- July 14, 2009
- 03:42 PM
- 949 views
Maps and streams in auditory cortex: the Rauschecker & Scott perspective
by Greg Hickok in Talking Brains
A recent Nature Neuroscience review paper by Josef Rauschecker and Sophie Scott is worth a look. On my reading, the paper is an attempt to reconcile or integrate Rauschecker's Dual Stream model, a 'what'/'where' model, with the version of a Dual Stream model that we (Hickok & Poeppel, 2000, 2004, 2007) and others (e.g., Richard Wise, Sophie Scott, et al. 2001) have been promoting, namely a 'what'/sensory-motor model. There's lots of good information and ideas in the paper (many of them previou........ Read more »
Rauschecker, J., & Scott, S. (2009) Maps and streams in the auditory cortex: nonhuman primates illuminate human speech processing. Nature Neuroscience, 12(6), 718-724. DOI: 10.1038/nn.2331
- July 14, 2009
- 02:55 PM
- 874 views
Concepts, Cognition, and Anthropomorphism
by AK in AK's Rambling Thoughts
Ever since Plato, western philosophers have looked at words, and the objects they represent, as a sort of fixed ideal: the word "couch", for instance, represents an object, or rather one of a class of objects. Lately, in the last few centuries, scientists and/or philosophers have recognized that the same word might represent different, but widely overlapping, classes under different circumstances (contexts), a fact that often leads to confusion, sometimes deliberate. All of t........ Read more »
Caggiano, V., Fogassi, L., Rizzolatti, G., Thier, P., & Casile, A. (2009) Mirror Neurons Differentially Encode the Peripersonal and Extrapersonal Space of Monkeys. Science, 324(5925), 403-406. DOI: 10.1126/science.1166818
- July 14, 2009
- 02:13 PM
- 889 views
Keep Your Woman Happy In Your Relationship, Sex Her Up Frequently
by Tye in Uncommon Dissent
Yes another sex article (what can I say other than they’re fascinating and entertaining to read at the same time) but maybe not as risque as vibrator use. PhD student Rui Miguel Costa and Professor Stuart Brody surveyed 30 Portuguese women (mean age 25.8, SD 5.33) to find out whether frequency of different sexual behaviors [...]... Read more »
Costa, R., & Brody, S. (2007) Women's Relationship Quality is Associated with Specifically Penile-Vaginal Intercourse Orgasm and Frequency. Journal of Sex , 33(4), 319-327. DOI: 10.1080/00926230701385548
- July 14, 2009
- 01:48 PM
- 1,659 views
On Apoptosis in Development
by Toaster Sunshine in Mad Scientist, Junior
Apoptosis means doom for an individual cell. As such we tend to automatically assume that apoptosis is a Bad Thing, but in reality apoptosis often is quite necessary for normal physiological function at the organism level. In order for our bodies to maintain the homeostasis that defines so many of our cellular processes, we have to sacrifice some cells. As it turns out, we actually wind up sacrificing enormous numbers of cells every day. Worn out red blood cells, dangerously self-reactive ly........ Read more »
ORIORDAN, M., BAULER, L., SCOTT, F., & DUCKETT, C. (2008) Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins in Eukaryotic Evolution and Development: A Model of Thematic Conservation. Developmental Cell, 15(4), 497-508. DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2008.09.012
- July 14, 2009
- 09:00 AM
- 946 views
Preventing and Treating Macular Degeneration: Is TOZAL the Answer?
by Scott in Science-Based Pharmacy
Nobody wants to lose their vision. Once you hit age 65, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of vision impairment/loss, affecting about 1 in 5 people. [1] [2] There is some evidence that vitamin supplements can help protect your eyes. But can a new supplement actually improve your vision? If you have [...]... Read more »
Cangemi, F. (2007) TOZAL Study: An open case control study of an oral antioxidant and omega-3 supplement for dry AMD. BMC Ophthalmology, 7(1), 3. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2415-7-3
Evans, J. (2008) Antioxidant supplements to prevent or slow down the progression of AMD: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eye, 22(6), 751-760. DOI: 10.1038/eye.2008.100
- July 14, 2009
- 07:00 AM
- 687 views
Estimating multiple temporal mechanisms in human vision
by Brandon Goodell in Bored Lunatic
Remember my posts on black-box modeling versus mechanistic modeling? This paper here is a perfect example of top-notch black-box modeling... but also a perfect example of how this approach can be profoundly useless.Fredericksen and Hess make a hypothesis about how the human brain accomplishes certain temporal-judgement tasks in a qualitative, nonspecific way. The hypothesis is that a finite set of temporal filters are used by the brain to determine whether an underlying signal is present in whi........ Read more »
Fredericksen, R. (1998) Estimating multiple temporal mechanisms in human vision. Vision Research, 38(7), 1023-1040. DOI: 10.1016/S0042-6989(97)00239-3
- July 14, 2009
- 02:44 AM
- 1,731 views
Migratory Butterfly Research in Europe
by bug_girl in Bug Girl's Blog
I’m still super busy, so how about you visit LabLit and read about the amazing migration of the Painted Lady Butterfly. The article is written by a researcher that is putting the butterflies into a flight simulator (!) to determine how they orient. In other words, how do they know in which direction to fly?
The [...]... Read more »
Stefanescu C, Alarcón M, Avila A. (2007) Migration of the painted lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui, to north-eastern Spain is aided by African wind currents. J. Animal Ecology, 76(5), 888-898. DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17714267
- July 13, 2009
- 09:31 PM
- 726 views
Stars, Planets, and Metal
by Jon Voisey in Angry Astronomer
One of the characteristics of most stars with planets is that they tend to be towards the higher end of metallicity (they have more heavy elements). This should make sense since planets are thought to have rocky cores and you can't have a rocky core without heavy elements.So what happens when a study of low mass stars in the nearby galaxy shows that all the M class stars are metal poor?Obviously something is seriously wrong. There's two ways this could be taken: Either the study is wrong, or our........ Read more »
Bonfils, X., Delfosse, X., Udry, S., Santos, N., Forveille, T., & Ségransan, D. (2005) Metallicity of M dwarfs. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 442(2), 635-642. DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20053046
Johnson, J., & Apps, K. (2009) ON THE METAL RICHNESS OF M DWARFS WITH PLANETS. The Astrophysical Journal, 699(2), 933-937. DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/699/2/933
- July 13, 2009
- 08:51 PM
- 1,222 views
100 Million Year Old Giant Sperm
by Dr. M in Deep Sea News
Barnacles may have big penises but ostracodes of the superfamily Cypridoidea have giant sperm. Ostracode range are mostly near a millimeter but sperm range from several hundred micrometers to several millimeters. Yes on average, ostracode sperm is longer than an ostracode. On study suggest that these sperm insert two giant paternal mitochondrial [...]... Read more »
Matzke-Karasz, R. (2005) Giant spermatozoon coiled in small egg: Fertilization mechanisms and their implications for evolutionary studies on ostracoda (crustacea). Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution, 304B(2), 129-149. DOI: 10.1002/jez.b.21031
Matzke-Karasz, R., Smith, R., Symonova, R., Miller, C., & Tafforeau, P. (2009) Sexual Intercourse Involving Giant Sperm in Cretaceous Ostracode. Science, 324(5934), 1535-1535. DOI: 10.1126/science.1173898
- July 13, 2009
- 07:45 PM
- 1,564 views
Hippos and Pezosiren: Walking Under the Water
Hippopotamus amphibius, photographed at the Philadelphia Zoo.
Have you ever tried to walk along the bottom of a pool while fully submerged? It isn't easy. Keeping your feet on the bottom is enough of a task, and you would probably need a weight belt to take an underwater stroll. Hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius), though, walk and even prance along the bottom of lakes and rivers with ease. How do they do it?
When compared to a whale or even a manatee (the latter of which I will address a bit lat........ Read more »
Coughlin, B., & Fish, F. (2009) Hippopotamus Underwater Locomotion: Reduced-Gravity Movements for a Massive Mammal. Journal of Mammalogy, 90(3), 675-679. DOI: 10.1644/08-MAMM-A-279R.1
Domning, D. (2001) The earliest known fully quadrupedal sirenian. Nature, 413(6856), 625-627. DOI: 10.1038/35098072
- July 13, 2009
- 07:45 PM
- 881 views
Lipase-Catalyzed Synthesis of a "Green" Surfactant
by Steve W in Bridgehead Carbons
Surfactants are molecules that lower the surface tension in water. They behave this way because of their dual nature: a long, hydrophobic carbon tail attached to an ionic end, typically an acid or ammonium group. Surfactants are used in a variety of industrial applications including detergents and wetting agents. A number of widely used surfactants are problematic in that they are non-biodegradable and toxic. PFOA and PFOS are perfluorinated compounds (all hydrogens replaced with fluorines) â........ Read more »
Kidwai, M., Poddar, R., & Mothsra, P. (2009) N-acylation of ethanolamine using lipase: a chemoselective catalyst. Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry. DOI: 10.3762/bjoc.5.10
- July 13, 2009
- 07:18 PM
- 2,247 views
it only looks irrational…
by Greg Fish in weird things
Humans have a very strange ability to understand how irrational we are and yet build complex systems which demand that everyone involved is perfectly rational. In his appearance on the Daily Show, writer Justin Fox hit that nail on the head when talking about the current ideas underlying the modern stock market. Rather than try [...]... Read more »
Yamagishi, T., Horita, Y., Takagishi, H., Shinada, M., Tanida, S., & Cook, K. (2009) The private rejection of unfair offers and emotional commitment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0900636106
- July 13, 2009
- 04:53 PM
- 757 views
The Earliest Eumetazoan Progression
by AK in AK's Rambling Thoughts
I have commented several times on the early evolution of the animals, especially in regard to their ability to handle information. Here I want to look at the progression from a plausible common ancestor of the latest-branching clade of sponges and the Eumetazoans to the point of a plausible last common ancestor of the Ctenophores, the Cnidarians, and the Bilaterians. Symmetry and DevelopmentSince, in my view, all (or most) of the animals in the sequence we're looking at had biradial........ Read more »
RICHARDS, G., SIMIONATO, E., PERRON, M., ADAMSKA, M., VERVOORT, M., & DEGNAN, B. (2008) Sponge Genes Provide New Insight into the Evolutionary Origin of the Neurogenic Circuit. Current Biology, 18(15), 1156-1161. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2008.06.074
- July 13, 2009
- 04:23 PM
- 1,055 views
Swearing can reduce your pain
by Jacob Aron in Just A Theory
You grip the nail tightly in one hand, a hammer ready to swing in the other. Lift it up – and bam! You’ve just hit own thumb and are now turning the air blue. Swearing is a common reaction to pain, and a new study published in the journal NeuroReport suggests it can actually help [...]... Read more »
Stephens, R., Atkins, J., & Kingston, A. (2009) Swearing as a response to pain. NeuroReport, 20(12), 1056-1060. DOI: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e32832e64b1
- July 13, 2009
- 03:19 PM
- 876 views
The first motor-sensory system?
by Björn Brembs in bjoern.brembs.blog
On the first day of last year's Gatsby workshop on "smaller cognitive systems", Gasper Jekely told us about their remarkable work on how the larvae of a marine polychaete worm (Platynereis dumerilii) perform phototaxis. Gaspar introduced his work by saying that these larvae may be very similar to the common ancestor of all bilaterally symmetric animals (Bilaterians), the Urbilaterian. The Urbilaterian being the last common ancestor of vertebrates and invertebrates, this would mean (and I have n........ Read more »
Jékely, G., Colombelli, J., Hausen, H., Guy, K., Stelzer, E., Nédélec, F., & Arendt, D. (2008) Mechanism of phototaxis in marine zooplankton. Nature, 456(7220), 395-399. DOI: 10.1038/nature07590
- July 13, 2009
- 02:30 PM
- 1,383 views
Science Foo Camp 2009: Scifoo Day Two
by Duncan Hull in O'Really?
The fourth International Science Foo Camp (scifoo) 2009 has just concluded. Here are some very brief and incomplete notes and links from some of the sessions on the second day (Saturday), see the scholarly kitchen for a report on the first day. With seven parallel sessions, most people at this event miss most (six sevenths) [...]... Read more »
Kell, D., & Oliver, S. (2004) Here is the evidence, now what is the hypothesis? The complementary roles of inductive and hypothesis-driven science in the post-genomic era. BioEssays, 26(1), 99-105. DOI: 10.1002/bies.10385
- July 13, 2009
- 02:14 PM
- 2,254 views
The workings of a cellular water pore, and something about obesity
by Iddo Friedberg in Byte Size Biology
Maintaining a water balance is essential to life. Cells must regulate their water content carefully and within a very narrow margin. Too much water intake, and the cell bursts like a water balloon; too much water outflow, and it shrivels like a raisin.
The cell itself is contained in a waterproof membrane. But there are gateways [...]... Read more »
Fischer, G., Kosinska-Eriksson, U., Aponte-SantamarÃa, C., Palmgren, M., Geijer, C., Hedfalk, K., Hohmann, S., de Groot, B., Neutze, R., & Lindkvist-Petersson, K. (2009) Crystal Structure of a Yeast Aquaporin at 1.15 Ã… Reveals a Novel Gating Mechanism. PLoS Biology, 7(6). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000130
Tajkhorshid, E. (2002) Control of the Selectivity of the Aquaporin Water Channel Family by Global Orientational Tuning. Science, 296(5567), 525-530. DOI: 10.1126/science.1067778
Frühbeck, G. (2005) Obesity: Aquaporin enters the picture. Nature, 438(7067), 436-437. DOI: 10.1038/438436b
- July 13, 2009
- 02:02 PM
- 1,146 views
Swearing increases pain tolerance
by Mo in Neurophilosophy
SWEARING OCCURS IN most cultures - people swear to let off steam, or to shock or insult others. It is also a common response to a painful experience. We've all done it: after stubbing our toe, or hitting our thumb with a hammer, we draw a sharp breath and mutter a swear word. Until now, though, whether swearing actually alters our perception of pain had not been investigated. But according to a new study due to be published next month in the journal NeuroReport, swearing increases pain tolerance........ Read more »
Stephens, R., Atkins, J., & Kingston, A. (2009) Swearing as a response to pain. NeuroReport, 20(12), 1056-1060. DOI: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e32832e64b1
- July 13, 2009
- 01:00 PM
- 1,425 views
Artificial Weight Loss Hormones
by David Bradley in SciScoop Science Forum
A chemical that works like a multitasking hormone in mice not only controls glucose processing in the body but could reduce body weight, according to a report published today in Nature Chemical Biology. The study may ultimately have an effect on treating obesity and diabetes.
Glucagon and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) are natural hormones that regulate glucose [...]... Read more »
Jonathan W Day, Nickki Ottaway, James T Patterson, Vasily Gelfanov, David Smiley, Jas Gidda, Hannes Findeisen, Dennis Bruemmer, Daniel J Drucker, Nilika Chaudhary, Jenna Holland, Jazzminn Hembree, William Abplanalp, Erin Grant , Jennifer Ruehl , Hilary Wi. (2009) A new glucagon and GLP-1 co-agonist eliminates obesity in rodents. Nature Chemical Biology.
- July 13, 2009
- 11:25 AM
- 946 views
Power-Pops - Lollipops that cause weight loss?
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
Can you imagine...
A lollipop with the amazing Power to Suppress the appetite and give you a burst of energy. What could be more simple?"
So begins a brochure promoting Power-Pops, a lollipop which claims to reduce appetite, increase energy, and help you lose weight. Power-Pops have received a fair amount of media coverage in the USA, including the following video from the television program Extra (email readers can view the video on our main page by clicking here).
I've got to ........ Read more »
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