News Articles

In 1956, prize-winning puppeteer Shari Lewis appeared on the Captain Kangaroo children's show and debuted a new...well, it was basically a sock with eyes.(1) She called it Lamb Chop, though, and her ventriloquism was a big hit with kids.Imagine what she would think if she knew Lamb Chop toys were a big hit with dogs.It's a science mystery why, but dogs love them. Dogs who like to cuddle are obsessed with it, as are dogs who want to destroy things. They like the squeaks, the softs, and perhaps that it almost resembles an animal. Dogs get obsessive-compulsive a lot, according to a new paper.

Conventional genetic analysis methods for genotyping of brain tumors usually require one or two days to obtain results but a new method can determine optimal resection margins during surgery in just a few minutes.The ability to accurately detect genetic mutations in a brain tumor was demonstrated with isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) and telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoters, which are markers for diagnosis of diffuse glioma—the most common type of brain tumor. Their system uses a
Polymerase Chain Reaction device in combination with their own protocol and it enables DNA extraction using only heat incubation. 

A recent study found the first evidence that sperm microRNAs act as carriers of epigenetic information, enabling the intergenerational transmission of paternal exercise capacity and metabolic health, thereby exerting profound effects on offspring development.The bad news if you want an excuse for your poor fitness is this is epigenetics and only in mice, which means it is only EXPLORATORY. Mice are not little people and epigenetics lacks the same biological foundation as actual evolution and genetics.

A new cross-sectional analysis estimates that asthma inhalers contribute the same carbon emissions as 530,000 cars each year. That's over over 2 million metric tons of greenhouse gases annually from the three types of inhalers approved for asthma or COPD during the years 2014 to 2024. 

Three years into war with Russia and martial law, public services continue to operate and citizens continue to have confidence in them. A new analysis of survey results in Government information Quarterly says trust in public figures and a sense of cooperation are key factors.

New survey results find that sociocultural factors may be involved in how likely someone is to report moderate to severe depression symptoms and get a prenatal depression diagnosis.

FDA-approved flu treatments target viral enzymes of influenza but the virus mutates, which is why there is a new vaccine each year. Recent work showed that a cocktail of antibodies offered protection mice from nearly every strain of influenza. Even avian and swine flu. Their cocktail did not allow viral escape, even after a month of repeated exposure.

People in the northeast of the United States think they have greater "wellness" than everywhere else except California. People in the southern United States think they have more wellness than everywhere else.Which is right? They both are. Wellness may be in social media ad campaigns and have diets and apps and fads under the umbrella, but it's entirely subjective. The northeast believe they have greater wealth and social standing, which they consider traditional wellness. The south sense of purpose and community identity, which is existential wellness.

If you have spent any time on social media, you have a different kind of bystander effect in action. Psychologists say if many people are around, the bystander effect is why everyone is less likely to help. They believe someone else will be more competent or know something you don't. If you walk by a person laying unconscious in New York City, based on experience they did not have a heart attack and are in peril. They are on drugs or alcohol.

Colors trigger unique brain responses, the subjective nature of our brains and eyes, not to mention different media, is why a famous blue dress experiment took countries by storm.To try and help determine how different people have the same brain responses to colors, researchers measured color-induced brain responses from one set of participants. Next, they predicted what colors other participants were observing by comparing each individual’s visual cortex brain activity to color-induced responses of the first set of observers. 

One key hallmark of being human is walking on two legs. It was a seismic shift seen in no other primates. Like much of evolution, it happened in fits and starts. The 4.4 million year-old Ardipithecus of Ethiopia was a tree climber with a grasping toe that would walk upright 3.2 million year old Lucy had a pelvis brought upright walking closer, with flaring hip blades for bipedal muscles.Some of that legacy remains in our closest relatives, the African apee, e.g. chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas, have upper hipbones (ilia) that are tall, narrow, and oriented flat front to back which anchor large muscles for climbing.

Some sixty million years ago a fountain of hot rock that rises from Earth’s core-mantle boundary unleashed volcanic activity across a vast area of the North Atlantic, from Scotland to Greenland. We can detect the effects in spectacular basalt columns of the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland.But why Iceland’s fiery mantle plume had such a dramatic impact has been the subject of debate.