Have I Got One For YOU

NCBI ROFL: Female chimps choose their sex noises depending on the audience.

Thu, 10 May 2012 23:00:33 GMT

Female chimpanzees use copulation calls flexibly to prevent social competition.

“The adaptive function of copulation calls in female primates has been debated for years. One influential idea is that copulation calls are a sexually selected trait, which enables females to advertise their receptive state to males. Male-male competition ensues and females benefit by getting better mating partners and higher quality offspring. We analysed the copulation calling behaviour of wild female chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) at Budongo Forest, Uganda, but found no support for the male-male competition hypothesis. Hormone analysis showed that the calling behaviour of copulating females was unrelated to their fertile period and likelihood of conception. Instead, females called significantly more while with high-ranking males, but suppressed their calls if high-ranking females were nearby. Copulation calling may therefore be one potential strategy employed by female chimpanzees to advertise receptivity to high-ranked males, confuse paternity and secure future support from these socially important individuals. Competition between females can be dangerously high in wild chimpanzees, and our results indicate that females use their copulation calls strategically to minimise the risks associated with such competition.”

Photo: flickr/downing.amanda

Guinea Pigs Getting Paid: The Economics of Selling Your Body to Science

Thu, 10 May 2012 15:18:27 GMT

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NCBI ROFL: The effects of caffeine, dextroamphetamine, and modafinil on humor appreciation during sleep deprivation.

Wed, 09 May 2012 23:00:48 GMT

“STUDY OBJECTIVES: Sleep loss consistently impairs performance on measures of alertness, vigilance, and response speed, but its effects on higher-order executive functions are not well delineated. Similarly, whereas deficits in arousal and vigilance can be temporarily countered by the use of several different stimulant medications, it is not clear how these compounds affect complex cognitive processes in sleep-deprived individuals. DESIGN: We evaluated the effects of double-blind administration of 3 stimulant medications or placebo on the ability to appreciate humor in visual (cartoons) or verbal (headlines) stimuli presented on a computer screen following 49.5 hours of sleep deprivation. SETTING: In-residence sleep-laboratory facility at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-four healthy adults (29 men, 24 women), ranging in age from 18 to 36 years. INTERVENTIONS: Each participant was randomly assigned to 1 of 3 stimulant medication groups, including caffeine, 600 mg, n = 12; modafinil, 400 mg, n = 11; dextroamphetamine, 20 mg, n = 16; or placebo, n = 14. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Humor appreciation for cartoon stimuli was enhanced by modafinil relative to both placebo and caffeine, but there was no effect of any stimulant medication on the appreciation of verbal ...

NCBI ROFL: Scientific proof that milk is better on cereal than water.

Tue, 08 May 2012 23:00:14 GMT

Physical properties and microstructural changes during soaking of individual corn and quinoa breakfast flakes.

“The importance of breakfast cereal flakes (BCF) in Western diets deserves an understanding of changes in their mechanical properties and microstructure that occur during soaking in a liquid (that is, milk or water) prior to consumption. The maximum rupture force (RF) of 2 types of breakfast flaked products (BFP)–corn flakes (CF) and quinoa flakes (QF)–were measured directly while immersed in milk with 2% of fat content (milk 2%) or distilled water for different periods of time between 5 and 300 s. Under similar soaking conditions, QF presented higher RF values than CF. Soaked flakes were freeze-dried and their cross section and surface examined by scanning electron microscopy. Three consecutive periods (fast, gradual, and slow reduction of RF) were associated with changes in the microstructure of flakes. These changes were more pronounced in distilled water than in milk 2%, probably because the fat and other solids in milk become deposited on the flakes’ surface hindering liquid infiltration. Structural and textural modifications were primarily ascribable to the plasticizing effect of water that softened the carbohydrate/protein matrix, inducing partial collapse of the porous structure ...

Thick, 1,000-Year-Old Dental Plaque Is Gross, Useful to Archaeologists

Tue, 08 May 2012 18:46:23 GMT

What big plaque deposits you have!

A dentist will tell you to floss everyday, but an archeologist might, well, have different priorities. Turns out the nitrogen and carbon isotopes in dental plaque can give archeologists a look at 1,000-year-old diets.

The buildup of plaque on this set of teeth is, um, impressive. (Cut the skull some slack though, this was before we had dentists to chide us about daily flossing.) Without the benefit of modern dental hygiene, the plaque built up over a lifetime, layer upon layer like a stalagmite. In a paper recently published in the Journal of Archeological Science researchers exhumed 58 medieval Spanish skeletons and scraped off their dental plaque to test carbon and nitrogen isotopes. When they compared the isotope profiles of the Spaniards to that of plaque from an Alaskan Inuit, the scientists found the ratio of nitrogen-15 to be quite different. That makes sense, as the Intuit ate a predominantly marine diet, and there is more nitrogen-15 in the protein molecules of organisms living in sea than on land.

Another benefit of plaque is that it’s easier to test than bone, which has to be dissolved in acid to extract from ...

NCBI ROFL: Do women prefer more complex music around ovulation?

Mon, 07 May 2012 23:00:07 GMT

“The evolutionary origins of music are much debated. One theory holds that the ability to produce complex musical sounds might reflect qualities that are relevant in mate choice contexts and hence, that music is functionally analogous to the sexually-selected acoustic displays of some animals. If so, women may be expected to show heightened preferences for more complex music when they are most fertile. Here, we used computer-generated musical pieces and ovulation predictor kits to test this hypothesis. Our results indicate that women prefer more complex music in general; however, we found no evidence that their preference for more complex music increased around ovulation. Consequently, our findings are not consistent with the hypothesis that a heightened preference/bias in women for more complex music around ovulation could have played a role in the evolution of music. We go on to suggest future studies that could further investigate whether sexual selection played a role in the evolution of this universal aspect of human culture.”

Photo: flickr/Epiclectic
Thanks to BBoyButzemann for today’s ROFL!

Related content:
Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Women’s gaydar improves during ovulation.
Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Kin affiliation ...

NCBI ROFL: Women’s sexual and emotional responses to male- and female-produced erotica.

Fri, 04 May 2012 23:00:42 GMT

“Whether erotic films made by women are more arousing for women than erotic films made by men was studied. Forty-seven subjects were exposed to both a woman-made, female-initiated, and female centered, erotic film excerpt. Photoplethysmographic vaginal pulse amplitude was recorded continuously. Self-report ratings of sexual arousal and affective reactions were collected after each stimulus presentation. Contrary to expectation, genital arousal did not differ between films, although genital response to both films was substantial. Subjective experience of sexual arousal was significantly higher during the woman-made film. The man-made film evoked more feelings of shame, guilt, and aversion. Correlations between subjective experience of sexual arousal and photoplethysmographic measures of sexual arousal were nonsignificant. The largest contribution to female sexual excitement might result from the processing of stimulus-content and stimulus-meaning and not from peripheral vasocongestive feedback.”

Photo: flickr/rachelkramerbussel.com

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NCBI ROFL: PhDs agree: bees see like me!

Thu, 03 May 2012 23:00:12 GMT

Bees perceive illusory colours induced by movement.

“Certain black-and-white patterns, when rotated at appropriate speeds, can create the artificial perception of hues. We report that this illusion is not confined to human vision, but is also perceived by an insect, the honeybee. The findings suggest that certain features underlying the processing of colour information are shared by man and bee.”

Bonus quotes from the main text:

Freely-flying bees (Apis melrifera) were trained to discriminate between two visual stimuli presented in a horizontal plane immediately beneath the surface of a glass-topped table. One of the stimuli bore a reward of sugar water. The locations of the stimuli were interchanged frequently to prevent the bees from using position cues to identify the rewarded stimulus.

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NCBI ROFL: The identification of attractive volatiles in aged male mouse urine.

Wed, 02 May 2012 23:00:58 GMT

“In many species, older males are often preferred mates because they carry “good” genes that account for their viability. In some animals, including mice, which rely heavily on chemical communication, there is some indication that an animal’s age can be determined by its scent. In order to identify the attractants in aged male mouse urine, chemical and behavioral studies were performed. We herein show that aged mice have higher levels of 3,4-dehydro-exo- brevicomin (DB), 2-sec-butyl-4,5-dihydrothiazole (BT), and 2-isopropyl-4,5-dihydrothiazole (IT) and a lower level of 6-hydroxy-6-methyl-3-heptanone relative to adult male mice. We also demonstrate that the attraction of females to the odor of male mouse urine is greater when the urine is from aged males. However, the attraction of aged urine odor was offset by the ultrafiltration of adult and aged mouse urine. When DB, BT, and IT were added to adult urine, the attraction of the urine was enhanced. Our results suggest that inbred aged male mice develop an aging odor that is attractive to female mice in an experimental setting and that this attraction is due to increased mouse pheromone signaling.”

How Our Circadian Cycle Helps Us Not Need to Pee Overnight

Wed, 02 May 2012 16:48:31 GMT

How to keep track of mouse urine

Eight hours is a long time without a trip to the bathroom when awake, yet most of us can sleep through the night without peeing. And no, it’s not just because you (presumably) stop drinking coffee in your sleep: even when food and drink are factored out, you both make less urine and have better bladder capacity during the night. As with most behaviors that change from day to night, it does indeed have everything to do with the circadian rhythm.

In a new study published in Nature Communications, researchers compared normal mice with mice whose circadian rhythms were disrupted by genetic mutations. To keep track of mice urination over time, they used a rather charming contraption that slowly unspooled urine paper under the cages (see image). Urine spots on the paper were counted up and, sure enough, urination in the normal mice showed 24-hour patterns while the mutant mice did not.

The study also identified a molecular mechanism that lets bladders hold more urine during sleep. Concentrations of the bladder protein Cx43 goes up and down over the course of 24 hours. It makes bladder muscles more sensitize to ...

NCBI ROFL: Imitating mickey mouse can be dangerous.

Tue, 01 May 2012 23:00:00 GMT

“Inhaling helium to produce that amusing squeaky voice may not be the innocuous party trick it seems, according to emergency medicine physicians at the Wesley Center for Hyperbaric Medicine in Brisbane, Australia.

Simon Mitchell and colleagues report the case of a previously healthy 27-year-old man who inhaled helium and subsequently developed a stroke with transient blindness and radiographic evidence of cortical infarction. The man had inhaled the gas directly from a pressurized canister; most children who perform the trick—to imitate the voice of Mickey Mouse—inhale the gas from helium-filled balloons.

The patient developed rigidity and lost consciousness within moments of inhaling the helium. On arrival at the emergency room 15 minutes later, he regained consciousness but was found to have complete visual loss and evidence of cortical infarction.

The patient was diagnosed with a cerebral arterial gas embolism occurring after inhaling helium; he was treated with hyperbaric oxygen. His blindness resolved, and there was radiographic evidence of regression of his stroke after four cycles of treatment with hyperbaric oxygen.

The patient in this report had inhaled helium from a high pressure cylinder, causing blood vessels in his lungs to rupture and allowing the gas to gain access to ...

NCBI ROFL: The dangers of intense hand drumming.

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:00:48 GMT

Rust urine after intense hand drumming is caused by extracorpuscular hemolysis.

“BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:
During Carnival, groups of > or =60 drummers go drumming with their hands and marching for periods of 2 to 4 h. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency and type of urinary abnormalities after candombe drumming and to evaluate possible pathogenic mechanisms.
DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS:
For analysis of pathogenic mechanisms, a group of individuals were prospectively evaluated before and after candombe drumming. Methods: Candombe drummers were recruited in January 2006, 1 wk before prolonged drumming. After clinical evaluation, urine and blood samples were obtained before and immediately after drumming.
RESULTS:
Forty-five healthy individuals (four women and 41 men), median age 31 yr (14 to 56), were evaluated. Predrumming urine and plasma samples were obtained for 30 individuals. Nineteen (42%) of 45 had a previous history of rust urine emission temporally related with candombe drumming. After drumming, 18 of 26 showed urine abnormalities; six of 26 showed rust urine, eight of 26 had microhematuria, and seven of 26 had proteinuria >1 g/L. The candombe drummers who showed rust urine after heavy drumming ...

Dogs Are Manipulable, Cats Are Manipulative, and Both Act Like Babies

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 14:54:57 GMT

How you doin’?

After thousands of years living in our homes, cats and dogs have gotten pretty good at tuning into human social cues—as good as as human babies anyways.

Dogs, with their adorable puppy faces, are easily swayed by the actions of humans. A new study in PLoS ONE shows that dogs will prefer a plate of food preferred by a person, even if that plate has less food on it. Cats, on the other hand, have an especially annoying “solicitation” purr that they deploy when they want something from their owners, much like (though quieter than) a hungry baby that will not stop screaming. Pet owners who fancy themselves parents may actually be onto something.

Although babies can’t understand words, they are good at following body language and the gazes of their parents—what are called “ostensive cues.” Dogs do the same thing; when they see you looking in a particular direction, for example, they look there too. Researchers in this new study show that dogs made their decisions based on these ostensive cues as well. They began by presenting the dogs with two plates with unequal amounts of food. Then an experimenter would look at ...

NCBI ROFL: Why Miss Poland is more beautiful than generic med students.

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 23:00:33 GMT

Body mass index and waist: hip ratio are not enough to characterise female attractiveness.

“The assessment of characteristic body features of Miss Poland beauty contest finalists compared with the control group, can contribute to recognising the contemporary ideal of beauty promoted by the mass media. The studies of Playboy models and fashion models conducted so far have been limited to the following determinants of attractiveness: body mass index, waist:hip ratio, and waist:chest ratio, which only partially describe the body shape. We compared 20 body features of the finalists of Miss Poland 2004 beauty contest with those of the students of Medical Academy in Bydgoszcz. Discriminant analysis showed that the thigh girth-height index, waist: chest ratio, height, and body mass index had the greatest discrimination power distinguishing the two groups. A model of Miss Poland finalists figure assessment is presented which allows one to distinguish super-attractive women from the control group.”

Photo: flickr/georgereyes

Take a Trip Inside the Minds of Eccentric Inventors With Context-Free Patent Art

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:58:46 GMT

The new Tumblelog Context Free Patent Art confirms what we always thought: there is a lot of weird stuff lurking in archives of the patent office. And sometimes, you just don’t need/want an explanation.

Here are some of our favorites. Take your best guess at the context for these images—or at least some legitimate excuse/explanation—in the comments!

[via Context Free Patent Art]

This Scientist Endures 15,000 Mosquito Bites a Year

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:35:34 GMT

The things we do for science.

Researchers who study mosquitoes and other blood-sucking insects sometimes use themselves as skeeter chow. In some cases, it’s because certain species of mosquitoes seem to prefer human blood to animal blood. In others, though, it’s a cheap, convenient alternative to keeping animals around for the insects to feed on or buying blood. And as it turns out, once you’ve been bitten a certain number of times you develop a tolerance to mosquito saliva.

Entomologist Steve Schutz, seen above paging through a magazine while the bloodsuckers go to work on his arm, feeds his mosquito colony once a week. He has welts for about an hour, but after that the bites fade, occasionally leaving a few red spots. That’s good, because at 300 bites a week, he averages about 15,000 a year. That’s dedication.

NCBI ROFL: How your brain is like Google.

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 23:00:36 GMT

Google and the mind: predicting fluency with PageRank.

“Human memory and Internet search engines face a shared computational problem, needing to retrieve stored pieces of information in response to a query. We explored whether they employ similar solutions, testing whether we could predict human performance on a fluency task using PageRank, a component of the Google search engine. In this task, people were shown a letter of the alphabet and asked to name the first word beginning with that letter that came to mind. We show that PageRank, computed on a semantic network constructed from word-association data, outperformed word frequency and the number of words for which a word is named as an associate as a predictor of the words that people produced in this task. We identify two simple process models that could support this apparent correspondence between human memory and Internet search, and relate our results to previous rational models of memory.”

Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Felipe Micaroni Lalli

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NCBI ROFL: Wish you could get drunk without blacking out? Next time, have a coffee.

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 23:00:57 GMT

Alcohol-induced retrograde memory impairment in rats: prevention by caffeine.

“RATIONALE:
Ethanol and caffeine are two of the most widely consumed drugs in the world, often used in the same setting. Animal models may help to understand the conditions under which incidental memories formed just before ethanol intoxication might be lost or become difficult to retrieve.
OBJECTIVES:
Ethanol-induced retrograde amnesia was investigated using a new odor-recognition test.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
Rats thoroughly explored a wood bead taken from the cage of another rat, and habituated to this novel odor (N1) over three trials. Immediately following habituation, rats received saline, 25 mg/kg pentylenetetrazol (a seizure-producing agent known to cause retrograde amnesia) to validate the test, 1.0 g/kg ethanol, or 3.0 g/kg ethanol. The next day, they were presented again with N1 and also a bead from a new rat’s cage (N2).
RESULTS:
Rats receiving saline or the lower dose of ethanol showed overnight memory for N1, indicated by preferential exploration of N2 over N1. Rats receiving pentylenetetrazol or the higher dose of ethanol appeared not to remember N1, in that they showed equal exploration of N1 and N2. Caffeine (5 mg/kg), delivered either ...

Found: The Cause of Brain Freeze and Ice Cream Headaches

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:52:17 GMT

Ow, my anterior cerebral artery!

Next time a bite of ice cream is ruined by brain freeze, you’ll know what to blame. New research suggests that changes in blood flow in the brain—and through the anterior cerebral artery in particular—are correlated with that flash of pain while eating cold food.

In a study presented at the Experimental Biology conference this week in San Diego, researchers got 13 participants to sip ice water through a straw pressed right against the roof of their mouths—prime conditions for brain freeze. Blood flow in their brain was measured using transcranial Doppler as they sipped. At the moment the ice water sippers got brain freeze, the anterior cerebral artery dilated to let blood rush through the brain. When the artery constricted again, the pain also subsided.

Jorge Serrador, who carried out the research, speculates that brain freeze is a self-defense mechanism for the brain. A rush of warm blood keeps the vital organ from getting cold. (On the other hand if the brain gets too hot, yawning may be one way of cooling it down.) The downside of that hot blood rush is that forcing more blood in the skull is ...

NCBI ROFL: Reminders of secular authority reduce believers’ distrust of atheists.

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 23:00:46 GMT

“Atheists have long been distrusted, in part because they do not believe that a watchful, judging god monitors their behavior. However, in many parts of the world, secular institutions such as police, judges, and courts are also potent sources of social monitoring that encourage prosocial behavior. Reminders of such secular authority could therefore reduce believers’ distrust of atheists. In our experiments, participants who watched a video about police effectiveness (Experiment 1) or were subtly primed with secular-authority concepts (Experiments 2-3) expressed less distrust of atheists than did participants who watched a control video or were not primed, respectively. We tested three distinct alternative explanations for these findings. Compared with control participants, participants primed with secular-authority concepts did not exhibit reduced general prejudice against out-groups (Experiment 1), prejudice reactions associated with functional threats that particular out-groups are perceived to pose (specifically, viewing gays with disgust; Experiment 2), or general distrust of out-groups (Experiment 3). These findings contribute to theory regarding both the psychological bases of prejudices and the psychological functions served by gods and governments.”

Photo: flickr/loop_oh

NCBI ROFL: Ever wanted to know what’s really in hotdogs?

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:00:37 GMT

Applying morphologic techniques to evaluate hotdogs: what is in the hotdogs we eat?

“Americans consume billions of hotdogs per year resulting in more than a billion dollars in retail sales. Package labels typically list some type of meat as the primary ingredient. The purpose of this study is to assess the meat and water content of several hotdog brands to determine if the package labels are accurate. Eight brands of hotdogs were evaluated for water content by weight. A variety of routine techniques in surgical pathology including routine light microscopy with hematoxylin-eosin-stained sections, special staining, immunohistochemistry, and electron microscopy were used to assess for meat content and for other recognizable components. Package labels indicated that the top-listed ingredient in all 8 brands was meat; the second listed ingredient was water (n = 6) and another type of meat (n = 2). Water comprised 44% to 69% (median, 57%) of the total weight. Meat content determined by microscopic cross-section analysis ranged from 2.9% to 21.2% (median, 5.7%). The cost per hotdog ($0.12-$0.42) roughly correlated with meat content. A variety of tissues were observed besides skeletal muscle including bone (n = 8), collagen (n = 8), blood ...

Whales May Use Globs of “Ear Fats” to Hear Underwater

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:35:48 GMT

CT scan of whale head; fat in yellow, ear bones in magenta.

For us landlubbers, jiggling fat may just be an unsightly presence. For whales, jiggling clumps of fat in their jaws may pick up sound waves underwater, helping them communicate over long distances in the sea. We knew that dolphins and porpoises have “ear fats,” but baleen whales have not been as well-studied for one simple reason: their heads are just too big to fit into a scanner.

A new study looks at minke whales, a genus of balleen whales that top out at only seven meters long. (Tiny compared to 30-meter blue whales.) Scientists put six frozen whale heads, salvaged from beached animals, in CT and MRI scanners to analyze the soft tissues. Some of the heads were still too big, so the lower jaw had to be removed or excess flesh trimmed away. The scans and subsequent dissections showed a glob of fat sitting right next to the ear bones. While the anatomical evidence is compelling, the researchers admit they still have to show how exactly the fat works to help in hearing.

[via ScienceNow]

NCBI ROFL: If you want to sell more alcohol, touch your customers.

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 23:00:56 GMT

The effect of waitresses’ touch on alcohol consumption in dyads.

“A total of 96 men and 48 women participated in a study on the effect of touch in the natural setting of public taverns in the United States. Participants in the same-gender (men-men) or mixed-gender dyads were either touched or not touched by waitress confederates. Regardless of dyad type, participants who were touched consumed more alcohol than participants who were not touched. Men in the mixed-gender dyads consumed more alcohol when the women was touched. Same-gender (men-men) dyads aggregately consumed more alcohol than mixed-gender dyads. The results are interpreted in terms of the environmental cues and the dynamics of the group.”

Photo: flickr/zoonabar

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“Obliterating Animal Carcasses With Explosives”: USDA’s Step-by-Step Guide

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:01:06 GMT

During a snow storm last year, several cows managed to wander into a ranger cabin where they have stayed ever since. Alas, the cows have not been playing house—they died in the cabin, and there they remain, dead and frozen. Rangers at Conundrum Hot Springs are now faced with removing several tons of dead, frozen cow from the remote mountain spot. If not, the slowly decomposing bodies could attract predators and cause contamination.

So here’s the dynamite idea they’ve proposed: blow ‘em up to smithereens and radically speed up the decomposition process. Lucky for the rangers, the USDA happens to have a protocol detailing every step of this process—including diagrams of where to place the explosives.

Because this diagram is optimized for a horse, it includes species-specific pro tips like, “Horseshoes should be removed to minimize dangerous flying debris.” The full protocol also includes a second, more complicated diagram of where to pack explosives on a frozen animal such as these cows. It ends with this note: “Carcasses that have been partially obliterated will generally not show any trace of existence the next day.” Good to know.

[via Improbable Research]

NCBI ROFL: Wobbling appearance of a face induced by doubled parts.

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 23:00:57 GMT

“An illusion produced by duplicating facial parts, which can cause an unstable feeling for many observers, was investigated. We examined factors that contribute to the unstable feeling. The results suggest that this illusion is specific to face perception, and the unstable feeling may be generated by difficulty in keeping attention directed to either of the duplicated facial parts.”
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Bonus figures from the full text:

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Bald Men, This Nude Mouse With 1 Sad Tuft of Hair Could Be the Key to Your Follicular Future

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:06:09 GMT

My, what, uh, nice hair you have…

Among the mutant lab mice that scientists have dreamed up, there’s a particularly funny-looking nude mouse. Now scientists have managed to make it look even more ridiculous by adding just one small tuft of black hair on its back.

Getting the hair follicles to sprout was no small feat of bioengineering. As reported in a new paper in Nature Communications, researchers took stem cells from bald mice as well as men and implanted them in the skin of the nude mice. A plastic sheath guided the growing hair through layers of the skin, and voila. The individual hairs could also stand up on their ends—just like how your body hair stands up when you’re cold–which means the bioengineered follicles even connected to the small muscle that control piloerection.

And if you ever wanted to a naked, red-eyed mouse with one tuft of black hair to stare straight into your soul, do not miss the video below.

[via Nature News]

Image and video courtesy of Takashi Tsuji / Tokyo University of Science

NCBI ROFL: Murder: an evolutionary adaptation?

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 23:00:54 GMT

The homicidol effect: investigating murder as a fitness signal.

“This article extends homicide adaptation theory by investigating signal effects of a murder. In two experiments (N = 299 and N = 161) participants reported their perceptions of a described person. The first study manipulated the information about the person (including or excluding a single sentence stating that the person has committed a murder) and stimulus person/observer sex match (same vs. opposite sex). Results suggest that murder functions as a signal of the described person’s fitness that enhances observers’ evaluations and inclination to interact with the person. Opposite-sex observers evaluate the murderer’s intent more favorably than same-sex observers, but these evaluations of intent produce differential (positive vs. negative) effects between the two groups. The second study replicated the findings and ruled out potential confounds.”

Photo: flickr/mitchypop

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The Laws of Physics, Officer, Outrank the Laws of California

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:38:32 GMT

I think this picture says it all, officer. Clear as day!

To all those police officers out there on traffic duty: Be real careful about ticketing physicists. You might be proven wrong in elaborate mathematical detail.

Dmitri Krioukov, a physicist at UC San Diego, was pulled over for running a stop sign. However, he had not in fact run it, and his sense of injustice was apparently so inflamed that he undertook a rigorous mathematical explanation of what had happened, eventually posting a paper on the ArXiv showing that the police officer had fallen prey to a perceptual illusion (although the paper was posted on April 1, if it’s a joke, Krioukov is sticking to his guns; he’s spoken to PhysicsCentral about the work). At the stop sign, he had seen Krioukov’s car, a Toyota Yaris, disappear on the far side of a station wagon in the lane closest to the officer and subsequently accelerate away, but he mistakenly concluded that Krioukov had not stopped during that moment, because—this is the clincher—he had been visually measuring not the linear but the angular speed of the car! To put it in Krioukov’s own words:

“Police officer O ...

Canada’s New Quarters Will Have Glow-in-the-Dark Dinosaurs on Them

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:09:12 GMT

And unicorns, too.

Well, no. Just the dinosaurs. But isn’t that enough?

Each of the quarters, which will retail for $29.99, will feature an image of a Pachyrhinosaurus lakustai, a dinosaur discovered in Alberta. But take it into the closet under the stairs or wherever your favored glow-in-the-dark viewing site is, and the creature’s skeleton glows.

This is, according to TIME’s Moneyland, the Canadian government’s latest scheme to help shrink the deficit. We’re not hopeful, though—how many dino-loving 6-year-olds have $29.99 to spare?

[via Moneyland]

Image courtesy of Canadian Mint

NCBI ROFL: You don’t need a face to be a good magician.

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 23:00:06 GMT

Social misdirection fails to enhance a magic illusion.

“Visual, multisensory and cognitive illusions in magic performances provide new windows into the psychological and neural principles of perception, attention, and cognition. We investigated a magic effect consisting of a coin “vanish” (i.e., the perceptual disappearance of a coin after a simulated toss from hand to hand). Previous research has shown that magicians can use joint attention cues such as their own gaze direction to strengthen the observers’ perception of magic. Here we presented naïve observers with videos including real and simulated coin tosses to determine if joint attention might enhance the illusory perception of simulated coin tosses. The observers’ eye positions were measured, and their perceptual responses simultaneously recorded via button press. To control for the magician’s use of joint attention cues, we occluded his head in half of the trials. We found that subjects did not direct their gaze at the magician’s face at the time of the coin toss, whether the face was visible or occluded, and that the presence of the magician’s face did not enhance the illusion. Thus, our results show that joint attention is not necessary for the perception of this ...

NCBI ROFL: The effect of social support derived from World of Warcraft on negative psychological symptoms.

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 23:00:31 GMT

“Previous research examining players of massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) suggests that players form meaningful relationships with each other. Other research indicates that people may derive social support from online sources, and this social support has been associated with greater well-being. This study used an online survey of players (N = 206) of the MMOG World of Warcraft (WoW) to examine if social support can be derived from MMOGs and to examine its relationship with negative psychological symptoms. Players of WoW were found to derive social support from playing and a positive relationship was found between game engagement and levels of in-game social support. Higher levels of in-game social support were associated with fewer negative psychological symptoms, although this effect was not maintained after accounting for social support derived from the offline sources. Additionally, a small subsample of players (n = 21) who played for 44 to 82 hours per week (M = 63.33) was identified. These players had significantly lower levels of offline social support and higher levels of negative symptoms compared to the rest of the sample. This study provides evidence that social support can be derived from ...

Dog Ate My Experiment—And Now Dog Is My Experiment

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:39:52 GMT

Please don’t make me eat thallium.

If you’re an average normal person and your dog eats thallium-tainted agar plates from the trash, you’d probably take Rover to the vet. If you’re a vet and your dog eats thallium-tainted agar plates, you start taking notes—and blood and hair samples too.

That’s the backstory to a recent paper published in the Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation. A poor, overly curious one-year-old shepherd mix broke into the laboratory trash and gobbled up 15 agar plates containing thallium. The poisonous compound is used in labs to isolate Mycoplasma fungi because it pretty much kills everything else that could grow on agar. Known as “the poisoner’s poison,” thallium has also been implicated in a number of famous murders and was a favorite of Saddam Hussein. (So if you are a non-scientist with thallium in your trash, it is kind of suspect…)

The dog’s owner, a vet, knew immediately the thallium was bad news. At the onset, the dog refused to eat and lost weight. And then things only got worse over several weeks as she lost control of her muscles, seized, caught pneumonia twice, and lost a ...

NCBI ROFL: The economics of faking orgasms.

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 23:00:26 GMT

The economics of faking ecstasy.

“In this paper, we develop a signaling model of rational lovemaking. In the act of lovemaking, a man and a woman send each other possibly deceptive signals about their true state of ecstasy. For example, if one of the partners is not in ecstasy, then he or she may decide to fake it. The model predicts that (1) a higher cost of faking lowers the probability of faking; (2) middle-aged and old men are more likely to fake than young men; (3) young and old women are more likely to fake than middle-aged women; and (4) love, formally defined as a mixture of altruism and demand for togetherness, increases the likelihood of faking. The predictions are tested with data from the 2000 Orgasm Survey. Besides supporting the model’s predictions, the data also reveal an interesting positive relationship between education and the tendency to fake in both men and women.”

Photo: flickr/greggoconnell

NCBI ROFL: Hmm… I wonder if this illusion works on other body parts?

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 23:00:11 GMT

Touching my face with my supernumerary hand: a cheeky illusion.

“A self-touch paradigm elicits a surprising illusion. With the participant’s eyes closed, the examiner guides the participant’s right index finger to administer strokes and taps to the right side of the participant’s face. At the same time, the examiner strokes and taps the corresponding location on the left side of the participant’s face. Although the participant administered touch to only the right side of the face, this paradigm elicited the illusion of self-touch to both sides of the face, and the illusion often implicated a third, disconnected or disembodied, hand. We propose an explanation, and draw parallels with the phenomenon of supernumerary phantom limb.”

Photo: flickr/twosistersknitting

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Alien Planet Where Hyper-Intelligent Dinosaurs Rule, or Chemistry Joke With 2 Left Feet?

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:23:12 GMT

Moar nerdy chemistry humor?

In a press release roundly denounced by the interwebs, the usually respectable American Chemical Society writes that “advanced versions of T. rex and other dinosaurs — monstrous creatures with the intelligence and cunning of humans — may be the life forms that evolved on other planets in the universe.”

Um what? While our BS detectors just started blinking bright red, this press release is really a perverse kind of genius. When was the last time the science media lit up with a very technical paper on the origins of homochirality? (Before we get back to “advanced” dinosaurs, chirality refers to molecules that can exist in left- and right-handed forms; some organic molecules like DNA and proteins tend to be made of molecules only in one form. Why is that? This is an interesting question. It also has nothing to do with dinosaurs.)

Now the press release writer didn’t exactly pull the dinosaur reference out of nowhere, but the author of the paper did. After suggesting that early meteorites may have seeded a pre-life earth with chiral amino acids, Dr. Robert Breslow ends this paper with this flight of fancy:

An  implication  from  this ...

NCBI ROFL: Viewing death on television increases the appeal of advertised products.

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 23:00:27 GMT

“References to death abound in many television programs accessible to most people. Terror Management Theory postulates that existential anxiety, which death reminders activate, may reinforce materialistic tendencies. The current article explores the effect of a death reminder in television shows on the desirability of advertised products. Consistent with Terror Management Theory’s predictions, in two studies participants show greater desire for products, which were advertised immediately following clips from programs that featured a death scene, compared with programs that did not. Cognitive accessibility of death predicted the appeal difference while changes in affect or interest in the show did not. The findings are discussed in light on affective and existential theories which make opposite predictions. Implications and future directions are considered.”

Photo: flickr/Editor B

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NCBI ROFL: Golfers’ putting improves if they think the hole is larger.

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 23:00:59 GMT

Get Me Out of This Slump! Visual Illusions Improve Sports Performance

“Misperceiving a target as bigger could influence [sports] performance in one of three ways. It could disrupt performance because the observer might aim for a location that does not correspond with the target. In this case, the misperception would result in worse performance. However, actions and explicit perceptions may not be influenced by illusions to the same degree… In this case, misperceiving a target as bigger would not affect performance. A final alternative is that misperceiving a target as bigger could enhance performance. Bigger targets feel as if they should be easier to hit, so people may feel more confident when aiming for a bigger target. Given that increased confidence improves performance, a perceptually bigger target may also lead to enhanced performance. Here, we report an experiment in which we tested these possibilities…

Thirty-six participants (19 females, 17 males) putted to two different-sized holes (5.08 cm and 10.16 cm in diameter; both 10 cm in depth). A downward-facing projector displayed a ring of 11 small (3.8 cm in diameter) or 5 large (28 cm) circles around each hole to create an Ebbinghaus illusion. For each ...

NCBI ROFL: The role of pet dogs in casual conversations of elderly adults.

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 23:00:13 GMT

“Casual conversations were recorded as elderly persons routinely walked their dogs through a familiar mobile home park in the United States. Control observations included walks without dogs by owners and non-owners of dogs. All owners talked to and about their dogs. Transcribed conversations indicated that dogs were a primary focus of conversation. A majority of sentences to dogs were imperatives; the owners were instructing the dogs. Dog owners frequently included dogs’ names or nicknames in their sentences when they spoke to the dogs and made reference to the dogs’ wishes or needs. Speaking to dogs was also associated with frequent repetition of sentences. Passersby talked to the owners about their dogs whether or not the dogs were present. When dog owners spoke with other people, their conversations often concerned activities that were occurring in the present, whereas conversations of non-owners focused on stories about past events. Dog owners reported taking twice as many daily walks as non-owners. Dog owners also reported significantly less dissatisfaction with their social, physical and emotional states.”

Photo: flickr/podoboq

To Increase Your Tongue Agility, Play This Game

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:06:06 GMT

If you thought the Kinect was just for things like controlling flying quadrocopters and getting in touch with your inner Han Solo, get ready to stick your tongue out. That’s right, scientists in Japan have created a Kinect game for your tongue. You wiggle it around to shoot at circles.

You’re not running out of your house to buy the game right this second? Well, you probably weren’t the target audience anyway. Japanese researchers created the game to help in diagnosis and treatment of oral motor disorders. People who have trouble speaking or swallowing could play the game to train their tongues. For the rest of us, how about a game that teaches French kissing?

NCBI ROFL: Female cockroaches avoid slutty males.

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 23:00:45 GMT

Female mate preference and sexual conflict: females prefer males that have had fewer consorts.

“Different aspects of male quality as a mate can vary independently. When this is the case, females may need to use multiple cues to accurately assess overall mate quality. We examined the pattern of mating preference in the cockroach Nauphoeta cinerea. Sexual conflict occurs in this species because male manipulation of female mating receptivity can result in reduced female fitness. We predicted that since females cannot remate within a single reproductive bout because of male manipulation, females should assess male mating history to avoid mating with males with low fertility caused by sperm exhaustion. In a mate-preference experiment, we found that females discriminated against males who had mated multiple times. Females also discriminated against males who had consorted with several females but had been prevented from mating with those females. Thus, females appeared to be able to detect cues on males that were derived from previous mates and to use this information to avoid mating with sperm-exhausted males. We suggest that females may commonly use multiple cues to assess different aspects of mate quality, especially when male ...