Post List

  • May 24, 2013
  • 05:26 AM
  • 3 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
  • 2 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 »

  • May 24, 2013
  • 12:04 AM
  • 2 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 »

  • May 23, 2013
  • 07:15 PM
  • 10 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
  • 7 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 »

  • May 23, 2013
  • 04:24 PM
  • 17 views

All lobsters are mortal

by Zen Faulkes in NeuroDojo

This appeared earlier today on the Facebook feed I Fucking Love Science:




Argh!

I remember seeing a shark documentary as a kid, hosted by Burgess Meredith, if I remember correctly. It made the same basic claim about great white sharks: too big to have predators, nobody had ever seen them die except by accident or by human hands, blah blah blah, therefore “some have suggested” they are immortal.

That I can remember the end of the show all these years later shows you what a terrific close........ Read more »

Klapper Wolfram, Kühne Karen, Singh Kumud K, Heidorn Klaus, Parwaresch Reza, & Krupp Guido. (1998) Longevity of lobsters is linked to ubiquitous telomerase expression. FEBS Letters, 439(1-2), 143-146. DOI: 10.1016/S0014-5793(98)01357-X  

  • May 23, 2013
  • 03:37 PM
  • 13 views

Researchers Turn a Smartphone into a Biosensor

by Jason Carr in Wired Cosmos

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers have developed a cradle and app for the iPhone that uses the phone’s built-in camera and processing power as a biosensor to detect toxins, proteins, bacteria, viruses and other molecules. Having such sensitive biosensing capabilities in the field could enable on-the-spot tracking of groundwater contamination, combine the phone’s GPS … Read More →... Read more »

Gallegos, D., Long, K., Yu, H., Clark, P., Lin, Y., George, S., Nath, P., & Cunningham, B. (2013) Label-free biodetection using a smartphone. Lab on a Chip, 13(11), 2124. DOI: 10.1039/C3LC40991K  

  • May 23, 2013
  • 01:01 PM
  • 16 views

Bach to the blues, our emotions match music to colors

by Perikis Livas in Tracing Knowledge

Whether we’re listening to Bach or the blues, our brains are wired to make music-color connections depending on how the melodies make us feel, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley. For instance, Mozart’s jaunty Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major is more apt to be associated with bright yellow and orange, whereas his dour Requiem in D minor is more likely to be linked to dark, bluish gray.... Read more »

Yasmin Anwar. (2013) Bach to the blues, our emotions match music to colors. UC Berkeley News Center. info:/

  • May 23, 2013
  • 01:00 PM
  • 8 views

Microbial Misadventures: Exploits in Botulism & Pruno In Our Prison Population

by Rebecca Kreston in BODY HORRORS

Drinking pruno is a risky endeavor, both in terms of its offense to culinary sensibilities and to one's health. However, turned stomachs are not the only hazard here; you may add a desire to avoid botulism to your list of reasons to shy away from you'r mates latest batch of prison hooch. The soil-dwelling bacterium Clostridium botulinum can contaminate fruits and veggies, and, in warm, oxygen-deprived conditions, produces the neuroparalytic toxin botulinum. Even more wholesome DIY ende........ Read more »

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2013) Notes from the field: botulism from drinking prison-made illicit alcohol - Arizona, 2012. MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 62(5), 88. PMID: 23388552  

  • May 23, 2013
  • 12:44 PM
  • 7 views

If you chew that mRNA, you must make a new one!

by Gal Haimovich in Green Fluorescent Blog

Gene expression is very complex.  My paper, which was published in Cell today, just shows that it is more complicated than previously realized. Traditionally, eukaryotic gene expression is divided into five steps: Transcription (mRNA synthesis): this step is subdivided into … Continue reading →... Read more »

Haimovich, G., Medina, D., Causse, S., Garber, M., Millán-Zambrano, G., Barkai, O., Chávez, S., Pérez-Ortín, J., Darzacq, X., & Choder, M. (2013) Gene Expression Is Circular: Factors for mRNA Degradation Also Foster mRNA Synthesis. Cell, 153(5), 1000-1011. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.05.012  

  • May 23, 2013
  • 12:00 PM
  • 9 views

Very beautiful findings related to Down syndrome

by Usman Paracha in SayPeople

Main Point:

Researchers, in 2011, reported that the parents, siblings and even the people with Down syndrome reported positive experiences about their life and relations.

Published in:

American Journal of Medical Genetics

Study Further:

Down syndrome refers to the condition in which the extra genetic material in the body causes the slow development of the child, mentally and physically. It affects 1 in every 800 babies born in United States.

Researchers, in three different stud........ Read more »

Skotko, B., Levine, S., & Goldstein, R. (2011) Having a son or daughter with Down syndrome: Perspectives from mothers and fathers. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A, 155(10), 2335-2347. DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.a.34293  

Skotko, B., Levine, S., & Goldstein, R. (2011) Having a brother or sister with Down syndrome: Perspectives from siblings. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A, 155(10), 2348-2359. DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.a.34228  

Skotko, B., Levine, S., & Goldstein, R. (2011) Self-perceptions from people with Down syndrome. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A, 155(10), 2360-2369. DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.a.34235  

  • May 23, 2013
  • 11:58 AM
  • 11 views

New Method for Clean and Safe Hydrogen Production Proposed

by dailyfusion in The Daily Fusion

Duke University engineers have developed a new safer method for catalytic hydrogen production. According to the authors of the study, it does not require high temperatures and produces smaller amounts of toxic chemicals than other industrial hydrogen production technologies.... Read more »

  • May 23, 2013
  • 09:21 AM
  • 16 views

Should you worry about vitamin D deficiency? Maybe. Or maybe not.

by EE Giorgi in CHIMERAS

Since my last blog post, where I shared my thoughts on BRCA1, BRCA2, and preventive mastectomies, I've been asked what else can a woman do to reduce her risk of breast cancer. I've heard a big deal about vitamin D, so I did a bit of research on the matter. As a disclaimer, I should tell you up front that, though many correlations between vitamin D deficiency and cancer risk have been found, just as many have been refuted or found inconclusive. You can read more about it on the wikipedia page.Wha........ Read more »

  • May 23, 2013
  • 09:14 AM
  • 23 views

New Reliable Blood Test Can Detect Depression

by Pieter Carriere in United Academics

Depression or Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) has multiple genetic and environmental causes. Genetic factors are hard to find and the discovered factors usually are also associated with other mood disorders. Furthermore, twin studies reveal that genetics can predict 37% of the depressions, which is a much lower heritability than in bipolar disorder, a comparable mood disorder (reviewed in Belmaker et al., 2008). ... Read more »

  • May 23, 2013
  • 08:28 AM
  • 10 views

It’s great to be a woman scientist; it’s challenging to be a woman scientist

by Stephanie Swift in mmmbitesizescience

I recently volunteered to help organise an event run by the Canadian Science Policy Centre that looked at the status of women in science and technology. To be frank, I was mightily fearful about participating in such an event. I … Continue reading →... Read more »

Wenneras C, & Wold A. (1997) Nepotism and sexism in peer-review. Nature, 387(6631), 341-3. PMID: 9163412  

  • May 23, 2013
  • 08:24 AM
  • 13 views

Fragile mega-galaxy is missing link in history of cosmos

by Perikis Livas in Tracing Knowledge

Two hungry young galaxies that collided 11 billion years ago are rapidly forming a massive galaxy about 10 times the size of the Milky Way, according to UC Irvine-led research published Wednesday in the journal Nature.... Read more »

UC Irvine Media Realease. (2013) Fragile mega-galaxy is missing link in history of cosmos. UC Irvine. info:/

  • May 23, 2013
  • 07:34 AM
  • 15 views

Smelling Lemons Might Better Treat Autism

by Andrew Porterfield in United Academics

classical music and intense sensory exercises produced improvements in autism symptoms in children after just six months, scientists have found.... Read more »

  • May 23, 2013
  • 04:37 AM
  • 33 views

The mindbus technique for resisting chocolate - should we climb aboard?

by Christian Jarrett in BPS Research Digest



Imagine you are the driver & your chocolate cravings are unruly passengers

If someone gave you a bag of 14 chocolates to carry around for five days, would you be able to resist eating them and any other chocolate? That was challenge faced by 135 undergrads in a new study that compared the effectiveness of two different "mindfulness" resistance techniques.

To help them, Kim Jenkins and Katy Tapper taught 45 of their participants "cognitive diffusion", the essence being that "you are not y........ Read more »

  • May 23, 2013
  • 04:33 AM
  • 17 views

Big data for autism and the promise of newborn bloodspots

by Paul Whiteley in Questioning Answers

An episode of the BBC program Horizon on 'Big Data' recently caught my attention. The content was a fascinating insight into how we are living in a data-rich age and how trawling/mining/dredging such data has the ability to advance medicine, predict crime and even make someone a few quid/dollars/euros on the stock market.Gone (data) fishing @ Wikipedia  I'm a big believer in big data. In particular how, with the right sources, technology, techniques and people, big data might be able t........ Read more »

Mizejewski GJ, Lindau-Shepard B, & Pass KA. (2013) Newborn screening for autism: in search of candidate biomarkers. Biomarkers in medicine, 7(2), 247-60. PMID: 23547820  

  • May 23, 2013
  • 02:00 AM
  • 11 views

Quasi-delusions and inequality aversion

by Artem Kaznatcheev in Evolutionary Games Group

Patient M: It’s impossible —- no one could urinate into that bottle -— at least no woman could. I’m furious with her [these are the patient's emphases] and I’m damned if I am going to do it unless she gives me another kind of bottle. It’s just impossible to use that little thing. Analyst: It […]... Read more »

Fehr, E., & Schmidt, K. (1999) A Theory of Fairness, Competition, and Cooperation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114(3), 817-868. DOI: 10.1162/003355399556151  

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