposed to various musical and rhythmic stimuli, including isochronous drumbeats. Control stimuli consisted of adult- and infant-directed speech. The researchers could show that infants engage significantly more in rhythmic movement to music, and other rhythmically regular sounds, than to spee........ Read more »
Zentner, M., & Eerola, T. (2010) Rhythmic engagement with music in infancy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1000121107
- March 16, 2010
- 06:53 AM
- 1 view
Measles week, part II: Emerging disease
by iayork in Mystery Rays from Outer Space
Symptoms of small pox, scarlet fever, measles, miliary fever, petechiae, rank itch and watery itch.
from Domestic medicine. Or, a treatise on the prevention and cure of diseases, by regimen and simple medicines.
by William Buchan (T. Nelson,London. 1846)
This is part II of “Measles Week”; see Part I for an explanation of what this is about, [...]... Read more »
Grenfell, B., Bjørnstad, O., & Kappey, J. (2001) Travelling waves and spatial hierarchies in measles epidemics. Nature, 414(6865), 716-723. DOI: 10.1038/414716a
Furuse, Y., Suzuki, A., & Oshitani, H. (2010) Origin of measles virus: divergence from rinderpest virus between the 11th and 12th centuries. Virology Journal, 7(1), 52. DOI: 10.1186/1743-422X-7-52
- March 16, 2010
- 03:28 AM
- 1 view
Chocolate Against Stress
by Dr Shock in Dr Shock MD PhD
40 grams of dark chocolate per day reduces the urinary excretion of the stress hormone cortisol and it almost normalizes the stress related differences in energy metabolism and gut microbial activities between participants with low and high anxiety traits.
You are what you eat, it has been described how dietary preferences is associated with metabolic processes [...]
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Martin, F., Rezzi, S., Peré-Trepat, E., Kamlage, B., Collino, S., Leibold, E., Kastler, J., Rein, D., Fay, L., & Kochhar, S. (2009) Metabolic Effects of Dark Chocolate Consumption on Energy, Gut Microbiota, and Stress-Related Metabolism in Free-Living Subjects. Journal of Proteome Research, 8(12), 5568-5579. DOI: 10.1021/pr900607v
- March 15, 2010
- 12:00 PM
- 1 view
The bizarre history of rangeland management research
by JL in Analyze Everything
As with the paper from last Friday, today's paper comes from "Ecological Restoration", one of the few journals that is delivered, in print, to our office. So yeah, I've been reading through it. This paper is by Sayre (2010; full cite below) and is basically about how the cultural and scientific beliefs of those living in the desert southwest have shaped the way that restoration has occurred ... Read more »
Sayre, N. (2010) Climax and "Original Capacity": The Science and Aesthetics of Ecological Restoration in the Southwestern USA. Ecological Restoration, 28(1), 23-31. DOI: 10.3368/er.28.1.23
- March 15, 2010
- 09:30 AM
- 1 view
Pocket Science - a psychopath's reward, and the mystery of the shark-bitten fossil poo
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
The rewarding side of being a psychopath
What goes on in the brains of psychopaths? They can seem outwardly normal and even charming, but tthese people typically show a lack of empathy, immoral behaviour and an impulsive streak. Joshua Buckholtz found that the last of these traits - impulsivity - may stem from a hyperactive reward system in the brain and unusually high levels of the signalling chemical dopamine.
When given small doses of amphetamines, people who come out as more impulsive on ........ Read more »
Godfrey, S., & Smith, J. (2010) Shark-bitten vertebrate coprolites from the Miocene of Maryland. Naturwissenschaften. DOI: 10.1007/s00114-010-0659-x
- March 15, 2010
- 06:10 AM
- 1 view
Measles week, part I: Introduction
by iayork in Mystery Rays from Outer Space
Zhong Kui, a Chinese god, punishing two gods of measles (1862)
I’ve talked before about measles incidence and the effect of vaccination. Now I’m going to spend this whole week talking about measles deaths, because I ended up with more than I could cover in one or two posts. So this is Part I of a [...]... Read more »
Armstrong, G. (1999) Trends in Infectious Disease Mortality in the United States During the 20th Century. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 281(1), 61-66. DOI: 10.1001/jama.281.1.61
- March 15, 2010
- 04:09 AM
- 1 view
Thirty years on - the babies judged negatively by their mothers
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
If a mother has a negative perception of her baby when it's just one month old, there's a strong possibility that same baby will have attachment problems as an adult, thirty or forty years later. That's the claim of a longitudinal study that recommends screening new mothers to see if they have a negative perception of their child, so that any necessary action can be taken to stop the transmission of attachment problems from mother to child.Elsie Broussard and Jude Cassidy recruited twenty-six ad........ Read more »
Broussard, E., & Cassidy, J. (2010) Maternal perception of newborns predicts attachment organization in middle adulthood. Attachment , 12(1), 159-172. DOI: 10.1080/14616730903282464
- March 15, 2010
- 03:33 AM
- 1 view
The Neuroscience of Anorexia Nervosa
by Dr Shock in Dr Shock MD PhD
One of the most striking features of those suffering from anorexia nervosa is their perception of their bodies. You can put them in front of a mirror and they will still tell you they’re to fat when in fact they’re skinny. A recent publication in Nature Proceedings has an explanation.
This explanation is based on the [...]
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Riva, Guiseppe. (2010) Neuroscience and Eating Disorders: The role of the medial-temporal lobe. Nature Proceedings. info:/
- March 14, 2010
- 03:00 PM
- 1 view
'Wasabi protein' responsible for the heat-seeking sixth sense of rattlesnakes
by Ed Yong in Not Exactly Rocket Science
Take a whiff of mustard or wasabi and you'll be hit with a familiar burning sensation. That's the result of chemicals in these pungent foods hitting a protein called TRPA1, a molecular alarm that warns us about irritating substances. The same protein does a similar job in other animals, but rattlesnakes and vipers have put their version of TRPA1 to a more impressive and murderous purpose. They use it to sense the body heat of their prey.
Pit vipers are famed for their ability to detect the infr........ Read more »
Gracheva, E., Ingolia, N., Kelly, Y., Cordero-Morales, J., Hollopeter, G., Chesler, A., Sánchez, E., Perez, J., Weissman, J., & Julius, D. (2010) Molecular basis of infrared detection by snakes. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature08943
- March 13, 2010
- 11:06 AM
- 1 view
The evidence is: status, communication training, and intrinsic rewards are positively associated with scientists communicating with the media
by Christina Pikas in Christina's LIS Rant
Myths abound about how scientists do not talk with the media or communicate with the public and if they do so, it is only because they are required to by funders' "broader impact" requirements. The evidence, however, does not support this view. This article is another in a series of communications based on a multi-national study of how scientists in several fields communicate with the media. (you might have seen [1] or [2]). This article only uses data from US scientists who were re........ Read more »
Dunwoody, S., Brossard, D., . (2009) Socialization or rewards? Predicting U.S. scientist-media interactions. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 86(2), 299-314. info:/
- March 13, 2010
- 06:08 AM
- 1 view
On emerging viruses
by iayork in Mystery Rays from Outer Space
Investigators face a daunting black box with emerging viruses: the challenge of developing a universal therapeutic agent to combat a genetically proficient virus that quite likely has many more options for emergence than we have yet considered.
–Graham, R., & Baric, R. (2009). Recombination, Reservoirs, and the Modular Spike: Mechanisms of Coronavirus Cross-Species [...]... Read more »
Graham, R., & Baric, R. (2009) Recombination, Reservoirs, and the Modular Spike: Mechanisms of Coronavirus Cross-Species Transmission. Journal of Virology, 84(7), 3134-3146. DOI: 10.1128/JVI.01394-09
- March 12, 2010
- 02:03 PM
- 2 views
State Use of NRDA (why Florida is pretty awesome)
by JL in Analyze Everything
One of the oddities of state and federal government is the sheer number of regulatory authorities that go unused. For example, the Clean Water Act grants the EPA broad authority to protect the nation's waters. The EPA then actually delegates permitting for the CWA to the Corps of Engineers and state agencies (in many cases). As far as I can tell, many of the authorities embedded in the Clean ... Read more »
Faass, J. (2010) Florida's Approach to Natural Resource Damage Assessment: A Short, Sweet Model for States Seeking Compensation. Ecological Restoration, 28(1), 32-39. DOI: 10.3368/er.28.1.32
- March 12, 2010
- 12:59 PM
- 1 view
Gender-Bending Chickens: Mixed, Not Scrambled
by GrrlScientist in Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)
tags: evolution, evolutionary biology, gynandromorph, bilateral gynandromorph bird, half-sider, mixed-sex chimaera, sex determination, molecular biology, genetics, developmental biology, endocrinology, birds, chicken, Gallus gallus, ornithology, bpr3.org/?p=52,peer-reviewed research, peer-reviewed paper, journal club
Half-sider.
Almost exactly one year ago, hundreds of American birders
were thrilled by sightings and photographs of this remarkable
Northern Cardinal, or Redbird, Cardinali........ Read more »
Zhao, D., McBride, D., Nandi, S., McQueen, H., McGrew, M., Hocking, P., Lewis, P., Sang, H., & Clinton, M. (2010) Somatic sex identity is cell autonomous in the chicken. Nature, 464(7286), 237-242. DOI: 10.1038/nature08852
- March 12, 2010
- 11:22 AM
- 2 views
Your Friday Dose of Weird: Two new Cambrian critters
When it comes to aliens, Hollywood really does not have much imagination. Most extraterrestrials that have appeared on the big screen look very much like us, or are at least some kind of four-to-six-limbed vertebrate, and this says more about out own vanity than anything else. It would be far more interesting, I think, to take the weird and wonderful organisms of the Cambrian as inspiration for alien life forms, and two new critters have just been added to the odd Cambrian menagerie. Read the ........ Read more »
Caron, J., Conway Morris, S., & Shu, D. (2010) Tentaculate Fossils from the Cambrian of Canada (British Columbia) and China (Yunnan) Interpreted as Primitive Deuterostomes. PLoS ONE, 5(3). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0009586
STEIN, M. (2010) A new arthropod from the Early Cambrian of North Greenland, with a ‘great appendage’-like antennula. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 158(3), 477-500. DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00562.x
- March 12, 2010
- 06:14 AM
- 2 views
Yellow fever, stasis, and diversification
by iayork in Mystery Rays from Outer Space
“Episode de la fièvre jaune”
By analyzing hepatitis C virus genome sequences, you can trace the virus’s history through its spread by the slave trade, and linked 19th-century health models in different countries to viral spread and transmission. Similarly, by looking at leprosy DNA, you can track its spread along the Silk Road and along [...]... Read more »
Bryant, J., Holmes, E., & Barrett, A. (2007) Out of Africa: A Molecular Perspective on the Introduction of Yellow Fever Virus into the Americas. PLoS Pathogens, 3(5). DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.0030075
Barrett, A., & Higgs, S. (2007) Yellow Fever: A Disease that Has Yet to be Conquered. Annual Review of Entomology, 52(1), 209-229. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.ento.52.110405.091454
Sall, A., Faye, O., Diallo, M., Firth, C., Kitchen, A., & Holmes, E. (2009) Yellow Fever Virus Exhibits Slower Evolutionary Dynamics than Dengue Virus. Journal of Virology, 84(2), 765-772. DOI: 10.1128/JVI.01738-09
- March 12, 2010
- 06:08 AM
- 2 views
Friston is Freudian
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
Professor Karl Friston is one of the most prominent (and prolific) researchers in the field of neuroimaging. His contributions to methodological development in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are immense:He invented statistical parametric mapping; SPM is an international standard for analysing imaging data and rests on the general linear model and random field theory (developed with Keith Worsley). In 1994, his group developed voxel-based morphometry. VBM detects differences in n........ Read more »
Carhart-Harris, R., & Friston, K. (2010) The default-mode, ego-functions and free-energy: a neurobiological account of Freudian ideas. Brain. DOI: 10.1093/brain/awq010
- March 12, 2010
- 05:13 AM
- 1 view
The Green Evolution that preceded the Green Revolution
by Jeremy in Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog
The standard litany against the Green Revolution is that it failed to banish hunger because the technologies it ushered in were no use to small peasant farmers. Farmers with access to cash and good land did well, but poorer farmers on marginal land got nothing out of the revolution, and if they did somehow [...]... Read more »
Harwood, J. (2009) Peasant Friendly Plant Breeding and the Early Years of the Green Revolution in Mexico. Agricultural History, 83(3), 384-410. DOI: 10.3098/ah.2009.83.3.384
- March 12, 2010
- 03:09 AM
- 1 view
Reminder of disease primes the body and mind to repel other people
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
When it comes to avoiding infection, a growing body of evidence suggests we don't just have a physiological immune system, we also have a behavioural immune system - one that alerts us to people likely to be carrying disease, and that puts us off interacting with them. Indeed, there's research showing that people who are more fearful of disease tend to hold more xenophobic attitudes and to display greater prejudice towards people with outwardly visible disabilities. Now Chad Mortensen and his co........ Read more »
Mortensen, C., Becker, D., Ackerman, J., Neuberg, S., & Kenrick, D. (2010) Infection Breeds Reticence: The Effects of Disease Salience on Self-Perceptions of Personality and Behavioral Avoidance Tendencies. Psychological Science, 21(3), 440-447. DOI: 10.1177/0956797610361706
- March 12, 2010
- 12:46 AM
- 2 views
Friday Weird Science: Ejaculation 1, 2, 3...
by Evil Monkey in Neurotopia
Well well well. Here we are. It's Friday. And we've been talking about SPERM ALL WEEK.
What to do...what to do...
Nel-Themaat et al. "Quality and freezing qualities of first and second ejaculates collected from endangered Gulf Coast Native rams" Animal Reproduction Science, 2006.
Heh.
So it turns out that the people who wrote the study Sci covered the other week wrote ANOTHER one. Also, it turns out the eland is not endangered, but the other species they were working with, the Gulf Co........ Read more »
NELTHEMAAT, L., HARDING, G., CHANDLER, J., CHENEVERT, J., DAMIANI, P., FERNANDEZ, J., HUMES, P., POPE, C., & GODKE, R. (2006) Quality and freezing qualities of first and second ejaculates collected from endangered Gulf Coast Native rams. Animal Reproduction Science, 95(3-4), 251-261. DOI: 10.1016/j.anireprosci.2005.09.014
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