All posts from Last Month
- April 22, 2013
- 08:04 AM
- 94 views
Cellphone Microbattery That Can Jump-Start a Car Developed
by dailyfusion in The Daily Fusion
New microbatteries developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are only a few millimeters in size, yet they are powerful enough to jump-start a dead car battery.... Read more »
Pikul, J., Gang Zhang, H., Cho, J., Braun, P., & King, W. (2013) High-power lithium ion microbatteries from interdigitated three-dimensional bicontinuous nanoporous electrodes. Nature Communications, 1732. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2747
- April 22, 2013
- 07:49 AM
- 81 views
Frequent Multi-taskers Are Worst At It
by Katja Keuchenius in United Academics
Calling in the car, listening to the tv while cooking, checking your messages in a meeting: we modern people are all so used to multi-tasking that we actually started thinking we’re good at it. But we’re not, American researchers say.
Why do people multi-task? The first answer at hand would be because people are busy and know from experience that multi-tasking isn’t a problem for them. But this idea doesn’t pass the test of science. It appears that frequent multi-taske........ Read more »
Sanbonmatsu, D., Strayer, D., Medeiros-Ward, N., & Watson, J. (2013) Who Multi-Tasks and Why? Multi-Tasking Ability, Perceived Multi-Tasking Ability, Impulsivity, and Sensation Seeking. PLoS ONE, 8(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054402
- April 22, 2013
- 06:56 AM
- 77 views
Deep Rationality: The Evolutionary Economics of Decision Making
by Jason Collins in Evolving Economics
Even though I consider that I am across the literature at the boundary of economics and evolutionary biology, now and then an article pops up that I somehow missed. The latest article of this type is a 2009 article by Douglas Kenrick and colleagues, titled (as is this post) Deep Rationality: The Evolutionary Economics of Decision Making. [...]The post Deep Rationality: The Evolutionary Economics of Decision Making appeared first on Evolving Economics.... Read more »
Kenrick, D., Griskevicius, V., Sundie, J., Li, N., Li, Y., & Neuberg, S. (2009) Deep Rationality: The Evolutionary Economics of Decision Making. Social Cognition, 27(5), 764-785. DOI: 10.1521/soco.2009.27.5.764
- April 22, 2013
- 06:37 AM
- 74 views
Students motivated by wealth are just as likely as others to help in an emergency
by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest
Bankers, investors, stock market traders and their ilk have been vilified in recent years, in large part because the global financial crisis has been blamed on their allegedly unchecked selfishness and greed.
In fact, there's a widespread implicit belief that a love of money goes hand in hand with selfishness. A study published in 2008 backed this up - people with a greater love of money tended to report being more selfish at work.
A new study with business students at Loyola University ch........ Read more »
Babula, M. (2013) The unlikely Samaritans. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43(4), 899-908. DOI: 10.1111/jasp.12055
- April 22, 2013
- 05:25 AM
- 97 views
Workplace psychopathy: the knowns and unknowns
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
Workplace psychopathy was an obscure, unknown issue prior to the mid-1990s, but hundreds of popular accounts have been published since then. A measured review by Sarah Francis Smith and Scott Lilienfield gets to the heart of what we really know about the phenomenon. There is a lot to cover so we're publishing about it in two posts.Psychopathy? It's complicatedFrom the off, the authors raise how complicated the issue is. Many studies rely on psychopathy and outcome data from single sources, leavi........ Read more »
Smith, S., & Lilienfeld, S. (2013) Psychopathy in the workplace: The knowns and unknowns. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 18(2), 204-218. DOI: 10.1016/j.avb.2012.11.007
- April 22, 2013
- 04:28 AM
- 85 views
Global temperatures: 75 years after Callendar
by Ed Hawkins in Climate Lab Book
Could varying concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide cause the planet to warm and cool? This was a key question facing scientists from the mid-1800s onwards – not because of a concern over man-made emissions of CO2, but because of a … Continue reading →... Read more »
Ed Hawkins, & Phil. D. Jones. (2013) On increasing global temperatures: 75 years after Callendar. QJRMS. info:/
Callendar, G. (1938) The artificial production of carbon dioxide and its influence on temperature. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 64(275), 223-240. DOI: 10.1002/qj.49706427503
Callendar, G. (1961) Temperature fluctuations and trends over the earth. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 87(371), 1-12. DOI: 10.1002/qj.49708737102
- April 22, 2013
- 03:41 AM
- 40 views
Dolphins sensitive to Ebbinghaus illusion, just like humans
by Justin Gregg in Justin Gregg
Pop Quiz: which if the two orange circles is larger? If you think that the circle on the right (the one surrounded by the smaller blue circles) is larger, then you are either a human or a dolphin, but not a pigeon. As it turns out, both [...]... Read more »
Murayama, T., Usui, A., Takeda, E., Kato, K., & Maejima, K. (2012) Relative Size Discrimination and Perception of the Ebbinghaus Illusion in a Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). Aquatic Mammals, 38(4), 333-342. DOI: 10.1578/AM.38.4.2012.333
- April 22, 2013
- 12:01 AM
- 57 views
What is the Optimal Dose of Corticosteroids for Adhesive Capsulitis?
by Stephen Thomas in Sports Medicine Research (SMR): In the Lab & In the Field
Adhesive capsulitis is very difficult to treat due to the active inflammation within the capsule and high intensity of pain. Corticosteroid injections are commonly used as a treatment; however, clinicians have used a variety of doses – with no scientific justification. Therefore, the authors investigated the optimal dose (20 mg or 40 mg) of corticosteroids among a group of 53 patients with stage 2 adhesive capsulitis.... Read more »
Yoon SH, Lee HY, Lee HJ, & Kwack KS. (2013) Optimal Dose of Intra-articular Corticosteroids for Adhesive Capsulitis: A Randomized, Triple-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial. The American Journal of Sports Medicine. PMID: 23507791
- April 21, 2013
- 10:18 PM
- 126 views
Gravity doesn’t actually exist; A new theory
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Main point:
According to the new theory, Gravity is not the fundamental force or fundamental interaction but it is actually the result of the laws of thermodynamics, which tells us about the behavior of heat and gases.
Journal:
Journal of High Energy Physics
Study Further:
The New York Times reported on July 12, 2010 that Professor Erik Verlinde, 48, a respected string theorist and professor of physics at the University of Amsterdam, said in the paper, submitted on January 6th, ........ Read more »
Verlinde, E. (2011) On the origin of gravity and the laws of Newton. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2011(4). DOI: 10.1007/JHEP04(2011)029
- April 21, 2013
- 09:24 PM
- 85 views
Warmest years in the 1400 years of history
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Main point:
Scientists have reported that the last 30 years of the 20th century, i.e. from 1971-2000, were the warmest years in the last 14 centuries in the history of the Earth.
Journal:
Nature Geoscience
Study Further:
Researchers in this study worked on the previous two millennia and found a "long-term cooling trend", i.e. 0.1-0.3 C (0.2-0.6 F) of cooling per thousand years, depending on the region, until the end of the late 19th century. They found that the tempera........ Read more »
Ahmed, M., Anchukaitis, K., Asrat, A., Borgaonkar, H., Braida, M., Buckley, B., Büntgen, U., Chase, B., Christie, D., Cook, E.... (2013) Continental-scale temperature variability during the past two millennia. Nature Geoscience. DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1797
- April 21, 2013
- 05:39 PM
- 79 views
Urging neurons to self-eat: a therapy for neurodegenerative diseases?
by Shelly Fan in Neurorexia
Many bloggers like to write about studies that advance our understanding on how the brain FUNCTIONS, including myself. Function, however, depends on the smooth running of processes both between neurons (circuits) and within neurons. Unfortunately things don’t always go smoothly, and sometimes broken, misshapen and aggregated proteins can build up in cells, disrupting their normal [...]... Read more »
Wong E, & Cuervo AM. (2010) Autophagy gone awry in neurodegenerative diseases. Nature neuroscience, 13(7), 805-11. PMID: 20581817
Shoji-Kawata, S., Sumpter, R., Leveno, M., Campbell, G., Zou, Z., Kinch, L., Wilkins, A., Sun, Q., Pallauf, K., MacDuff, D.... (2013) Identification of a candidate therapeutic autophagy-inducing peptide. Nature, 494(7436), 201-206. DOI: 10.1038/nature11866
- April 21, 2013
- 11:30 AM
- 73 views
PET scans in rodents?
by Allison in Dormivigilia
Neuroimaging in rodents is now widely used. These researchers identified brain areas activated during wake and compared this activation with other common means of activation (optogenetics). While this study is more of a methods paper, I do think that there are a few important loopholes that the reviewers overlooked (sorry). ... Read more »
Thanos PK, Robison L, Nestler EJ, Kim R, Michaelides M, Lobo MK, & Volkow ND. (2013) Mapping Brain Metabolic Connectivity in Awake Rats with μPET and Optogenetic Stimulation. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 33(15), 6343-6349. PMID: 23575833
- April 21, 2013
- 11:23 AM
- 95 views
Was Steven Pinker right after all? [Part 2]
by Henkjan Honing in Music Matters
Last week Science published a study (a follow-up of Salimpoor et al., 2011) in which Canadian researchers showed that music can arouse feelings of euphoria and craving, similar to tangible rewards that involve the striatal dopaminergic system. ... Read more »
Salimpoor, V., van den Bosch, I., Kovacevic, N., McIntosh, A., Dagher, A., & Zatorre, R. (2013) Interactions Between the Nucleus Accumbens and Auditory Cortices Predict Music Reward Value. Science, 340(6129), 216-219. DOI: 10.1126/science.1231059
Salimpoor, V., Benovoy, M., Larcher, K., Dagher, A., & Zatorre, R. (2011) Anatomically distinct dopamine release during anticipation and experience of peak emotion to music. Nature Neuroscience. DOI: 10.1038/nn.2726
- April 21, 2013
- 11:19 AM
- 95 views
Heroism Is Our Default Setting
by Eric Horowitz in peer-reviewed by my neurons
One of the oft-cited takeaways from the past week is that people are basically awesome. In the midst of unpredictable danger and tragedy, residents (and guests) of the Boston area didn’t hesitate to help their fellow citizens. But what’s troubling about these realizations of human goodness is that they suggest an a priori doubt about [...]... Read more »
Fischer, P., Krueger, J., Greitemeyer, T., Vogrincic, C., Kastenmüller, A., Frey, D., Heene, M., Wicher, M., & Kainbacher, M. (2011) The bystander-effect: A meta-analytic review on bystander intervention in dangerous and non-dangerous emergencies. Psychological Bulletin, 137(4), 517-537. DOI: 10.1037/a0023304
Greitemeyer, T., & Mügge, D. (2013) Rational bystanders. British Journal of Social Psychology. DOI: 10.1111/bjso.12036
- April 21, 2013
- 09:00 AM
- 98 views
Science Sunday: The ontogeny of behaviour in the albino rat
by Mitchell Harden in Mitch's Blog
Every Sunday, I'd like to post a review of an interesting peer-reviewed science article. To kick things off I'm picking an old favorite, originally posted in 1964! It is certainly well cited, Google Scholar lists the citation count at 452! Indeed this paper was a "Citation Classic" in Current Contents in 1981. At the time the lead author Robert Bolles, was still living and stated:"I have always believed in the idea that experimenters should look at their animals...the human eyeball is........ Read more »
Bolles, R., & Woods, P. (1964) The ontogeny of behaviour in the albino rat. Animal Behaviour, 12(4), 427-441. DOI: 10.1016/0003-3472(64)90062-4
- April 21, 2013
- 08:00 AM
- 33 views
Interdisciplinitis: Do entropic forces cause adaptive behavior?
by Artem Kaznatcheev in Evolutionary Games Group
Physicists are notorious for infecting other disciplines. Sometimes this can be extremely rewarding, but most of the time it is silly. I’ve already featured an example where one of the founders of algorithmic information theory completely missed the point of Darwinism; researchers working in statistical mechanics and information theory seem particularly susceptible to interdisciplinitis. The [...]... Read more »
Wissner-Gross, A.D., & Freer, C.E. (2013) Causal Entropic Forces. Phys. Rev. Lett., 110(16), 168702. info:/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.168702
- April 21, 2013
- 07:03 AM
- 1 view
LENR and Muon Catalyzed Fusion
by Hamilton Carter in Copasetic Flow
Reading about low energy nuclear reactions, (LENR), I came across several theoretical references to protons capturing heavy electrons and then participating in nuclear reactions as a result. The heavy electron, because it sits in a much tighter orbit around a proton, serves to shield the proton's positive charge from other unsuspecting nuclei until the proton has crept in close enough to fuse with them via the strong force. In modern day LENR parlance, it is speculated that these sufficien........ Read more »
FRANK F. C. (1947) Hypothetical Alternative Energy Sources for the ‘Second Meson’ Events. Nature, 160(4068), 525-527. DOI: 10.1038/160525a0
LATTES C. M. G., OCCHIALINI G. P. S., & POWELL C. F. (1947) Observations on the Tracks of Slow Mesons in Photographic Emulsions. Nature, 160(4066), 453-456. DOI: 10.1038/160453a0
Jackson J. (1957) Catalysis of Nuclear Reactions between Hydrogen Isotopes by μ- Mesons. Physical Review, 106(2), 330-339. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRev.106.330
Wheeler John. (1949) Some Consequences of the Electromagnetic Interaction between μ--Mesons and Nuclei. Reviews of Modern Physics, 21(1), 133-143. DOI: 10.1103/RevModPhys.21.133
Alvarez L., Bradner H., Crawford F., Crawford J., Falk-Vairant P., Good M., Gow J., Rosenfeld A., Solmitz F., & Stevenson M. (1957) Catalysis of Nuclear Reactions by μ Mesons. Physical Review, 105(3), 1127-1128. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRev.105.1127
- April 21, 2013
- 04:31 AM
- 142 views
Heavy Stubble Is Most Attractive, Research Finds
by Andrew Porterfield in United Academics
It’s not quite clear why human males continue to have facial hair. There are other ways to keep warm, and we’ve lost our hair over most of the rest of our bodies (or they’re at best residual). But facial hair serves another important purpose—determining male attractiveness to females... Read more »
Dixson, B., & Brooks, R. (2013) The role of facial hair in women's perceptions of men's attractiveness, health, masculinity and parenting abilities. Evolution and Human Behavior, 34(3), 236-241. DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2013.02.003
- April 21, 2013
- 03:43 AM
- 70 views
All eyes on minocycline
by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers
Minocycline, the tetracycline antibiotic, is probably not something that most people would traditionally link with autism or conditions presenting with autism-like behaviours. Indeed, the suggestion that antibiotics or antimicrobials if you prefer, may be able to modify either the behaviour or linked biochemistry of the autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) or even influence the onset and expression of ASD is quite frankly a little bit unusual.Minocycline (for chemists) @ Wikipedia But unusual ........ Read more »
Leigh, M., Nguyen, D., Mu, Y., Winarni, T., Schneider, A., Chechi, T., Polussa, J., Doucet, P., Tassone, F., Rivera, S.... (2013) A Randomized Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Minocycline in Children and Adolescents with Fragile X Syndrome. Journal of Developmental , 34(3), 147-155. DOI: 10.1097/DBP.0b013e318287cd17
- April 21, 2013
- 03:03 AM
- 63 views
Spotlight on Research: What's in (Half) a Face?
by Mark Rubin in The University of Newcastle's School of Psychology Newsline
When we recognise someone, we integrate information from across their face into a perceptual whole, and do so using a specialised brain region. Recognising other kinds of objects does not engage such specific brain areas, and is achieved in a much more parts-based way.... Read more »
Burke, D., & Sulikowski, D. (2013) The Evolution of Holistic Processing of Faces. Frontiers in Psychology. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00011
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