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- February 13, 2012
- 01:35 AM
- 8 views
21st Century Treatments for Insomnia
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
Are you having trouble sleeping? But you're not feeling that 19th century retro hipster insomniac vibe? Try some of these behavioral remedies recommended by the finest scientific and medical journals of today.What a Difference a Day MakesIs Intensive Sleep Retraining (ISR) a new overnight treatment for chronic insomnia (Harris et al., 2012)? ISR is conducted in one 25 hr session at a sleep lab, where the insomniac sleeps a maximum of 3 min every 30 min for a period of 25 hrs. Instant cure! (supp........ Read more »
Harris, J., Lack, L., Kemp, K., Wright, H., & Bootzin, R. (2012) A Randomized Controlled Trial of Intensive Sleep Retraining (ISR): A Brief Conditioning Treatment for Chronic Insomnia. SLEEP. DOI: 10.5665/sleep.1584
Spielman, A., & Glovinsky, P. (2012) What a Difference a Day Makes. SLEEP. DOI: 10.5665/sleep.1574
- February 13, 2012
- 01:11 AM
- 7 views
Valentine's Day Special: An Insider's Guide to Speed Dating
by Psych Your Mind in Psych Your Mind
To my never-ending delight, being a social psychologist can sometimes make me feel like I have an insider’s guide to social life. When I discovered that two dear friends of mine were about to try speed dating for the first time, I couldn’t help offering some (yes, unsolicited) terribly handy research-based advice: “Be selective! They’ll like you more if you don’t show interest in everybody.” My random tip amused my friends, but my outburst didn’t do justice to the scope of research........ Read more »
Back, M., Penke, L., Schmukle, S., Sachse, K., Borkenau, P., & Asendorpf, J. (2011) Why mate choices are not as reciprocal as we assume: The role of personality, flirting and physical attractiveness. European Journal of Personality, 25(2), 120-132. DOI: 10.1002/per.806
Eastwick, P., Finkel, E., Mochon, D., & Ariely, D. (2007) Selective Versus Unselective Romantic Desire: Not All Reciprocity Is Created Equal. Psychological Science, 18(4), 317-319. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01897.x
Eastwick, P., & Finkel, E. (2008) Sex differences in mate preferences revisited: Do people know what they initially desire in a romantic partner?. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(2), 245-264. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.94.2.245
Finkel, E., & Eastwick, P. (2009) Arbitrary Social Norms Influence Sex Differences in Romantic Selectivity. Psychological Science, 20(10), 1290-1295. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02439.x
- February 13, 2012
- 12:12 AM
- 9 views
Just ONE Copy of The Daily Mail Could Ruin Your Life
by Neurobonkers in Neurobonkers
A comprehensive debunking of the Daily Mail's reporting of science.... Read more »
The Poynter Institute. (2006) Eyetracking the news. A study of print and online reading. Poynter. info:/
- February 12, 2012
- 03:28 PM
- 29 views
Big Brains in Evolutionary History
by Matt & Cris in Originus
In 1985 I visited the Soviet Union with a small group of Austrian tourists (I was studying in Vienna at …Continue reading »... Read more »
Gross, C. (1993) Huxley versus Owen: the hippocampus minor and evolution. Trends in Neurosciences, 16(12), 493-498. DOI: 10.1016/0166-2236(93)90190-W
- February 12, 2012
- 02:47 PM
- 17 views
UK meet Schmallenberg virus - Schmallenberg virus meet the UK
by Connor Bamford in The Rule of 6ix
Still-born lamb after Schmallenberg infection. http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/i
Europe is currently experiencing an incredibly worrying outbreak of disease across hundreds of farms in the North-West and it has finally popped up in the UK. The disease - caused by a previously unknown virus - has been causing a large number of still births in cows, goats and sheep after it was initially found in the Netherlands and Germany. What is worrying about this is our economic dependance on this ki........ Read more »
Hoffmann, B., Scheuch, M., Höper, D., Jungblut, R., Holsteg, M., Schirrmeier, H., Eschbaumer, M., Goller, K., Wernike, K., Fischer, M.... (2012) Novel Orthobunyavirus in Cattle, Europe, 2011. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 18(3), 469-472. DOI: 10.3201/eid1803.111905
- February 12, 2012
- 02:01 PM
- 20 views
Chemical Ghosts in the Machine
by Cris Campbell in Genealogy of Religion
If we think deeply about evolution, we eventually will ask questions not about the origin of species but about the origin of life. For some theistic evolutionists, this is the point of Designer intervention. They find it hard to imagine that chemicals could combine in way that gives rise to life. For those less inclined [...]... Read more »
Urey, Harold. (1952) On the Early Chemical History of the Earth and the Origin of Life. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 38(4), 351-363. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.38.4.351
Peretó J. (2005) Controversies on the origin of life. International microbiology : the official journal of the Spanish Society for Microbiology, 8(1), 23-31. PMID: 15906258
Joyce, G. (1989) RNA evolution and the origins of life. Nature, 338(6212), 217-224. DOI: 10.1038/338217a0
Orgel LE. (1998) The origin of life--a review of facts and speculations. Trends in biochemical sciences, 23(12), 491-5. PMID: 9868373
- February 12, 2012
- 01:45 PM
- 20 views
The Chimp that Could (almost) Talk
by Paige Brown in From The Lab Bench
“Wouldn’t it be exciting to communicate with a Chimp, and find out what it was thinking?” – Professor Herbert Terrace
I watched Project Nim tonight, an intriguing and emotional film about a scientific project that, to many, meant much more than scientific findings – the story of a chimpanzee taken from its mother at birth, raised like a human child, and taught to communicate using sign language.
... Read more »
Terrace, H., Petitto, L., Sanders, R., & Bever, T. (1979) Can an ape create a sentence?. Science, 206(4421), 891-902. DOI: 10.1126/science.504995
- February 12, 2012
- 01:30 PM
- 14 views
The Role of experience in flight behaviour of Drosophila
by Sathishk in neuro JC
This study illustrates the requirement of training and exercise in executing successful fine motor skills in the invertebrates.Fruit fly Drosophila groups reared and grown in two different fly chambers ,one allows free flight movement and other restricted flight movement were tested for various flight kinematics in free flight arena and tethered flight simulator.Overall performance [...]... Read more »
Hesselberg, T., & Lehmann, F. (2009) The role of experience in flight behaviour of Drosophila. Journal of Experimental Biology, 212(20), 3377-3386. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.025221
- February 12, 2012
- 01:21 PM
- 16 views
Cell Phone Use and Risk of Brain Cancer
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
In my last post I examined the epidemiology of brain tumors using a summary of the latest data from the United States. The summary noted the slight decline in the number of malignant brain cancers over the last twenty years.One area of concern that is receiving increased attention is the potential for cell phone risk to raise the risk of brain cancers.Obviously if cell phone use was a very large effect one might have expected an increase in the rates of brain tumors and cancer over th........ Read more »
Frei, P., Poulsen, A., Johansen, C., Olsen, J., Steding-Jessen, M., & Schuz, J. (2011) Use of mobile phones and risk of brain tumours: update of Danish cohort study. BMJ, 343(oct19 4). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.d6387
- February 12, 2012
- 01:03 PM
- 19 views
On introducing elephants to Australia...
by Colin Beale in Safari Ecology
Sometimes scientists suggest the mostabsurd things. In the news last week (with thanks to an Australianfriend for tipping me off) was a paper published in the prestigiousjournal Nature that suggested in the text and headline that Australiashould introduce elephants to control an invasive grass thatoriginally came from Africa: Gamba grass, Andropogon guyanus. Theauthor made a number of sound observations: Australia (like too muchof the world) is riddled with invasive species, has suffered amassiv........ Read more »
Bowman, D. (2012) Conservation: Bring elephants to Australia?. Nature, 482(7383), 30-30. DOI: 10.1038/482030a
- February 12, 2012
- 11:10 AM
- 19 views
How the TB bacteria bursts your cells
by Lab Rat in Lab Rat Blog
The bacteria that causes Tuberculosis is a nasty little beast. The white blood cells that clear infection in your body work by ingesting bacteria and then breaking them up, and the TB escapes this by letting itself get ingested and then sitting inside your white blood cells. They don’t sit passively, however, they burst out of the cell and recruit a whole host of other blood cells which surround the infection and form what’s called a granuloma. The bacteria stay inside the granuloma ........ Read more »
Simeone R, Bobard A, Lippmann J, Bitter W, Majlessi L, Brosch R, & Enninga J. (2012) Phagosomal Rupture by Mycobacterium tuberculosis Results in Toxicity and Host Cell Death. PLoS pathogens, 8(2). PMID: 22319448
- February 12, 2012
- 07:22 AM
- 22 views
One species or two?
by Mauro Mandrioli in The aphid room
It is frequently difficult to distinguish aphid species and considering that a same species could be present on different host plants, numerous cryptic species could exist in aphids. Furthermore, the split of aphids of the same species into two distinct species due to the presence of environmentally induced differences is also present making more and [...]... Read more »
R.G. Foottit, H.E.L. Maw, K.S. Pike, R.H. Miller. (2010) The identity of Pentalonia nigronervosa Coquerel and P. caladii van der Goot (Hemiptera: Aphididae) based on molecular and morphometric analysis . Zootaxa, 25-38. info:/
- February 12, 2012
- 06:42 AM
- 39 views
Art reflects Grammar
by Theresa Patzchke in United Academics
Discussions of this kind lead to the old question of the relation between linguistic structure and patterns of thought. ... Read more »
Segel, E., & Boroditsky, L. (2011) Grammar in Art. Frontiers in Psychology. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00244
- February 12, 2012
- 03:54 AM
- 27 views
Science Sunday: Adult Dragonflies and Damselflies as Indicators of Water Quality
by dragonflywoman in The Dragonfly Woman
Aquatic insects and other invertebrates have been used as indicators of water quality for about 40 years. Insects can be found in a huge variety of freshwater habitats year round and can tell scientists and water resource managers a great … Continue reading →... Read more »
Silva, D., De Marco, P., & Resende, D. (2010) Adult odonate abundance and community assemblage measures as indicators of stream ecological integrity: A case study. Ecological Indicators, 10(3), 744-752. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2009.12.004
- February 11, 2012
- 03:30 PM
- 32 views
Searching for E.T., III: Arsenic, DNA and alien life
by Mutant Dragon in Puff the Mutant Dragon
For those unfortunate enough to inherit it, sickle cell anemia is a devastating disease. Victims suffer from symptoms like frequent infections, persistent fatigue and bouts of crippling pain. It’s a little surprising to realize all this havoc stems from a single and seemingly minor change in the hemoglobin protein — exchanging one amino acid called glutamate for another called valine. That swap creates a pocket on the surface of the protein that can bind other hemoglobin molecules wh........ Read more »
Tackett, A. (2002) Non-Watson-Crick interactions between PNA and DNA inhibit the ATPase activity of bacteriophage T4 Dda helicase. Nucleic Acids Research, 30(4), 950-957. DOI: 10.1093/nar/30.4.950
- February 11, 2012
- 03:16 PM
- 45 views
Life is short
by Iddo Friedberg in Byte Size Biology
Continuing with rather philosophical musings about life, Ed Trifonov has recently suggested a new approach to defining life: let’s just vote on the definition.
So how does that work? And why should it work in the first place?... Read more »
Trifonov EN. (2011) Vocabulary of definitions of life suggests a definition. Journal of biomolecular structure , 29(2), 259-66. PMID: 21875147
- February 11, 2012
- 02:06 PM
- 40 views
The hobbit is still Homo floresiensis
by sahelanthropus in EvoAnth
In 2003 Evolutionary Anthropology came crashing into popular culture with the discovery of Homo floresiensis, found – as the name might suggest – on the island of Flores. Affectionately nicknamed “the Hobbit” by the media, this diminutive creature stood at only 108 cm tall (~3′ 6”) and by virtue of this peculiarity managed to capture [...]... Read more »
Brown, P. (2012) LB1 and LB6 Homo floresiensis are not modern human (Homo sapiens) cretins. Journal of Human Evolution, 62(2), 201-224. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.10.011
- February 11, 2012
- 02:00 PM
- 26 views
If you've seen one elephant, have you seen them all?
by Shermin de Silva in Elephants of Uda Walawe
A side-by-side comparison of Asian and African elephant societies shows that the two species are not as similar as one might think, overturning decades of popular depictions of elephants which paint the two species as identical.... Read more »
Eggert, L., Rasner, C., & Woodruff, D. (2002) The evolution and phylogeography of the African elephant inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequence and nuclear microsatellite markers. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 269(1504), 1993-2006. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2002.2070
Wildman, D. (2003) Implications of natural selection in shaping 99.4% nonsynonymous DNA identity between humans and chimpanzees: Enlarging genus Homo. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100(12), 7181-7188. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1232172100
de Silva, S., Ranjeewa, A., & Kryazhimskiy, S. (2011) The dynamics of social networks among female Asian elephants. BMC Ecology, 11(1), 17. DOI: 10.1186/1472-6785-11-17
de Silva, S., & Wittemyer, G. (2012) A Comparison of Social Organization in Asian Elephants and African Savannah Elephants. International Journal of Primatology. DOI: 10.1007/s10764-011-9564-1
- February 10, 2012
- 05:53 PM
- 37 views
Bold as a coot
Coots are the odd ones out in their family. Unlike other rails, they are bold, noisy and aggressive birds. Instead of searching for cover, they are all out, even their nests are usually placed in the open water and they are as prominent that you cannot miss them. Their squabbles amongst themselves and with other birds may carry out through the winter, as some birds keep their territorial behaviour year round. Coots have ashy-black bodies and black heads where a strikingly contrasting white front........ Read more »
Visser, J. (1988) Seasonal changes in shield size in the Coot. Ardea, 56-63. info:/
- February 10, 2012
- 05:33 PM
- 39 views
The Terrible, Prehistoric Frog That Wasn’t
Over 300 million years ago, long before the time of the dinosaurs, giant amphibians hopped along the sandy shores of Pennsylvania. At least, that was what Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter James Ross explained to readers of the newspaper’s November 28th, 1948 issue. The inspiration for the report was a set of strange tracks found in the [...]... Read more »
Niedźwiedzki, G., Szrek, P., Narkiewicz, K., Narkiewicz, M., & Ahlberg, P. (2010) Tetrapod trackways from the early Middle Devonian period of Poland. Nature, 463(7277), 43-48. DOI: 10.1038/nature08623
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