- May 24, 2013
- 11:30 PM
- 1 view
Computer science on prediction and the edge of chaos
by Artem Kaznatcheev in Evolutionary Games Group
With the development of statistical mechanics, physicists became the first agent-based modellers. Since the scientists of the 19th century didn’t have super-computers, they couldn’t succumb to the curse of computing and had to come up with analytic treatments of their “agent-based models”. These analytic treatments were often not rigorous, and only a heuristic correspondence was […]... Read more »
Chazelle, B. (2012) Natural algorithms and influence systems. Communications of the ACM, 55(12), 101. DOI: 10.1145/2380656.2380679
- May 24, 2013
- 09:11 PM
- 3 views
What music do dogs prefer? Bach vs. Snoop Dogg
by Cobb & Hecht in Do You Believe In Dog?
Hey Julie,I hope you've had a fun week. I saw a new in-press publication with your name on it - "Smelling more or less: Investigating the olfactory experience of the domestic dog" - looks like a really great study, and so timely after my last post about dogs and olfactory enrichment! Looking forward to reading it (and all those other cool Learning and Motivation articles) over the weekend. So did you do your homework? Did you watch this clip from the Sydney Opera H........ Read more »
Kogan Lori R., Schoenfeld-Tacher Regina, & Simon Allen A. (2012) Behavioral effects of auditory stimulation on kenneled dogs. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 7(5), 268-275. DOI: 10.1016/j.jveb.2011.11.002
Wells D, Graham L, & Hepper P. (2002) The influence of auditory stimulation on the behaviour of dogs housed in a rescue shelter. Animal Welfare, 11(4), 385-393. http://www.ufaw.org.uk/v11main.php
- May 24, 2013
- 04:18 PM
- 11 views
Three Ways to Fight Back Against Daytime Sleepiness
by Shawn Radcliffe in Branáin
If you are dealing with excessive daytime sleepiness, gain an extra boost of alertness with tips from these recent research studies.... Read more »
Reid, K., Baron, K., Lu, B., Naylor, E., Wolfe, L., & Zee, P. (2010) Aerobic exercise improves self-reported sleep and quality of life in older adults with insomnia. Sleep Medicine, 11(9), 934-940. DOI: 10.1016/j.sleep.2010.04.014
- May 24, 2013
- 02:50 PM
- 6 views
A mutation leads to phenomenal effect
by Ragothamanyennamalli in Getting to know Structural Bioinformatics
A point mutation in a gene leads to a phenomenal effect on the phenotype. It is a classic Biochemistry textbook case study, Sickle Cell Anemia. The mutant hemoglobin has a Valine instead of the Glutamic acid. The change is highly observable in the form of a debilitating condition. But, not all point mutations in the protein sequence are debilitating, and sometimes they give rise to something spectacular. One such example is the White Tiger, frequently mistaken as an albino. The recent publicatio........ Read more »
Xu, X., Dong, G., Hu, X., Miao, L., Zhang, X., Zhang, D., Yang, H., Zhang, T., Zou, Z., Zhang, T.... (2013) The Genetic Basis of White Tigers. Current Biology. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.04.054
- May 24, 2013
- 12:26 PM
- 22 views
People with higher IQ have the ability to get rid of distractions
by Usman Paracha in SayPeople
Main Point:
Researchers have found that people with higher IQ have the ability to get rid of large non-essential background information i.e. distraction. Moreover, they can detect small moving objects.
Published in:
Current Biology
Study Further:
In the study, researchers showed the short video clips of black and white bars to the 53 people, who were also tested for intelligence. The bars were moving across the screen, where some clips were small present in the center of the scree........ Read more »
Melnick, M., Harrison, B., Park, S., Bennetto, L., & Tadin, D. (2013) A Strong Interactive Link between Sensory Discriminations and Intelligence. Current Biology. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.04.053
- May 24, 2013
- 10:07 AM
- 17 views
Ants Reveal How to Build a Tunnel You Can't Fall Down
by Elizabeth Preston in Inkfish
It's hard to keep your footing in a steep tunnel made of loose dirt while others are scrambling around and over your body. Harder still in pitch blackness. That's why fire ants build tunnels that will catch them when they fall—a strategy human engineers might want to steal.
"Slips and missteps are likely a constant, recurring feature of life underground," says Nick Gravish, a graduate student in Daniel Goldman's rheology and biomechanics lab at Georgia Tech. Yet ants have to traverse their........ Read more »
Gravish, N., Monaenkova, D., Goodisman, M., & Goldman, D. (2013) Climbing, falling, and jamming during ant locomotion in confined environments. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1302428110
- May 24, 2013
- 09:40 AM
- 10 views
Fluke or Trend? ‘Calcium Causes Heart Disease’
by Alvin Lin in United Academics
Snap! Ouch! That’s from my head doing a double take. All these years, I thought the calcium vs heart disease thing was a conspiracy arranged by one researcher and publication. However, 3 months ago, I stumbled upon some corroborating studies by other researchers in other journals. Even the US Preventive Services Task Force recently came out against low dose calcium (less than 1,000mg/d) in post-menopausal women because they could not find conclusive evidence of benefit in the face of a ........ Read more »
Bolland, M., Grey, A., Avenell, A., Gamble, G., & Reid, I. (2011) Calcium supplements with or without vitamin D and risk of cardiovascular events: reanalysis of the Women's Health Initiative limited access dataset and meta-analysis. BMJ, 342(apr19 1). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.d2040
Langsetmo, L., Berger, C., Kreiger, N., Kovacs, C., Hanley, D., Jamal, S., Whiting, S., Genest, J., Morin, S., Hodsman, A.... (2013) Calcium and Vitamin D Intake and Mortality: Results from the Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study (CaMos). Journal of Clinical Endocrinology . DOI: 10.1210/jc.2013-1516
- May 24, 2013
- 09:23 AM
- 11 views
Algae Can Cover One-Twelfth of U.S. Annual Fuel Consumption
by dailyfusion in The Daily Fusion
A new study shows that the U.S. land and water resources could likely support the growth of enough algae to produce up to 25 billion gallons (94.6 million m3) of algae-based renewable biodiesel a year.... Read more »
Venteris, E., Skaggs, R., Coleman, A., & Wigmosta, M. (2013) A GIS Cost Model to Assess the Availability of Freshwater, Seawater, and Saline Groundwater for Algal Biofuel Production in the United States. Environmental Science , 47(9), 4840-4849. DOI: 10.1021/es304135b
- May 24, 2013
- 09:20 AM
- 11 views
Potato Famine Sequenced
by Andrew Porterfield in United Academics
The Irish Famine (or “Great Potato Famine” if you live outside the Emerald Isle) killed one million people and forced another million to leave the country between 1845 and 1852. It was caused by a blight on the country’s main food stock—the Irish “Lumper” potato. Now, researchers have identified the genome of the blight behind the famine.... Read more »
Kentaro Yoshida, Verena J. Schuenemann, Liliana M. Cano, Marina Pais, Bagdevi Mishra, Rahul Sharma, Christa Lanz, Frank N. Martin, Sophien Kamoun, Johannes Krause.... (2013) The rise and fall of the Phytophthora infestans lineage that triggered the Irish potato famine. eLife. arXiv: 1305.4206v1
- May 24, 2013
- 09:05 AM
- 13 views
Status shifts in groups as extraverts disappoint and neurotics overdeliver
by Alex Fradera in BPS Occupational Digest
New research suggests that the higher status bestowed on extraverts in new groups may drop as their contributions become better understood. In the meantime, neurotic people may see their lower status improve.Corrine Bendersky and Neha Parikh Shah investigated this in two studies. The first examined how 44 student teams working on MBA assignments over 10 weeks attributed status and competence to individual members. One week after forming, each member was asked to rate the other 3 to 5 members' gr........ Read more »
Bendersky, C., & Shah, N. (2012) The Downfall of Extraverts and Rise of Neurotics: The Dynamic Process of Status Allocation in Task Groups. Academy of Management Journal, 56(2), 387-406. DOI: 10.5465/amj.2011.0316
- May 24, 2013
- 08:36 AM
- 11 views
HAWC Observatory captures first image
by Perikis Livas in Tracing Knowledge
An international team of researchers, including scientists from Los Alamos, has taken the first image of the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory, or HAWC.The facility is designed to detect cosmic rays and the highest energy gamma rays ever observed from astrophysical sources.... Read more »
Los Alamos National Laboratory. (2013) HAWC Observatory captures first image. Los Alamos National Laboratory. info:/
- May 24, 2013
- 07:57 AM
- 18 views
Could you fill a beaker with the fungi in your body?
by Fungi in Bath Fungal Research
--> The mycobiome is starting to get a little traction!When will we know the weight of the fungi on and in our bodies? The human microbiota has been recognized as hugely important in the last few years, but that has almost entirely focused on bacteria. I’ve been interested in the mycobiome of the human built environment for a while, and I certainly haven’t been alone. People tend to think of fungi as a problem in buildings, on or in plants, and in the outside air. However, there is ........ Read more »
Iliev, I., Funari, V., Taylor, K., Nguyen, Q., Reyes, C., Strom, S., Brown, J., Becker, C., Fleshner, P., Dubinsky, M.... (2012) Interactions Between Commensal Fungi and the C-Type Lectin Receptor Dectin-1 Influence Colitis. Science, 336(6086), 1314-1317. DOI: 10.1126/science.1221789
Findley, K., Oh, J., Yang, J., Conlan, S., Deming, C., Meyer, J., Schoenfeld, D., Nomicos, E., Park, M., Becker, J.... (2013) Topographic diversity of fungal and bacterial communities in human skin. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature12171
Huffnagle, G., & Noverr, M. (2013) The emerging world of the fungal microbiome. Trends in Microbiology. DOI: 10.1016/j.tim.2013.04.002
- May 24, 2013
- 07:02 AM
- 9 views
Simple Jury Persuasion: Pictures, Words or Pictures Words?
by Rita Handrich in The Jury Room
“A picture is worth a thousand words”. Most of us think pictures are more persuasive than words. Recently I ran across a sentence in an article saying “it’s commonly believed that we remember 20% of what we hear and 80% of what we see”. Or something to that effect. I don’t know about you but [...]
Related posts:
Simple Jury Persuasion: How pictures infer “truthiness”
Simple Jury Persuasion: Building Trust (but not) in Ten Easy Words
Simple Jury Persuasion: When to hand exhibits ........ Read more »
Richard E. Mayer. (2009) Multimedia Learning, 2nd Edition. New York: Cambridge University Press. . DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511811678
- May 24, 2013
- 07:00 AM
- 3 views
May 24, 2013
by Erin Campbell in HighMag Blog
There isn’t a cell biologist out there who doesn’t fantasize about reaching her hands into a cell and physically manipulating whatever protein or structure that she obsesses over. While we can’t do that with our own hands, optical tweezers can…and the information we learn is invaluable. Today’s image is from a paper that uses optical tweezers to measure the forces within a mitotic spindle.The mechanics within a mitotic spindle are complicated, and cannot be fully understood........ Read more »
Ferraro-Gideon, J., Sheykhani, R., Zhu, Q., Duquette, M., Berns, M., & Forer, A. (2013) Measurements of forces produced by the mitotic spindle using optical tweezers. Molecular Biology of the Cell, 24(9), 1375-1386. DOI: 10.1091/mbc.E12-12-0901
Sheykhani, R., Baker, N., Gomez-Godinez, V., Liaw, L., Shah, J., Berns, M., & Forer, A. (2013) The role of actin and myosin in PtK2 spindle length changes induced by laser microbeam irradiations across the spindle. Cytoskeleton, 70(5), 241-259. DOI: 10.1002/cm.21104
- May 24, 2013
- 05:26 AM
- 12 views
Specialized Bat Tongue Helps it Drink
by Andrew Porterfield in United Academics
Bats need to eat a lot to keep flying. So, the more efficiently they can take in food, the better. for the nectar-eating bat Glossophaga soricina, this has meant the evolution of a sophisticated tongue. ... Read more »
Harper CJ, Swartz SM, & Brainerd EL. (2013) Specialized bat tongue is a hemodynamic nectar mop. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. PMID: 23650382
- May 24, 2013
- 04:00 AM
- 7 views
Video Interview: Professor Vera Krymskaya – University of Pennsylvania, USA
by Lizzie Perdeaux in BHD Research Blog
This week we would like to introduce you to the work of Professor Vera Krymskaya, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. Professor Krymskaya’s primary research interest is how signalling pathways cause disease when … Continue reading →... Read more »
Goncharova EA, Goncharov DA, Eszterhas A, Hunter DS, Glassberg MK, Yeung RS, Walker CL, Noonan D, Kwiatkowski DJ, Chou MM.... (2002) Tuberin regulates p70 S6 kinase activation and ribosomal protein S6 phosphorylation. A role for the TSC2 tumor suppressor gene in pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM). The Journal of biological chemistry, 277(34), 30958-67. PMID: 12045200
Goncharova EA, Goncharov DA, Fehrenbach M, Khavin I, Ducka B, Hino O, Colby TV, Merrilees MJ, Haczku A, Albelda SM.... (2012) Prevention of alveolar destruction and airspace enlargement in a mouse model of pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM). Science translational medicine, 4(154). PMID: 23035046
- May 24, 2013
- 02:00 AM
- 6 views
Nonessential heat shock proteins affect Candida albicans virulence
by Fungi in Bath Fungal Research
Picking up on my infatuation with all things Hsp, today more on the effects of two of the large Hsps on Candida albicans biofilm formation and virulence in mice and worms.Ssa1, a member of the Hsp70 family, is traditionally implicated in protein folding and entwining. Following heat shock, Ssa1 expression increases, which is a hallmark of heat shock proteins. Recently, Ssa1’s role in Candida albicans’ virulence has been extensively characterized. A series of experiments involving C. al........ Read more »
Fiori, A., Kucharikova, S., Govaert, G., Cammue, B., Thevissen, K., & Van Dijck, P. (2012) The Heat-Induced Molecular Disaggregase Hsp104 of Candida albicans Plays a Role in Biofilm Formation and Pathogenicity in a Worm Infection Model. Eukaryotic Cell, 11(8), 1012-1020. DOI: 10.1128/EC.00147-12
Sun JN, Solis NV, Phan QT, Bajwa JS, Kashleva H, Thompson A, Liu Y, Dongari-Bagtzoglou A, Edgerton M, & Filler SG. (2010) Host cell invasion and virulence mediated by Candida albicans Ssa1. PLoS pathogens, 6(11). PMID: 21085601
- May 24, 2013
- 12:04 AM
- 7 views
Cam-Type Femoroacetabular Impingement in Youth Ice Hockey Players
by Meghan Miller in Sports Medicine Research (SMR): In the Lab & In the Field
Take Home Message: Evidence of increased alpha angles has been shown in ice hockey players as compared to non-hockey playing matched controls. Even at young ages, signs of bony abnormality linked to femoroacetabular impingement are present.
Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) is a common radiographic finding among athletes participating in sports requiring hip flexion, hip internal rotation, and repetitive cyclic motions. Cam-deformity FAI is marked by the aspherical shape of the femoral he........ Read more »
Philippon, M., Ho, C., Briggs, K., Stull, J., & LaPrade, R. (2013) Prevalence of Increased Alpha Angles as a Measure of Cam-Type Femoroacetabular Impingement in Youth Ice Hockey Players. The American Journal of Sports Medicine. DOI: 10.1177/0363546513483448
- May 23, 2013
- 07:15 PM
- 23 views
Molecular visualization tools - Survey and practical tips
by Ragothamanyennamalli in Getting to know Structural Bioinformatics
What would be like to teach a class or describe someone about a protein, without visualizing its structure? Boring is one word that pops in my mind. I vividly remember the professor drawing two blobs touching each other, to describe protein-protein interaction, while explaining it either on the blackboard or on the transparencies of a over-head projector. Those were the days! Tracing back nearly 60 years back, when John Kendrew showed everyone a coiled mess, it has fueled every scientist's ........ Read more »
Craig, P., Michel, L., & Bateman, R. (2013) A survey of educational uses of molecular visualization freeware. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 41(3), 193-205. DOI: 10.1002/bmb.20693
- May 23, 2013
- 05:00 PM
- 14 views
The ‘actuator lugs’ on the Newton Running Shoes
by Craig Payne in Running Research Junkie
The ‘actuator lugs’ on the Newton Running Shoes... Read more »
Moran, M., & Greer, B. (2013) Influence of midsole ‘actuator lugs’ on running economy in trained distance runners. Footwear Science, 5(2), 91-99. DOI: 10.1080/19424280.2013.792878
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