Tag Archives: Current Biology

Science & Technology

Chimpanzees and orangutans remember distant past events (w/ Video)

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We humans can remember events in our lives that happened years ago, with those memories often surfacing unexpectedly in response to sensory triggers: perhaps a unique flavor or scent. Now, researchers reporting in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, on July 18 have evidence to suggest that chimpanzees and orangutans have similar capacities. In laboratory tests, both primate species were clearly able to recollect a tool-finding event that they had experienced just four times three years earlier and a singular event from two weeks before, the researchers show. …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org

Science & Technology

European fish stocks poised for recovery

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The results of a major international effort to assess the status of dozens of European fish stocks find that many of those stocks in the northeast Atlantic are being fished sustainably today and that, given time, those populations should continue to recover. The findings, reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on July 18, come as surprisingly good news amid widespread criticism that the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy is failing, the researchers say. …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org

Articles of Interest

Babies Calm Down When Carried [STUDY]

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By The Huffington Post News Editors

By: Cari Nierenberg, MyHealthNewsDaily Contributor
Published: 04/18/2013 12:45 PM EDT on MyHealthNewsDaily

A new study from Japan confirms what many mothers may know instinctively: Picking up and carrying a fussy baby usually calms down and relaxes the child, making the move a good one for both moms and infants.

When mothers in the study carried their babies while walking around, the infants became noticeably more relaxed and stopped crying and squirming. The babies’ rapidly beating hearts also slowed down, evidence that the children were feeling calmer.

“Infants become calm and relaxed when they are carried by their mother,” said study researcher Dr. Kumi Kuroda, who investigates social behavior at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Saitama, Japan. The study observed strikingly similar responses in mouse babies.

Since carrying (meaning holding while walking) can help stop an infant from crying, Kuroda said, it can offer mothers a way to soothe short-term irritations to their children, such as scary noises or vaccinations.

The findings were published online today (April 18) in the journal Current Biology.

A strong calming effect

For the small study, researchers monitored the responses of 12 healthy infants ages 1 month to 6 months. The scientists wanted to discover the most effective way for mothers to calm a crying baby over a 30-second period — simply holding the baby or carrying the infant while walking.

Young babies carried by a walking mother were the most relaxed and soothed, compared with infants whose mothers sat in a chair and held them, the study found. As a mother stood up and started to walk with her child cradled close in her arms, scientists observed an automatic change in the baby’s behavior.

These results held even after the researchers took into account other factors, such as the child’s age and sex, and the mother’s age and walking speed.

Kuroda said she was surprised by the strength of the calming effect from maternal holding and walking. In observing experiments on both humans and mice, she was amazed at how quickly the heart rate slowed, and by how much immediately after a mother started walking. (Mother mice pick up their young by the scruff of their neck with their mouths.)

According to the researchers, maternal walking may be more effective in calming infants than other kinds of rhythmic motion, such as rocking.

Advice for parents

When an underlying reason for crying persists, such as hunger or sustained pain, the infant may start crying again soon after the end of carrying.

That’s why Kuroda recommended that when a baby starts crying, a brief period of carrying may help parents to identify the cause of the tears. She acknowledged carrying might not completely stop the crying, but it may prevent parents from becoming frustrated by a crying infant.

The findings also have implications for one parenting technique in which parents let babies cry as a way to help

From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/21/babies-calm-down-when-carried_n_3128115.html

Science & Technology

A surprising new function for small RNAs in evolution

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An international research team in including Christian Schlötterer and Alistair McGregor of the Vetmeduni Vienna has discovered a completely new mechanism by which evolution can change the appearance of an organism. The researchers found that the number of hairs on flies’ legs varies according to the level of activity of a so-called microRNA. The results, published in the journal Current Biology, shed a completely new light on the molecular mechanisms of evolution.

From: http://phys.org/news285581336.html

Science & Technology

Learned helplessness in flies and the roots of depression

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When faced with impossible circumstances beyond their control, animals, including humans, often hunker down as they develop sleep or eating disorders, ulcers, and other physical manifestations of depression. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on April 18 show that the same kind of thing happens to flies.

From: http://phys.org/news285508027.html

Science & Technology

How some leaves got fat: It's the veins

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A “garden variety” leaf is a broad, flat structure, but if the garden happens to be somewhere arid, it probably includes succulent plants with plump leaves full of precious water. Fat leaves did not emerge in the plant world easily. A new Brown University study published in Current Biology reports that to sustain efficient photosynthesis, they required the evolution of a fundamental remodeling of leaf vein structure: the addition of a third dimension.

From: http://phys.org/news284897797.html

Science & Technology

Rare primate's vocal lip-smacks share features of human speech

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The vocal lip-smacks that geladas use in friendly encounters have surprising similarities to human speech, according to a study reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on April 8th. The geladas, which live only in the remote mountains of Ethiopia, are the only nonhuman primate known to communicate with such a speech-like, undulating rhythm. Calls of other monkeys and apes are typically one or two syllables and lack those rapid fluctuations in pitch and volume. …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org

Science & Technology

Sustainable fishing practices produce local rewards

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Communities that act locally to limit their fish catches will reap the rewards of their action, as will their neighbors. That’s the conclusion of a study reported on March 28 in the Cell Press journal Current Biology of the highly sought-after fish known as squaretail coral grouper living in five community-owned reef systems in Papua New Guinea. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org

Science & Technology

Opposites attract: How cells and cell fragments move in electric fields (w/ video)

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Like tiny crawling compass needles, whole living cells and cell fragments orient and move in response to electric fields—but in opposite directions, scientists at the University of California, Davis, have found. Their results, published April 8 in the journal Current Biology, could ultimately lead to new ways to heal wounds and deliver stem cell therapies. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org

History

Ancient DNA challenges theory early migration

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By hnn

Recent measurements of the rate at which children show DNA changes not seen in their parents — the “mutation rate” — have challenged views about major dates in human evolution.

In particular these measurements have made geneticists think again about key dates in human evolution, like when modern non-Africans split from modern Africans. The recent measurements push back the best estimates of these dates by up to a factor of two. Now, however an international team led by researchers at the University of Tübingen and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, present results that point again to the more recent dates. The new study is published in Current Biology.

The team, led by Johannes Krause from Tübingen University, was able to reconstruct more than ten mitochondrial genomes (mtDNAs) from modern humans from Eurasia that span 40,000 years of prehistory. The samples include some of the oldest modern human fossils from Europe such as the triple burial from Dolni Vestonice in the Czech Republic, as well as the oldest modern human skeletons found in Germany from the site of Oberkassel close to Bonn….

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at History News Network – George Mason University

Automobiles

Study: Have swallows evolved shorter wingspans to avoid cars?

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By Seyth Miersma

Cliff swallow bird

Filed under:

A new study by biologists at the University of Tulsa and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln presents evidence to suggest that cliff swallows in southwestern Nebraska may be suffering fewer incidence of collision with cars, thanks to shorter wings.

According to Current Biology, researchers Charles Brown and Mary Bomberger Brown have been paying close attention to the swallow population in this particular section of Nebraska. They’ve found that the birds measured now have shorter wings than did the birds that were first studied back in 1982. What’s more, there are a smaller number of roadkill birds found in the area – despite increases in both swallow population and traffic since the study began. No increase in roadkill-eating scavengers has been found either.

That evidence suggests that swallows with shorter wings are better able to maneuver out of the path of oncoming vehicles. Roadkill birds found these days have longer wings than average, too, which seems to back up the speculation. Scientists also believe that the shorter wings and increased maneuverability has allowed the cliff swallows to be more adept at catching insects that live in the increasingly frequent corn fields around the area, too. Brown says that evolution would likely favor the birds that have adapted to better catch their dinners, as well as passing along the genes that allow them to avoid killer cars. Science, man!

Have swallows evolved shorter wingspans to avoid cars? originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 22 Mar 2013 08:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Autoblog

Science & Technology

Where, oh where, has the road kill gone?

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Millions of birds die in the US each year as they collide with moving vehicles, but things have been looking up, at least in the case of cliff swallows. Today’s swallows are hit less often, thanks to shorter wingspans that may help them take off more quickly and pivot away from passing cars. The findings, reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on March 18, show that urban environments can be evolutionary hotspots. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org

Articles of Interest

Rats Sniff Each Other To Assert Dominance, Study Suggests

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By The Huffington Post News Editors

By: Megan Gannon, News Editor
Published: 03/09/2013 09:12 AM EST on LiveScience

Without being able to talk to each other, rats use sniffing as one way to answer key questions about strangers. Is that a female? Can I mate with her? Is this one sick? What did he eat? — All of this information can be learned through odor cues.

But new research shows that the act of sniffing itself might serve its own social function, allowing rats to reaffirm their hierarchical status and maintain order.

Daniel Wesson, a neuroscientist at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, studied how pairs of rats sniffed each other when they were placed in the same enclosure. In initial observations, Wesson saw that when one rat started sniffing another’s body or behind, both rats ramped up their level of sniffing. But when one rat started sniffing the other’s face, the other rat typically backed off and turned down its level of sniffing.

Further investigations showed that dominant rats (larger, more aggressive ones) didn’t tamp down their sniffing, and sometimes increased it, when a subordinate rat sniffed them in the face. But when dominant rats started smelling their subordinates head on, and the subordinates failed to cut back on their sniffing, the top rats were quick to engage in aggressive behavior (kicking, biting or jumping on the other rat). The results suggest that sniffing can help high-ranking rats assert dominance and allow subordinate rats to appease their superiors and prevent aggression.

Wesson saw the same results when he inhibited the rats’ sense of smell, which bolsters his claim that there’s more to sniffing than odor-detection. And when he gave some of the rats oxytocin, a brain chemical that’s been shown to enhance bonding and ease the pressure of hierarchies, these sniffing displays and aggression vanished. [That’s Odd! The 10 Weirdest Animal Discoveries]

It’s still not clear why only face-sniffing seems to serve a social function for rats, while body-sniffing and butt-sniffing don’t. Wesson said one possibility could have to do with the fact that face-to-face interactions are very dangerous for a rat, as an injury to the throat or neck could be deadly.

“When animals come face-to-face with each other, they more or less have to be on their best behavior, otherwise they risk getting hurt,” Wesson told LiveScience. “Another possibility is that there are cues given off during sniffing that can only be communicated when animals are in proximity with each other.”

Wesson said he hopes to explore the circuits in the brain that are activated when animals are engaged in this behavior, and to learn more about why animals decide to become aggressive, as well as which brain problems might cause animals to inappropriately deal with social cues.

The research was detailed in the journal Current Biology.

Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience, Facebook or Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post

Science & Technology

Sniff, sniff. What did you say?

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When animals like dogs or rats sniff one another, there might be more going on than you’d think. Research reported in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, on March 7th finds in rats that those sniffing behaviors communicate information about an individual’s social status. In those encounters, more dominant rats act as primary sniffers, while subordinate sniffees actually slow their breath. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org

Science & Technology

Coldness triggers northward flight in migrating monarch butterflies, study shows

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Each fall millions of monarch butterflies from across the eastern United States begin a southward migration in order to escape the frigid temperatures of their northern boundaries, traveling up to 2,000 miles to an overwintering site in a specific grove of fir trees in central Mexico. Surprisingly, a new study by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School published in Current Biology, suggests that exposure to coldness found in the microenvironment of the monarch’s overwintering site triggers their return north every spring. Without this cold exposure, the monarch butterfly would continue flying south. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org

Science & Technology

The impressive aerial maneuvers of the pea aphid

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You might not think much about pea aphids, but it turns out they’ve got skills enough to get aerospace engineers excited. A report in the February 4th issue of Current Biology shows that the insects can free fall from the plants they feed on and—within a fraction of a second—land on their feet every time. Oftentimes, the falling aphids manage to cling to a lower part of the plant by their sticky feet on the way down, avoiding the dangerous ground altogether.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org