Adaptive valuation of social images by Rhesus Macaques
In a finding that deepens our understanding of animal social cognition, researchers at Duke University Medical Center have demonstrated for the first time that monkeys, like humans, value information according to its social content. People readily pay to see powerful or sexually attractive individuals, and, according to this new study, monkeys will also “pay” to view these kinds of images.
Both economics and evolution
Scientists studying satellite data have discovered an immense wintertime pool of pollution over the northern Indian state of Bihar. Blanketing around 100 million people, primarily in the Ganges Valley, the pollution levels are about five times larger than those typically found over Los Angeles.
The discovery was made by researchers analyzing four years of data collected by the Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR) onboard the Terra satellite. Lofted into orbit on Dec. 1
Defect in neuroligin gene disrupts firing of neurons and may result in autism
The causes of autism have long remained a mystery, but new research from Columbia University Medical Center has identified, for the first time, how a cellular defect may be involved in the often crippling neurological disorder.
The research, which is published in today’s issue of Science, examines how a defect in neuroligin genes may contribute to autism. Neuroligins are components of sy
A new study adds potentially fatal blood infections to the list of health risks from diabetes, a condition that is on the rise in the United States as obesity rates climb, according to the Feb. 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.
Researchers have known for years that obesity and diabetes are linked. Most diabetics have type 2 diabetes–and most people with type 2 diabetes are obese. Diabetes can cause a host of health troubles, including kidney probl
The assumption that women avoid mammograms for fear of pain is challenged in a study published in the February 2005 issue of The American Journal of Roentgenology, which finds that women undergoing screening mammography report minimal levels of distress.
“I think it’s an old wives tale that mammograms hurt,” says the study’s lead author Alice Domar, PhD, Director of the Mind/Body Center for Women’s Health at Boston IVF and senior psychologist in the Department of
100 years after Einstein’s landmark paper, optical tweezer technology could confirm the theory of classical Brownian motion in details that Einstein missed when he first proposed it a century ago. This research is reported today in a special Einstein Year issue of the New Journal of Physics (www.njp.org) published jointly by the Institute of Physics and the German Physical Society (Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft).
“Optical tweezers” use a focused laser beam to trap and stud
Noise is usually nothing more than a disturbance, but sometimes it can be useful. Researchers have discovered that noise could bring order to chaotic systems, protect and maintain entire marine ecosystems, and even make the chemical industry greener. This research is reported today in a special Einstein Year issue of the New Journal of Physics (www.njp.org) published jointly by the Institute of Physics and the German Physical Society (Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft).
Changso
100 years after Einstein’s landmark work on Brownian motion, physicists have discovered a new concept of temperature that could be the key to explaining how ice and snow particles flow during an avalanche, and could also lead to a better way of handling tablets in the pharmaceutical industry. This research is reported today in a special Einstein Year issue of the New Journal of Physics (www.njp.org) published jointly by the Institute of Physics and the German Physical Society (Deutsche Physikal
Cherie Booth QC today opened a world-leading facility at CCLRC Daresbury Laboratory which is designed to understand how genes make proteins. The £3 million facility will use powerful X-rays from Daresbury Laboratory’s Synchrotron Radiation Source and advanced automation techniques to solve complex protein structures. This will underpin advances in research and healthcare.
The facility, a new beamline on Daresbury Laboratory’s Synchrotron Radiation Source (SRS), is a collaboration between
University of Glasgow scientists have discovered how mitochondria – the energy factories in our cells – can sustain a cancer, reporting their findings in a new study published in Cancer Cell.
Mitochondria are complex structures that exist in cells to generate energy for growth and activity. The Cancer Research UK researchers based at the University of Glasgow’s Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow have found out how the excessive build-up of a simple metabolic mole
A team at the University of Sheffield has received a share of $3.6m from the Michael J. Fox Foundation to research potential causes and treatments for Parkinson’s Disease.
Dr. Oliver Bandmann, of the University’s Department of Academic Neurology, and Professor Philip Ingham FRS, of the Centre for Developmental and Biomedical Genetics at the University of Sheffield, are the only team in England to receive an awarded from the Foundation. They have been given £105,000 to investigat
It takes seismic force to make the ground give up its secrets. Through the years, those searching for oil and gas have used varied methods to send sound energy into the ground and to record the waves reflected by the geological features beneath the surface.
Modern methods include large vibrator trucks and many thousands of surface sensors called geophones, all precisely located to obtain the most useful information with which to explore for hydrocarbons. Today, seismic surveys pl
Research offers new opportunities in the fields of renewable energy, pollution control and in the chemical industry.
On January 28th 2005 Science features a paper by researchers from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and Haldor Topsøe A/S. The paper demonstrates that by applying the quantum theory you can calculate the performance of catalysts to be used in everything from cars to the future production of hydrogen.
So far the development of new catalysts have been b
Herstatin blocks signaling inside cells that leads to deadly glioblastoma growth
A protein developed by scientists at Oregon Health & Science University blocks the growth of glioblastoma, an aggressive and deadly brain tumor, in laboratory rats, a new study shows. Herstatin inhibits the activation of a family of enzymes responsible for signaling inside tumor cells that tells the cells to proliferate and display other malignant properties, said Gail Clinton, Ph.D., professor of bio
Swimming endurance improvement comes from equivalent of four cups of tea a day over 10 weeks
Now that even baseball players may need to seek new, more natural performance aids, will Japanese green tea sets become standard in dugouts and athletic training tables around the world? A new study tested the effect of regularly taking green tea extract (GTE) and found that over 10 weeks, endurance exercise performance was boosted up to 24% with 0.5% GTE supplementation, and 8% with 0.
Taking steroids is a definite no-no for human athletes, but treating plants with steroids could offer performance enhancement of a more desirable nature by boosting the biomass and seed yields of crops. Unfortunately, plant steroids are complex, expensive chemicals, and the biological mechanisms by which they alter plant growth and development have remained largely a mystery.
Now, however, two research articles by Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Joanne Chory and her c
Feedback
